Your customers are the heroes of your story!
According to research, 75% of business buyers expect personalized offers from sellers. And 65% of business buyers will not hesitate to look for other vendors if a company didn’t make an effort to personalize communications with their organization.
Indeed, whether you are in the B2B or B2C space, customer experience is key to success in the modern world. And, while B2C companies have been quick to update their Customer Experience (CX) for good, B2B organizations have lagged behind – losing out on a great opportunity that can give them the competitive edge.
But, a change is coming.
In a recent report, Accenture states that “90% of B2B executives cite CX as a very important factor in achieving their organizations’ strategic priorities. That’s up from 86% who felt that way two years ago.”
But, it’s not as simple as it sounds. Marketing B2B is different from marketing B2C. Though you are selling a product to a person in both cases, the difference between the two markets is significant.
For example, when marketing to a customer, you often appeal to their emotions. But, you cannot win business buyers only by appealing to their feelings. Most businesses work hard to streamline the buying process to save time and money and thus, their purchase decisions are based on logic.
In short, you need to focus on:
- Usage of the product
- Features of the product that can save time and money for the business
- Engagement with your company and brand
- Proving the ROI of the purchase to the business
Adding an emotional appeal to a logical proposition will further refine your customer experience, as buyers tend to favor companies whose values align with their own.
But do you know your customers well enough to imbibe those values in your pitch?
Thus, in addition to lower costs, better value proposition, and ROI, you need to step back and understand what each target account is trying to get done and how your product would help them achieve it.
Sounds tough? It isn’t if you follow these proven strategies to create an engaging experience for your customers.
1 – Focus on Personalized Support
In B2B, 68% of customers are lost because of indifference or perceived apathy, not because of mistakes. Another survey reveals that 70% of customers feel customer support reflects how much an organization values them, which means keeping your users on hold for long is a reflection of your indifference towards them.
Live chat as a support tool reduces the response time significantly while enabling you to connect to your users in real time. This allows you to speak with users at the precise moment they need help or guidance in their purchase journey. No wonder that a study by the American Marketing Association found that customers are 3X more likely to convert when they’ve used live chat. Furthermore, the average ROI when you use live chat can be as high as 305%.
Live chat tool can also be integrated with co-browsing software, which can empower your business for seamless customer experience.
With co-browsing technology, your agents can see your customers’ browsers, ensuring they are both on the same page at the same time, leading to prompt query resolution. Such real-engagement between support staff and clients can improve your first call resolution by 18% and reduce your call handling time by 14%.
2 – Predict Your Users’ Behavior and Gather Feedback
According to Aberdeen Group, businesses that use predictive analytics generate 2X customer lifetime value, as they have all the necessary information to satisfy customer expectations. Such data can reveal the history of your buyers, and their needs and expectations, which can help you craft your conversations better.
On top of analyzing the passive behavior of your visitors, you can also make use of automated tools on your website to actively gather feedback, which you can use to improve your B2B customer experience.
Here are some ways in which you can collect feedback on your site:
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- Contact forms or online comment boxes
- Live chat feature
- Online surveys
- Exit polls when someone leaves your web store
- Thank you surveys or feedback forms
3 – Look at Engagement Data and Automate Actions
Once a company signs a deal with you doesn’t mean you should stop tracking their engagement with you. There are many reasons an account or specific people at the account may be downloading certain pieces of content.
For example, your customer could have hired someone new, who will become the owner of your technology. If you don’t make sure your team delivers a great experience, you could be looking at losing the renewal come time for them to sign a new contract. Another example would be a different team could be looking at using your solution, giving you a great opportunity for account expansion.
That’s why you must look at how customers are engaging with your company and brand. This means everything from emails to content to webinars, and everything in between.
But it’s not enough to just look at the data – you must be able to understand the reasons behind the behavior. That’s where having a unified view of everything going on at that account comes into play. This means visibility into interactions across people and channels over time.
Historically, having this information pulled together in a visual, scalable format has been nearly possible. ABM platforms provide all revenue teams with shared visibility of account activity. You can see who is interacting with programs and what initiatives are working. You can also see the outreach that Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success are doing in one view.
4 – Include the Appropriate CTA in Your Landing Pages
Did you know that almost 70% of startups and small businesses lack appropriate CTAs on their websites?
If you are making the same mistake, your buyers probably don’t know what to do with the information you are providing them, reducing your efforts to meaningless rubble!
On the other hand, a well-crafted CTA can compel your users to perform specific actions on your site, such as requesting more information, scheduling a free trial, or downloading a free report, leading to more engagement and better CX.
Of course, simply adding a ‘Call us’ button is not going to do much for your business. B2B buyers would rather try your solution first.
Instead, strive to offer value and results in advance by including a ‘Free Trial’ button, before trying to close a sale and boost your chances of conversion significantly.
5 – Build Loyalty Programs
Loyalty is rewarded, isn’t it?
Nurturing customer loyalty is crucial for B2B companies as it enables them to develop long-term relationships in addition to gaining access to a host of potential business opportunities.
Yes, a loyal customer is your champion who can do much for your growth through glowing reviews, promising referrals, and spreading your brand’s message far and wide.
However, all customers are not driven by the same reward system. Therefore, it is pertinent to analyze the buying habits of your most profitable accounts, as well as their business model, to create value-driven loyalty programs.
Some popular loyalty programs offer special rebates to returning or long-term customers. An example could be to have tiered incentives to prompt clients to buy more, right from the start. Another option is to run a referral program that offers your buyers more incentive for inviting more customers. Newly referred customers also enjoy a bonus, making it a profitable situation for everyone. You can also drive engagement by treating your loyal users to an exclusive preview or early access to new software features, adding more value to their experience while also gaining feedback on the newly implemented features in the process.
Conclusion
Think about it, if you are faced with two good products, which one would you choose?
With everything remaining equal, chances are you’d prefer to deal with a company that is more approachable and aligns with your core values. As a bonus, a study indicates that 66% of consumers are willing to spend more money on top-notch customer service.
Thus, more than price and product or service quality, customer experience would soon be the biggest differentiator for businesses, even in the B2B space.
Are you up for the challenge?
We are certain that the strategies mentioned above would help you improve your CX considerably. Besides, if you have any other ideas that helped you create a stellar CX for your buyers, we’d love to hear you out in the comment section below.