Delivering a top-notch customer experience (CX) has long been the key differentiator for businesses that want to retain their customer base and drive profitable growth.
However, delivering exceptional CX at the business-to-business (B2B) level is far more complicated than in business-to-consumer (B2C). That is because it often involves multiple stakeholders and often complex products or services.
B2B customers are constantly raising the bar when it comes to expectations around the CX.
Every bad experience significantly increases the risk of a B2B customer leaving and taking their annual spend or yearly renewal with them. So, you can see how failing to deliver a seamless journey for just one customer can negatively affect the overall health of the company.
B2B Customer Service Challenges
Customer retention
Amid continued economic turmoil, B2B companies are looking to keep costs down by shifting their focus from customer growth to customer retention, as research shows that acquiring a new customer is more expensive than retaining an existing one (Bain).
As customer expectations for outstanding service and experience continue to rise, businesses can no longer rely on improvements in usability, functionality, and dependability of a product or service to ensure customer loyalty. If B2B customers aren’t getting the experience they want, they’ll have no problem taking their business elsewhere.
B2B customers are constantly raising the bar when it comes to expectations around the CX. With a great many options available, these B2B companies are always looking for the best solution to keep their customers on the receiving end of the very best experience.
Integrations and third-party vendor customer service
B2B relationships are often complex, and the technology or service purchased from one vendor needs to integrate into that of another for a complete solution.
But integrating different systems can be a complex and time-consuming process, especially if the systems are not designed to work together. This can result in delays, errors, and unexpected downtime, which can impact the CX and satisfaction.
Serve many stakeholders
B2B businesses often have to work with multiple stakeholders in a single account, which can include different departments—such as Finance, IT, and Procurement—each with their own priorities and concerns.
B2B organizations must be able to understand the unique needs and preferences of each stakeholder group and tailor their service offerings accordingly. This can be a challenging task, as the needs and priorities of different stakeholder groups may conflict with each other.
Additionally, because B2B organizations often have long-term relationships with their customers, they must be able to maintain consistent service quality over time, even as stakeholders come and go and priorities shift.
B2B Customer Service Opportunities
Remote work
The post-COVID-19 pandemic norm of remote work operations has created a level playing field for businesses. Where they are judged based on their digital presence and each customer’s experience, rather than location or staff count.
B2B organizations can offer support through various channels such as email, phone, or chat to ensure that their customers receive the necessary help to use the product or service effectively. This presents an opportunity for companies that excel in digital and omnichannel CX to thrive on a global scale.
Generating more qualified leads and higher revenues
When B2B companies provide excellent customer service, they build strong relationships with their customers. This can lead to increased loyalty, additional purchases, and referrals.
Satisfied customers are more likely to recommend a company to their network and provide positive reviews, which can help generate more qualified leads and higher revenues.
Excellent customer service can also improve customer retention. By addressing customer needs and concerns in a timely and effective manner, B2B companies can retain more customers over the long term, which can lead to higher revenues and lower customer acquisition costs.
AI-powered chatbots and IVR systems...can handle a variety of B2B...customer needs...
The B2B worlds are typically smaller than B2C worlds with fewer, but larger customers, but the transactions are significantly larger, so a great deal more is at stake when it comes to the CX. So, if you lose one of those B2B customers, the loss can be significantly larger.
All businesses, whether B2B or B2C, have a lot to lose when it comes to inferior CXs. No one wants to lose a customer regardless of the size.
Both B2B and B2C also face the damage that can spread when customers take to forums like social media to share their CXs. But the flip (and positive side) is that ensuring every customer has a great experience leads to repeat business in both the B2B and B2C spaces.
Why Good CX is Good For Business
Delivering consistently positive experiences requires CX leaders to have a comprehensive understanding of the end-to-end paths their customers take. And ensure that every part of the experience is working as intended. This is where CX assurance comes in.
Businesses are increasingly realizing the value of providing exceptional experiences and are investing in technology to deliver those experiences.
We have identified a few best practices for using technology to deliver a great CX.
1. Migrate to the cloud for increased agility.
With traditional on-premise contact center technologies IT can only make a few updates to the software per year because it is time-and resource-intensive. But cloud-based contact center technologies allow IT teams to implement updates gradually and with ease. This enables companies to update and improve their software on a regular basis.
2. Implement self-service customer support channels.
Customers now desire to solve customer service problems on their own, without the need to interact with a customer support agent. In fact, 59% of customers prefer self-service tools for simple issues (CIO).
The key to providing more self-service options is Conversational AI (artificial intelligence), which powers chatbots and IVR systems.
AI-powered chatbots and IVR systems today can handle a variety of B2B as well as B2C customer needs without requiring human agent intervention. They can provide 24/7 support and simultaneously handle multiple customer queries unlike human agents, allowing B2B companies to reduce their service costs while still satisfying customer needs.
3. Continuously test for quality assurance (QA).
To fully realize investments in cloud and self-service, including chatbots and IVR, it is essential to simultaneously emphasize QA.
That is because applications that do not operate efficiently or create problems for customers can cause more harm than good.
...B2B companies can...track every aspect of the customer journey.
A Forrester study, reported by way of Hubspot, found that after having a bad experience with a chatbot, 30% of customers would switch to a different brand, cancel their purchase, or inform their friends and family about their negative experiences. And it is always best to ID issues early on before they become problems.
Key to QA is automated, continuous testing and monitoring across every CX channel throughout the software development and implementation lifecycle. This process assesses the quality and stability of the software that powers contact centers. With it organizations can detect and address issues early on: before it disrupts the CX and potentially drive away customers.
By conducting regular testing and monitoring, B2B companies can effectively track every aspect of the customer journey. Regardless of if the software is still in the design phase, undergoing updates, or actively being used to serve customers in production.
These procedures provide these businesses with a comprehensive overview of the data that can be utilized to identify problems, identify underlying causes, and promptly address these issues as they occur in real-time.
Prioritizing CX for Long-Term Success
Today, providing exceptional CX is critical for maintaining and retaining customers. It will directly impact the company’s ability to weather the economic uncertainty.
By migrating to the cloud, implementing self-service options, and continuously testing for QA, B2B vendors can deliver flawless CX to their customers and in turn, improve retention, satisfaction, and revenue.