In the world of digital customer experience, we have entered the era of the customer. They are the center of the experience, and they are the best source of information about what they like and don’t like. They tell us what works and doesn’t, and they let us know if we meet their expectations. If you’re not providing an exceptional client/customer experience, you’re in trouble.
B2B marketing is often focused on generating leads and closing sales. However, the customer experience is the key to building successful relationships that translate into loyal customers. By creating a truly outstanding client experience, you can capture and convert more leads and retain more customers. That’s why it’s necessary to not only analyze your present client experience, but develop an exceptional client/customer experience that sets you apart from all the rest.
Why Your End-Of-Year CX Matters
Did you know that the average B2B company has an average CX score of less than 50%? That’s compared to the average 65-85% for B2C companies. And yet, approximately 86% of B2B CMOs stated that CX is “very important.”
While technology continues to change how we conduct business, the best way to stay ahead is to provide an exceptional client/customer experience. In fact, as of 2020, CX overtook both price and products as key brand differentiators – meaning that a company’s CX is the most crucial factor when a consumer chooses among brands. That’s why the CX needs to be exceptional.
What Does an Exceptional B2B Client/Customer Experience Look Like?
An exceptional CX is one that is personalized, relevant, and consistent. It goes beyond basic customer service and includes the entire experience – from the moment the customer receives your email or phone call to the moment they leave your site.
It’s about making them feel like an individual, not just another number. It’s about providing the right content at the right time, using intuitive technology to enhance their buying process, and keeping them engaged with your brand.
So, what are the characteristics of some of the top B2B customer experience leaders? Here are just a few:
- They map the customer journey to identify crucial touchpoints
- They collect net promoter scores (NPS) and act on their findings regularly
- They are consistent across platforms
- Use personas for different customers
Source: Marketing Charts
The good news? While the thought of providing an exceptional client/customer experience can seem daunting, it’s not nearly as challenging as you may think. Even better – studies show that B2B consumers are willing to pay up to 16% more for a product or service that comes with an exceptional client/customer experience.
Provide Exceptional Client-Customer Experiences with These 5 Tips
In a world where customers are more empowered than ever, it’s critical that we all provide exceptional client/customer experiences. After all, that’s the key driver of success in any business.
Here are five tips to help you provide an exceptional customer experience.
1. Know Who Your Ideal Audience Member Is
The first step in providing an exceptional client experience is understanding whom you are trying to reach. You need to know about their preferences, concerns, fears, and what they are looking for.
It’s critical that you know what they want and how to provide it to them. If you don’t, then your marketing efforts will be unfocused and ineffective. The best way to discover your ideal audience is to use personas. A persona is a composite of real people to create a clear picture of who they are, what they want, and how you can help them.
2. Offer a Fully Personalized Experience
Your customers are unique, so why shouldn’t your marketing be? It’s the secret that many B2B companies have been missing for years. A personalized experience allows you to differentiate yourself from your competitors by offering special, relevant content to your ideal audience.
By offering a fully personalized experience, you can provide customers with relevant information, offers, promotions, and content that will resonate with them.
By implementing solutions such as account-based marketing and/or personalized content hubs to your B2B marketing strategy, you can increase your personalization game.
3. Connect with Your Clients/Customers in Real-Time
Customer experience begins long before a sale is even made. The reason behind this is that customers expect your brand to help them through every step of their journey. They expect your brand to guide them, answer their questions, and help them accomplish their goals.
Today, you need to be available to your customers at every stage of the buying journey, not just at the end. Connecting with customers in real-time is key to providing an exceptional customer experience. This can be done in dozens of different ways, including:
- Automated emails to your customers
- Live chat options on your website/social media platforms
- Automated chatbots that can provide customers with links to relative content
- SMS /Text messages to customers to send them offers and content that are tailored to them
4. Don’t Get Stuck in a Rut with Your Marketing Content
Most B2B marketing agencies fall into the trap of following the same marketing content and strategies year after year, focusing their efforts on one big push that they do over and over again. This can lead to a customer experience that feels stale and monotonous.
It can also lead to the wrong types of content being shared with the wrong individuals at the wrong time. It’s crucial that you take the time to review the types of content you are creating and make sure you are creating/sharing content relative to where the customer is in their journey.
Source: MarketingProfs
Take the time to learn about your client/customer’s needs at various points throughout their journey and make sure you are creating content that addresses those needs.
5. Take the Pressure out of the Holiday Season
While many of the above tips can be applied at any point throughout the year, this final point can make or break your client/customer experience come the end of the year and well into the new year.
While many brands use the holiday season as their last final big push for sales, doing so in the B2B stratosphere can be detrimental.
That’s because those in the B2B space usually aren’t spending their holiday season worrying about work and how to improve their businesses. Instead, they are focusing their time on loved ones and making the most of their holidays.
In fact, the end of the year is considered the “slow” season for those in B2B sales. So, instead of trying to press sales on your clients, you can improve their experience by focusing your attention on relationship building and providing them with informative content that they can act upon once they return to the office in the new year.
This will not only ensure an exceptional client/customer experience during the final months of the season, but it will ensure that your brand stays in front of their mind going into the new year.
Create the Ultimate Client/Customer Experience with Hushly’s Solutions
Don’t wait to improve your client/customer experience. By taking the time to start improving your CX now, you can ensure that you are starting the year off positively.
If you’re looking for ways to provide an exceptional client/consumer experience, then let Hushly help!
We have several solutions available to help you create the ultimate client/customer experience, such as our ABM campaign pages and our adaptive content hubs.
Curious how Hushly can help you create the best B2B customer experience? Contact us today for more!
