Empowering Customers to Boost B2B User Experience

Convergence of tech & marketing means brand loyalty is no longer built on product quality & demand. A better B2B user experience is required.

Яна Василевская/Adobe Stock

December 13, 2021 , Matt Ramerman

The year 2020 forced many brands to rapidly develop and adopt capabilities to offer more personalized conversations with consumers. Conversational marketing has the power to make brands more proactive and engage with customers on a more personal level by enabling and often encouraging a two-way dialogue, which can drive superior user experience (UX).

Customers can share concerns, ask questions and get personalized offers tailored to their specific needs. In fact, Gartner predicts proactive (outbound) customer engagement interactions will outnumber reactive (inbound) customer engagement interactions by 2025.

The convergence of technology and marketing means brand loyalty is no longer built purely on product quality and demand. Today, buyer experience plays a critical role in purchase decisions and brand advocacy. This means doing much more than just “pushing” a product: it requires an enriching, personalized customer experience.

Using conversational marketing, businesses still have the ability to “push” a campaign to a customer, but can also invite them to ask questions. While enabling customers to ask questions is a great first step to a successful conversational marketing strategy, brands need to start incorporating their customer’s specific preferences into their campaigns.

Shifting Control to Consumers

By 2025, 80% of customer service organizations will have abandoned native mobile apps in favor of messaging for a better customer experience. For a customer journey to be successful, brands need to understand their customer’s needs from the very moment they begin considering a purchase.

From there, brands can actively and seamlessly work to help the customer understand their product options, assist with any questions or provide the insights needed to make an informed purchase decision. While this approach creates an overall positive customer experience, there’s still one aspect customers want more: control.

Customers expect control, the ability to customize an offer and explore things when they want and on their terms and at their convenience. With the global e-commerce market expected to expand by $1 trillion by 2025, consumers will hold more buying power.

This means if brands aren’t at their customers’ disposal, then there’s a strong chance they’ll take their business elsewhere. Even if it feels counterintuitive, allowing consumers to control their buying power may be the best way for brands to maintain their power in the market — especially as consumer behavior continues to shift.

But what does a personalized shopping experience look like while also giving more power to the consumer?

Through conversational marketing, brands can customize their messages via natural language understanding (NLU) powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and allow customers to engage in the channels that they prefer—like messaging. A good example is asking a customer if they’d like a free phone via their favorite messaging channel: SMS. This would prompt the customer to engage in a conversation, allowing them to explore what options are available.

This approach shifts the power balance to the consumer who uses the conversation to customize their experience and define their interests. And ultimately, triggering a unique offer and conversion to a sale.

This would prompt the customer to engage in a conversation, allowing them to explore what options are available. This approach shifts the power balance to the consumer who uses the conversation to customize their experience and define their interests. And ultimately, triggering a unique offer and conversion to a sale.

Leveraging Conversational Marketing

Conversational marketing is a departure from the traditional direct marketing campaign. It helps generate conversations between brands and consumers that otherwise might not have taken place. Rather than price or product, consumers award their loyalty according to the experience they receive.

To reach this level of true conversational marketing, there needs to be a profound change in how marketing campaigns are designed and how customers are targeted, with a sharper focus on personal preference. This approach is going to take some risk on the brand side due to customers wielding more power, enabling a quicker conversion from tailored offer to completed sale. Fortunately, the marketing technology to support the customer experience already exists, but many brands have been reluctant to make it a priority.

When customers feel empowered, brands are rewarded with their loyalty. Brands that invest in a conversational marketing approach can create stronger relationships and sustained loyalty among their customers, setting them apart from their competitors and leading to long-term success.

Matt Ramerman is the president of Sinch for Marketing.