There are no more alibis for companies in the B2B sectors : the personalization of the customer experience in purchasing processes has now become a fundamental prerogative for customers, as is already the case in the B2C world.
From the first contact to the evaluation of the product, to its purchase, up to the after-sales service: customers expect personalized experiences, services and proposals conceived and designed ad hoc.
The result? For companies that have embraced the challenge of a customer-centric and data-driven strategic vision, it has certainly had a positive impact.
This is confirmed by recent research released by the LEK International Institute: as many as 40% of purchases in the B2B world now take place on websites and APPs, but the companies that have chosen to fully embrace this philosophy are still a white fly.
For these, however, the economic results follow a really important growth trend, so much so that one can really assume an interconnection perhaps between digital customer experience development and revenue growth.
B2B customer experience: the framework
Although the judgment on the importance of adopting a customer-centric approach and data-driven business strategies is shared, as anticipated, not many companies have embraced it.
Without a shadow of a doubt, we need the will to change pace: to opt for data-driven choices and decisions that in turn generate activities that can be analyzed and measured.
But where do we stand?
According to data released by the B2B Customer Experience Observatory of the School of Management of the Politecnico di Milano, only 14% of Italian companies collect advanced data on customers, i.e. information that allows advanced customer profiling.
A large proportion of companies, as many as 66 percent collect only data that are necessary for technical and informational exchanges inherent to the product.
The problem seems to be attributable to the lack of adoption of platforms that allow integrated data management, from the website to the APPs, from management systems to ERP systems up to software solutions for customer care and after-sales services and CRM systems.
So if only 14% of companies actually collect detailed data and information and use them for the implementation of customer-centric strategies, well over 56% have customer data scattered almost everywhere: files for suppliers, excel lists, databases.
And even in the case where there are architectures capable of communicating such disparate data silos, the information that is used is really basic and not evolved and detailed.
B2B Customer Experience: the future passes through CDP
The data released by the Observatory show this quite clearly: what makes it difficult for B2B companies to implement data-driven customer-centric strategies is the lack of implementation of technological solutions capable of collecting and normalizing data from multiple sources.
No more silos of data and information that are separate and difficult to manage and integrate with each other, but a single environment where detailed information on personal data, purchasing habits, behavioral data of each individual customer can be collected.
The solution? The use of Customer Data Platforms such as Blendee, i.e. solutions capable of integrating data from multiple sources, normalizing them at the level of a single customer view.
The result is the possibility of having a 360° view of the user, complete, updated in real time and reliable on each individual user, whether it is a customer, a lead or even an anonymous user.
Data, information on purchasing behavior but not only: the real strength lies in the intrinsic possibility of the platform to activate the data collected through omnichannel marketing activities ranging from the physical to the digital world.
A customer data platform can be a truly valuable ally for winning marketing strategies, but what is needed is to support the adoption of the technology with the right mindset.
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