The Four Pillars of B2B Customer Experience

We have officially entered an era of the experience economy where customers expect more than ever before. Brands are in a constant battle to outperform customer experience, investing a lot of time and resources to making the customer journey as smooth, easy, and as fast as possible.

Unfortunately, B2B customer experience journeys are still behind and lag compared to B2C experiences. 

According to research by B2B International, only 14% of large B2B companies are truly customer-centric.

Tragic. Completely tragic.

If you’re not aware of this concept, the customer-centric philosophy consists of putting the client’s needs and preferences deeply within the company culture.

B2B organizations around the world have significant work to do to become more customer-focused. If firms truly want to differentiate from their competitors, increase brand awareness, and improve profitability, well, focusing on delivering a superior customer experiences journey is a great way to achieve these goals and more!

Yes, B2B customers indeed are very different to work with compared to B2C approaches. However, that does not mean they should be treated that differently. At the end of the day, they also want to feel accompanied and supported in the business relationship. It’s still a human-to-human experience after all.

So, if you’re looking to integrate or improve the customer experience for your B2B business. Take a look at these four pillars that cannot be missed when working with this approach.

#1 COMMITMENT 

Commitment is definitely the foundation of success. At times, dealing with clients can be complicated. Whenever you are feeling this, put yourself in their position and think about how would you want to be treated. That will definitely remind you why you committed in the first place.

On the other hand, commitment should be implemented throughout your company. High-level seniority and leaders have a huge responsibility to spread customer experience values. Every single person within the company should be committed and believe in it to successfully deliver what a true highly valuable customer experience philosophy is all about.

#2 FULFILLMENT

  Fulfilling is definitely a challenge. This pillar could be one of the most important ones, where you, as a company, focus on understanding customer needs and delivering them. This pillar will take time and it’s a process that will imply involving different stakeholders within your organization.

Take your time to check and analyze your target audience, and your ideal customer profile, review their most recent behaviors, and feedback that you’ve probably gotten recently, and don’t forget to study the market. These will allow you to reevaluate if your current approaches are enough or if it’s time to start thinking about ways to improve.

#3 PROACTIVITY

  Proactivity means striving for the best always. Thinking ahead and solving issues before causing any customer pain. Although in many cases it’s inevitable to bump into problems and difficulties, being proactive means pushing and working through those inevitable pains. 

When talking about proactivity, regarding customer experiences and customer-centricity, resilience has a big significance. Your goal as a business is to respond to those challenges in the most seamless, most convenient, and hassle-free way for both parts (your company included).

#4 EVOLUTION

  Last but not least, is evolution. Continually seeking to improve ways to better the customer’s experiences to offer. Being successful long-term relies on finding ways to always improve yourself and continuously learning. And remember, if done the right, being more human isn’t just good for our customers, it’s for business too.

Living in a world with very easy access to information and the rapid growth of options to choose from, it’s even more challenging to stand out from the market. More products and services are designed with users at the center. That said, B2B companies really need to realize that if they’re not meeting customer expectations, then their audiences will start to shrink.

Right now, businesses have the opportunity to bring change and start thinking about their customers as their top priorities.

PS: read more about how you can improve customer experiences by engaging with your audience. Don’t miss out and dive deep into the B2B world with us! Subscribe to our newsletter: