By many measures it would be fair to say that the focus on customer experience in B2C digital commerce over the last 10 years hasn't been matched in the world of B2B.
But this is changing fast and B2B businesses across manufacturing, wholesale and distribution are starting to focus on digital innovation as a route to improve the experiences they provide to their customers - from acquisition to after-sales support.
So what's driving this change? Are we approaching a tipping point where the quality of the digital customer experience will become a crucial factor in the success of B2B businesses?
Here is our assessment, based on conversations with B2B Digital Leaders across Europe over the last few months.
The 4 trends driving B2B customer experience innovation
1. The use of B2B digital channels has accelerated rapidly
The genie is out of the bottle. Restrictions on physical interactions during Covid forced customers to engage with B2B digital channels, often for the first time - so they became incredibly important almost overnight. With the pandemic (mercifully) behind us, this customer behaviour hasn't changed, so digital channels are now getting the level of focus they deserve.
2. Customers are getting younger and expectations are changing
B2B customers are getting younger and they expect customer experiences as slick as those they enjoy in civilian life. As a result, personalised digital experiences that allow customers to complete their work tasks easily and are enjoyable to use are quickly becoming the new benchmark for B2B businesses.
3. Digital has become a route to significant revenue growth
Improving the experience for existing customers to increase loyalty and share may not be enough to deliver significant revenue growth, but engaging with new audiences and creating new digital products and services that meet their needs and are aligned with their expectations most definitely can be - so that is where forward-thinking digital leaders are focusing their attention.
4. It's no longer optional - the threat of disruption looms large
And here's the killer - it's no longer optional. The increasing use of digital in B2B, changing demographics and the potential for customer experience innovation to deliver revenue growth - taken together - mean that the threat of disruption now looms large.
It's easier and more tempting than ever for customers to switch suppliers and when, as in some cases - that supplier is Amazon - the need to innovate is urgent.
Practical consequences
The practical consequences of this aren't complicated - B2B businesses are becoming more customer-centric and setting out to "make us easy to do business with" - stepping stones on the route to creating experiences their customers love.
They are striving to understand more about their customers (existing and prospective) and what they want and expect - mapping the end-to-end experience to identify unmet practical and emotional needs they can respond to.
Finally, they are creating new digital content, products and services to meet these customers needs - experimenting and iterating as they do so to ensure they hit the mark and achieve their commercial objectives.
This is a well-trodden journey in B2C and involves the use of a proven and repeatable design-led process, so it's not exactly rocket science - but it is new to many B2B businesses and does require real commitment and investment.
However - based on our discussions with B2B Digital Leaders in 2022 - it seems that embarking upon it is no longer optional.
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