Consider that your B2B ‘buyers’ are people — people working in business roles. Today, these B2B buyers expect their purchase interactions to be far more similar to their B2C experiences than ever before.
While we can look to traditional B2C strategy for best practices in customer experience strategy, B2B businesses often need to tailor their approach. Unlike a B2C customer experience, B2B buying experiences often involve longer and more complex purchase cycles, a variety of stakeholders and touchpoints, and may require a deeper understanding of specific needs and challenges faced by their customers.
Identify and segment your customers/clients based on industry, company size, specialized needs and buying behaviors. Tailor your approach to each group to provide personalized and highly relevant experiences.
Create detailed personas for each customer segment, representing the key decision-makers and influencers. Understand their pain points, goals and preferences.
Gather and analyze data related to customer/client interactions, transactions and feedback. Use this data to gain insights into behavior and preferences.
Map out your customer/client journey, from the initial awareness to post-purchase support. Understand the touchpoints and interactions clients have with your business for each offer or service.
Read more about this in our More with less - Customer Journey Mapping article.
Implement feedback mechanisms like surveys, interviews, and reviews to collect input from your customers/clients across all offers and services you provide. Consider this feedback to improve and personalize your offer as well as the experiences they report about engaging with your business.
Multiple touchpoints are one reason that your B2B experience strategy is slightly more complicated than a B2C strategy. Foster collaboration and communication amongst various departments within your organization to ensure a seamless experience across every touchpoint.
Your customer service team is one component of the experience strategy. Provide excellent client support, including dedicated account managers or support teams to facilitate the buying process. Ensure timely responses and solutions to issues that surface.
Create and share valuable content that helps educate and inform your prospects and clients. Providing value-added content will help build trust for your brand and position your business as an industry expert and trusted choice.
Consider investment in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, marketing automation and other tools to help track and manage client interactions more effectively. Knowledge is power and using data helps you identify trends to support a better buying experience.
If applicable, provide training or other educational resources to help your customers/clients make the most of your products and services.
Also if applicable, develop strategies to retain existing clients, such as loyalty programs or ongoing support and maintenance services.
Define pertinent metrics to measure and analyze the success of your client experience strategy. Things like — satisfaction scores, net promoter score and client retention/repeat purchases.
Monitor and refine your experience strategy based on feedback and performance metrics. Be willing to adapt to changing needs, behaviors and market sentiment.
A successful B2B customer experience strategy is an ongoing effort that requires commitment and adaptation. But it’s a smart and highly effective exercise — low cost, high impact — to help your business win! By looking through the lens of your clients, you can improve the experience they have with your business. You will build stronger relationships, generate loyalty and foster growth.
Lovely People can help you create a strategic approach plan that’s right for your business, right now. Let’s talk.
Read the whole series. Do more, with less.