Even if the change is massive and demands investments, and obstacles will arise, the entire business can be jeopardized if the transformation to a modern B2B commerce is too slow. It is not an easy task, to handle complicated product and price information, often over multiple pages, systems, and even different currencies and markets. How does your company prepare for this challenge?
This year, we will have an extra focus on B2B commerce in a series of articles, please get in touch if you have any questions or thoughts.
B2B Customers Expect Similar Buying Experience as B2C
The new technology that swept over and changed B2C commerce has only started to affect the B2B commerce. In their personal lives, the persons who work with B2B are used to social media, tablets, and mobiles in a way that the B2B commerce isn’t keeping up with. In their work lives, several still use paper catalogues to find article numbers. The simplicity and efficiency of many consumer sites, and how we behave as consumers, drive the companies in a similar direction, even if it is a long way to go.
We are convinced that there is an enormous potential to improve several B2B sites by implementing a lot of the functionalities that is self-evident in B2C. It is the same people who shops at a B2B site as a B2C site, which makes their expectations similar in some extent. A B2B buyer has a somewhat different focus since these orders are often more controlled by a need, which can lead to a smaller effect for inspiration to purchases. But it is equally or more important that the B2B buyer clearly sees which alternatives there is to a product, and which the differences are. Several of the B2B sites today are basic order systems, not completely different from the orders in a business system. This makes the overview of products and the exploring function you expect at a site today often is lost.
Social Media
It is a difficult balance between being interesting to follow on social media, and not being too unserious when representing a company. The ones that are always available, listen to their customers, and reply fast, and are always helpful with any kind of questions, are often those who deserves more attention for their role in social media. Have in mind to keep a clear focus on customer service, answer questions that arise as quickly as possible. Have a personal approach and communicate in a natural way, and you will get the status you deserve. It is important to show that it is a human team behind the Twitter or Facebook account.
Make sure to answer quickly and personal when you use social media for customer service. If it is not appropriate to handling a case there, take it to another channel. Answer both positive and negative comments about your company, especially the negative ones.
When a company buys a product or service from you, follow them on Twitter or Facebook, it will give them a sense of personal connection, and it is more likely that they will follow you too.
Efficient Marketing in all Channels
When more customers demand an easier ordering process, the demands to prioritize the customer experience increases in the sales and marketing departments. A challenge is to handle the exposure that is needed over several channels in order to display the correct products and offers at the right time and context for the right customers.
Content marketing is a more and more popular way to create engagement with customers. The content can be anything from a video to a little written text on how a product was created, basically anything that isn’t a press release or when companies only talk about their mission and vision. Marketing that is adjusted to the customers isn’t only important in the beginning of the sales cycle, the customers need the attention in an appropriate way constantly. If you don’t offer faithful customers the same offers as new ones, it can be risky if you don’t offer them similar conditions.
The thing that can be difficult with B2B content, and can differ from selling to consumers, is that it is sometimes complex product that attracts a niche audience. But you can still use content to build your trade mark, and attract new customers by engaging.
The key is to find something relevant and personal for your customers, but it is still wide enough to be spread and appreciated to a wider audience.
Next Part
In the next part, Ola will show some differences between B2B and B2c, and how you can make a B2B customers everyday life easier in different ways.
