Would you like to know which BtoB customer experience trends to adopt as soon as possible? We've got ten for you in this article.
Contents
1. Immediate response for a better BtoB customer experience
80%
of BtoB customers expect a response to their request in real time. 87% indicate that an immediate response influences their loyalty.
source: Salesforce Research
Improving service accessibility and response times
Example: Qonto's customer service department is open on Saturdays and Sundays (because many entrepreneurs also deal with the administrative side of their business at weekends).
Develop hot channels with instant responses for your BtoB customer experience
2. Developing customer autonomy, a key factor in the BtoB customer experience
57%
of BtoB buying paths are autonomous, with no interaction with Sales.
source : CEB
Make self-care tools available to BtoB customers
70%
of customers believe that AI is a virtuous tool that makes their lives easier, saves time and simplifies their procedures.
source: Zendesk, Customer Experience Trends 2022
Develop their efficiency thanks to AI and voice recognition: callbot, chatbot...
Falcon Structures, which rehabilitates containers for new uses (housing, offices, storage...) uses a chatbot to seamlessly guide qualified prospects from the quote request page to subsequent pages, by initiating the conversation.
3. Exploiting new digital channels in the BtoB customer experience
67%
of the BtoB purchasing process now takes place via digital channels.
source: Sirius Decisions
Develop new channels & formats and find the best uses for each channel
- Videoconferencing
- Webinars
- Social network messaging
- Instant communication networks (WhatsApp...). WhatApp thus overtook the "social networks" and SMS channels in 2022.
WhatsApp is now the 4th contact channel after email, chat and phone (source: Zendesk, Customer Experience Trends 2022). WhatsApp is now used as :
- real-time customer information channel (e.g. SAP)
- order-taking channel (e.g. Transgourmet for wholesalers and restaurateurs)
- tool for responding to requests (finding a sales outlet, questions about products/services, browsing the product/service catalog, etc.)
4. Reducing effort in the BtoB customer experience: platformization, proactivity, omnichannelity
73%
of professionals say that a lack of consistency between channels could be a reason for breaking up with a brand.
source: Salesforce Research
Offer seamless pathways between channels
Enable customers to pick up their shopping cart on another device, complete a file by communicating missing information or documents to a chatbot...
- Benefit from proactive information : be informed at every stage of your order's progress and of any difficulties that may arise.
- Providing access to all products and services from a single source: platformization by expanding the product or service offering with partners.
5. Differentiate the treatment of BtoB customers according to their value
73%
of companies identified personalization as one of the three main marketing levers for 2021.
source : Precima
Segment BtoB customers by value
- High-value customers : customer meetings with experts, invitations to events, "top to top" meetings.
- Medium-value customers : proactive "hug" calls (for example, many startups set up Customer Success Directors to ensure frequent contact with this segment) and invitations to thematic conferences/webinars.
- Low-value customers : newsletters and thematic online content for others
Offer differentiated service levels for a better BtoB customer experience
Determine Gold and Platinum service standards for their highest-value customers: shorter response times, privileged or dedicated contacts, provision of reports/steering tools/quality assessments, etc.
Prioritize resources on high-value customers
6. Develop BtoB loyalty programs
10%
of BtoB advertisers say they have a very good command of the entire customer loyalty process.
source : Kiss the Bride x Praxis X Adetem
Propose relational customer paths to create brand loyalty
The Mailchimp loyalty program offers several advantages for agency and freelance customers: dedicated certification training on the tool, access to a directory of partners, priority access to new features, etc.
Offer additional services to enrich the BtoB customer experience
Companies can set up services reserved for loyal customers, such as ticketing, discounts on certain products/services, access to private sales, provision of goodies bearing the customer's company logo, etc.
Creating communities of loyal customers
IBM has launched a "VIP Rewards" program aimed at engaging its customers through gamification. The company rewards their customers for interacting, learning new IBM technology and sharing their knowledge. Each challenge earns points that can be exchanged for rewards (gift cards, exclusive time with IBM experts).
7. Spread a customer culture throughout the company
74%
of customers are likely to buy on the basis of past experience.
source : Kiss the Bride x Praxis X Adetem
Raising awareness of customer experience issues
... and develop employees' relational attitudes. To find out more about the steps you need to take to develop a customer culture, you can read How to develop a Customer Culture within your company?
Develop and disseminate customer knowledge and the voice of the customer
Inspiring employees
Establish customer-oriented rituals
Implement and monitor customer-oriented indicators at all levels and in all departments of the company
8. Gathering and harnessing the Voice of the Customer to improve the BtoB Customer Experience
84%
of BtoB decision-makers start their search for suppliers by recommendation.
source: Harvard Business Review
Develop hot and cold customer listening systems with a triple objective
- Continuous improvement: Qonto has teams dedicated to analysing verbatims on all rating solutions (Trustpilot, Google store, etc.), and providing explanations and solutions.
- Dealing with detractors
- Innovate and differentiate
9. Co-constructing with customers
2 collateral benefits
- Develop close ties between marketing teams and customers
- Involving customers in the success of products and services
Run customer clubs or open innovation labs
- Make teams aware of customer perceptions: give employees direct, unmediated access to customer feedback and perceptions.
- Ensuring that customer offerings and services match customer expectations : Dalkia, a subsidiary of EDF, regularly brings together a community of customers to co-construct company projects that directly concern them: redesign of the customer area, appointment scheduling procedures, energy performance management by the customer...
10. Deliver a memorable B2C experience
BtoB brands obtain on average less than :
- 50% on the Customer Experience Index
- versus 65% to 85% for BtoC brands
source: McKynsey & Co
Making the customer experience memorable
Colissimo Customer Services have developed attentive services for their business customers at certain points in their customer journey: nursing for new customers (help using online tools, dedicated contact person...) and cocooning for customers for whom service quality has not been up to scratch (preventive information, dedicated contact persons...).
Going beyond the expectations of BtoB customers
Offer personalized, attentive service
Further information
How do you define a Customer Experience framework?
Vous connaissez (sans doute) le référentiel produit ainsi que le référentiel de relation client, mais connaissez-vous le référentiel expérience client ? Pourtant, le référentiel de
Why should listening to customers be a key element of your customer experience strategy?
Listen to build loyalty: what customer listening system should you put in place to boost your customers' experience and satisfaction? At a time when
How do you build an effective customer experience strategy?
Asking the question of customer experience strategy means recognizing that taking customer experience into account has gradually spread throughout companies.
