In 2020, the entire B2B marketing landscape dramatically altered with the rapid shift towards digital channels and social media marketing.
The picture of B2B consumer preferences has changed for ever. Certainly, the global pandemic has drastically shifted the way buyers-engage, and in its essence, buyers increasingly prefer digital channels. However, the enforcement of widespread lockdowns has accelerated this trend already.
With this rapid digitization, buyers expect easy and fast interactions with a high personalization level in their buying journey. Hence, market leaders are advancing the customer experiences process to drive consumer loyalty and retention. Simply put, to create a seamless, omnichannel experience, brands should meet the buyers on their own ground.
High Level of Personalization
Moreover, B2B leaders need to realize the context of buyers and the challenges they are trying to solve while configuring the best possible solutions to meet their requirements. Regardless of whether a purchase is made virtually or in-person, the buyers must start expecting a high level of personalization in the products or services offered to them.
Unsurprisingly, modern buyers are nimble, switching between various sales channels to find products that solve buying challenges. Besides, they crave an e-commerce experience where they can successfully self-serve online.
Read More: CMOs decode how enterprises can avoid social media marketing pitfalls
In such scenarios, vendors should think about how the e-commerce channel integrates with the typical in-person sales touch points to provide buyers with a seamless, consistent experience.
Ashwin SL, VP of Marketing at MoEngage, explains, “Moments-based customer engagement is the future of marketing, today’s consumers demand a consistent, personalized, and always-on experience across multiple devices and touch points. To meet these expectations, brands need to harness the huge amounts of data they have, to understand their consumers better, likes, dislikes, preferences, behavior, and journeys.”
As per McKinsey, the US e-commerce sector has experienced ten years’ worth of growth in only three months. As a result, sales leaders have reimagined the buying experience, looking at integrating the digital channels and traditional selling approaches. This is actually supporting buyers to have a cohesive, coordinated buying experience.
Ashwin also added, “With access to the right analytics, segmentation, and engagement tools, marketers can leverage AI-powered automation and optimization to make orchestrating moments-based journeys a reality. To execute this, modern marketing strategy requires a future-proof, insights-led platform that is based on the assumption of data and then crafts a cross-channel engagement strategy.”
Read More: Enhanced Sales Forecasting with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
If B2B enterprises continue to make most of their revenue from online purchases, the figure will only continue to mature. As a result, sales leaders should look for ways to integrate with the world of the customer where they demand a fast, streamlined, and personalized buying journey. B2B sellers will need to gear up and take a leaf out of the B2C online retail playbook as we advance.
