The landscape is shifting significantly with more B2B customers voicing their demands for improved customer experience (CX) while visiting B2B websites.
All corporate buyers come with tremendous pressure to purchase the best quality products for their company’s money. They require a site that inspires confidence in quality. We’re reaching the point where all B2B companies need to prioritize CX before reaching out to potential customers.
Research shows that more than 59% of corporate buyers prefer doing their own online research over interacting with B2B sales reps. Designing a CX that directly speaks to a customer in need can cut through a significant portion of the noise that these buyers face.
It can alleviate their fear and help them make a quicker decision. A robust website that resonates with your customer’s journey, geographic location and field of business can help you create a successful customer experience.
B2B Buyers Demand a Customer-Centric Experience
An old CX adage states “The customer does not want a drill, they want a hole.” This adage tells every marketer that regardless of the nature of the customer, they want results.
Customers want to find the easiest solution to their problems. However, delivering a precise answer can be difficult for many B2B companies. Generating an immersive experience is not their cup of tea.
So, what does a smart CMO of a B2B company do? Why, they collaborate with another company expert in user experience (UX), of course! After all, that’s what Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) did to promote their Accelerating Next campaign in collaboration with Paramount Picture’s Star Trek Beyond.
A similar move by Motorola Solutions shows how the B2B platforms are switching up their games. To connect with the customers emotionally, the brand tried something off-beat. They wanted to create something that would move people emotionally and that gave birth to “Moments that Matter.” The aim was to tell the stories of their customers — first responders handling emergencies or retail workers on the busiest days of the year. It was a great success, and it added more value to the brand.
Your B2B Consumers Want to Feel Important
To date, the best B2B marketing strategies held the target buyer personas at the epicenter of every campaign. That is what makes the HPE campaign and Motorola’s Moments to remember special eons after their release.
They made an impact on the people and bridged the gap between B2C and B2B. The smartest of the B2B CMOs and CEOs don’t just worry about creating a brand, they also focus on building a community for their target customers.
Would you want to wear a bargain brand outfit to your graduation? Why don’t people like buying generic clothes for special occasions? Because we all love to feel special. We crave moments of delight that come from a personalized CX.
So, why should the B2B buyers want a one-size-fits-all product for their company? Personalized service is the only way to prevent your company from becoming just “another brick in the wall.”
B2B Customers Want the Right Products at the Right Time
When you walk into a grocery store without any directions or aisle marking, how do you expect to pick out the 30-odd things from your grocery list? That is precisely how a B2B customer might feel if they land on a website without intuitive navigation, simple design and flexible layouts.
B2B buyers are tired of walking into messy websites that do not fit the screen of their mobile devices and tablets. They appreciate the service of a company that does not treat them as faceless companies looking to buy business resources. They are longing for simple layouts and easy product functions that allow them to eliminate the noise and reach the desired product directly.
Personalization not only makes the job of your sales team easier, but it also pleases the individual buyer more quickly than the one-size-fits-all approach.
B2B Marketers Need to Humanize Their Buyers
Your B2B buyers are people. Although they represent corporations, they want to be treated like humans, and they want an assurance that they matter. It is in the best interest of a B2B seller to leverage this desire to establish a healthy buyer-seller relationship.
Without a strong and trusting relationship, it is always a possibility that your potential buyer will either bounce back to where they came from or take their business elsewhere the next time.
Well, there are several success stories of B2C corporations, but how does humanizing B2B marketing play out for B2B companies? According to Mark Wilson, the Senior Director of Customer Transformation at Paycor, they have shifted their focus to the drivers behind the scenes — the support requests and calls. These allow the company to review their status and offer a holistic, personalized approach to B2B consumers.
In the End
CX is an ongoing journey. You might need to do more than hiring a new design team or hosting a training session with your sales staff to catch up with your B2B buyers’ expectations.
To be successful, B2B companies will need to continue to evolve their efforts to improve their customers’ experience, utilizing new tools and information as they become available.
