It’s uncannily strange. Across sectors   you will find this huge group of businesses who help the industries serve their customers better. And most of this group will turn around and tell you that they don’t need customer experience specially because they are not dealing with the end-customer. What they don’t realise is that in saying that they are not recognizing their own customers as customers.

In a blog post from T J Keitt there is a very key question asked

B2B Customer Experience Professionals: Do you know who your customers are? 

The answers in this space can be nebulous but “B2B outfits that embrace this sort of initiative are firms that believe that there is great business benefit in understanding and continuously improving customer experiences.”

The other valuable insight comes from Peter Malamas on The Foresee Blog. And the ask is simple.

B2B has to learn from B2C

There’s so much learning there. And the post ends with, and I quote,

B2B-facing firms can no longer remain competitive by simply presenting a workable but basic “industrial strength” customer experience. The best performing B2B companies are paying attention to the customer experience on a daily basis, because they know it’s what their customers and prospective customers expect.

And finally if it has to be simply numbering the benefits of #CX in the #B2B, here’s a research report worth going into that makes the case very clear

In short it is about 3 improvements and 1 achievement. A result of an Inmoment study along with Customer Think. And I could quote the summary here.

Take a look at the top hits to see what’s really resulting from B2B customer experience efforts:

1. Improved Customer Satisfaction

The top benefit attributed to CX initiatives was fairly predictable, but it’s still encouraging with 73% of the pool stating they have seen this benefit. For your program, this one should be a staple. If you’re not improving customer satisfaction with your CX program, there’s a good chance your program is broken—unless your customer satisfaction is already maxed out (not likely, but possible).

1. Improved Employee Engagement

This second-rated benefit is a bit more surprising and equally encouraging. We’ve written before about this oft-overlooked flip side of Voice of Customer (VoC) and CX efforts. If you’re looking for ways to get the most from your CX initiative, we recommend joining 64% of fellow B2B brands in finding ways to put customers’ positive comments into employees’ hands.

1. Improved Customer Retention

This is quite possibly the clearest, traditional ROI-type benefit that CX initiatives are called upon to deliver. It’s also a b
yproduct of the benefits mentioned above. Naturally, improved customer satisfaction and employee engagement should lead to improved customer retention, which is where the loyalty and advocacy gains come in. It’s a shame to see even a 12% gap between this benefit and “improved customer satisfaction,” since the two go hand in hand.

1. Achieved Competitive Differentiation

A hard thing to track scientifically, this big-picture benefit is a very tangible element at play. More than just creatinga good experience for your customers, to achieve competitive differentiation, it’s crucial to create the right experience. Creating a unique experience is key to a seamless brand experience, and it looks like 61% of B2B brands are on that path.

And that said, it is possible to ignore the value of Customer Experience in the B2B space? I rest my case.