2Jan
State of business-to-business customer experience management

How relevant are the latest CXM practices in business-to-business (B2B) companies? After all, B2B account teams are often quite involved with customers throughout a long sales cycle, interacting with various purchase decision influencers and almost “living” the customer journey alongside their customers.

High touch in B2B

In a recently published four-year study of B2B CXM, 91% of participating companies said they sell B2B products and services through a dedicated sales force1, with a typical sales cycle ranging from three to twelve months. The B2B customer experience is much more personal than many realize due to the many departments that influence most buying decisions, various functional areas of buying and supplying companies that interact over long periods before and after the purchase. , and the high monetary value and risky business impact of many B2B purchases.

As such, many CXM practices formalized by business-to-consumer (B2C) companies may be labeled differently and may be less formal, taken for granted, and less visible in B2B CXM. Therefore, B2B practice surveys may underestimate the actual work being done.

See the full picture

What’s missing from the CXM account team is the ability for everyone to see the big picture as clients see things:

  • Multiple accounts – If customers buy products from different business units or in different regions, do account teams and business units have a single, accurate view of who is who and what is important? And do they have an accurate view of how a change in processes, policies, business models or offerings impacts the customer?
    • 29% of B2B companies have established a single view of each customer across divisions and regions; 29% more are just starting this.
    • One in four B2B companies have established processes to connect data through the end-to-end customer experience with the company; 25% more are just starting this.
    • One in four B2B companies integrate customer feedback sources; 29% more are just starting this.
    • A third of B2B companies have established processes to coordinate multiple accounts within a client company; a third more are starting this.
  • Multiple influencers: If different groups2 in the client company have different perspectives, how well are they understood and accommodated, not only by the account team itself, but also by other functional areas in the supplier company that could help if they were? better informed?

    • Half of B2B companies identify all purchase decision influencers; 27% are just starting out.
    • 38% of B2B companies collect the voice of the customer from everyone who influences the purchase decision; 36% more are just starting this.
    • One-third of B2B companies consolidate buying decision input from multiple influencers; 24% more are just starting this.
  • Multiple interfaces: If multiple functional areas interact with each other before and after the purchase, how consistent is the customer experience? And how well is anecdotal feedback from these customer interactions collected for immediate resolution and proactive buyback influence?

    • One in four B2B companies coordinates the customer interaction activities of multiple functional areas; 37% are just getting started.
    • One in four B2B companies have established processes to coordinate ongoing customer post-purchase touch points; 38% are just getting started.

The strength of the dedicated sales force, as shown in these statistics, may actually be hindering the ability of B2B companies to see the full picture of the customer experience as customers see it. And opportunities that could be enabled by others outside of the account team are likely to be missed unless someone facilitates integration, coordination, and consistency.

fashion CXM

In today’s array of CXM webinars, articles, and conference keynotes, hot topics include predictive analytics, journey mapping, touchpoints, user experience, communities, digital and content marketing, self-service, and social media.

In fact, B2B is late to the party in adopting technologies for predictive analytics, data mining, social collaboration, and user-generated content; about one in four B2B companies are using such technologies. But in cases where there is almost daily conversation between account teams and the client, how many of these trendy CXM efforts are needed? And how well do they make up for what’s missing by seeing the whole picture?

Customer touchpoints, journey mapping, user experience and/or lifecycle management are in practice among four out of five B2B companies. However, one in three of these companies have implemented these practices company-wide; half of the study participants are using these practices at one or more company locations. This is a bigger concern, as customers tend to view a business as a single entity rather than a series of silos.

Need for a CXM Strategy Model

What happens in the B2B CXM ​​strategy is similar to what happens in B2C. A quick comparison of the data in the new B2B report with Forrester’s 2013 State of the Customer Experience survey (which is primarily based on B2C companies), shows that the numbers are about the same for the top barriers to CXM success. :

  1. Lack of a clear customer experience strategy
  2. Lack of cooperation throughout the organization.
  3. lack of budget and
  4. Lack of executive involvement.

The most widespread practices are the voice of the customer and customer engagement. These two areas are often more disruptive to the client company than to the supplier company, and these areas represent two ends of the CXM spectrum: what is important and going well for customers, and what customers can do to demonstrate the importance. of the supplying company. In any case, the overriding desire for immediate revenue growth seems to be the reason for the enormous emphasis on these two areas: if only enough low-rated customers could become raving fans, and if only enough customers could say nice things about the company, everything would be fine, in theory.

What’s missing is the medium: what is the provider doing with customers’ valuable investments in voice of the customer to make things so enjoyable that customers want to participate? It is unlikely that loyalty (i.e. budget portion) or retention (i.e. length of relationship) can be achieved with lasting financial impact without the middle piece of the CXM puzzle.

Our B2B study has tracked the motivation for CXM, how we listen to customers, how we view customers, how we focus employees on customers, and how we focus our business on customers. CXM’s effort to listen to and engage customers far exceeds the ongoing CXM effort to ensure an accurate view of customers, let alone to focus employees and the business on customer well-being.

Success factors

With a strong CXM strategy model that unites motivations, listening, visualization and focus, companies tend to have better business results, regardless of whether they are in B2B or B2C industries. B2B companies reported CXM results such as a 200% increase in market share over the last four years, a 30% increase in survey scores, a 20% increase in revenue, a 20% increase in % in customer engagement and a 15% reduction in churn over the past year. The B2B study indicates that the following basic concepts are the key to financial and customer experience success:

  • Coordination between CXM method managers.
  • Treat CXM as a determinant of corporate strategy.
  • Presentation of customer survey results to all employees.
  • Calculation of customer lifetime value.
  • Action on survey results by key CX driver owners.
  • Foster CXM collaboration between organizations.

No silver bullet has emerged as an innovative method for customer experience excellence. Putting it all together, what is most relevant to CXM success is a coordinated effort in executing the basics:

  1. Establish a firm foundation through a customer-centric culture, customer voice and intelligence, and customer lifetime value as a motivator
  2. Adapt the company to the needs of customers through the improvement and innovation of the customer experience
  3. Promote the commitment of employees and customers, in accordance with the above

Neither the most modern CXM practices nor traditional account management strengths are enough to move the needle on B2B CX business results. Operational excellence within the context of what is most important to customers, as shown by the success factors listed above, is the recipe for differentiation and financial excellence in customer experience.

*First published on InsideCXM[dot]com