The Five Imperatives to Drive B2B Personalization

It’s table stakes for playing in the B2B space today.

Just as in B2C buying, B2B customers want you

to know them and make the buying process easy.

They’ve come to expect this because – in their off time –

they’re B2C buyers just like the rest of us.

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According to Gartner analyst Gene Alvarez, “By 2018, B2B companies with e-commerce personalization will outsell those without by 30%”¹

True. B2B buying is different.

It’s more complex all around, but now

B2B businesses are empowered to change –

from the back end to the customer-facing experience.

B2B firms must leverage the right digital capabilities

to move toward personalization for their customers.

We’ve identified five imperatives for B2B firms to personalize and improve the customer experience.

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1. Personalize marketing messaging with relevance Just like B2C buyers, B2B customers expect to see relevant and customized promotions/messaging. So, B2B firms must:

• Provide the right message to the right customer at the right time

• Display marketing results following business terms and conditions

• Identify both registered users and guests to personalize messaging

• Create unique customer segments

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2. Personalize business rules and requirementsDecision makers in B2B firms are often many and dispersed throughout the organization. To accommodate this complexity, B2B firms must:

• Be able to create customized catalogs and contracts

• Customize views and workflow processes by organizational hierarchy

• Personalize templates for quick order, order history, and save orders

• Have flexible payment options

76% of B2B buyers list enhanced search as one of their top three must-have features…

but only 48% of B2B sellers cite enhanced search as a top technology priority

The

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3. Personalize Search and optimize product finding capabilities We spend the majority of our time on the internet searching for information and products. But when searching has the added pressure of filling a business need, it ups the ante. It’s critical that B2B firms:

• Align with all catalog entitlement and contract rules

• Have customer-centric searches based on the user’s role

• Offer type-ahead capabilities• Utilize guided navigation and robust filtering

to support product complexities

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4. Personalize guided selling Purchasing for some B2B customers can be very complicated. Guided selling is a customized product selection system that walks the user through the process and ensures order accuracy. Effective guided selling offers:

• Automation of configuration, pricing and ordering• Personalized configurations specific to the business• Customized automated quoting workflow process

based on business requirements• Intelligent cross-selling and up-selling

opportunities within contract negotiated products

According to the Content Marketing Institute2…

Content personalization is among the top 5 priorities for B2B content

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5. Personalize content with customizable and flexible business user toolsBusiness users need the ability to personalize the buying experience, without reliance on IT. This enables agility to modify pages and offers quick implementation.

• Easy creation and management of store pages without the need for IT

• The ability to personalize different page layouts for various needs

• Flexibility to launch segmented marketing campaigns quickly and more…

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B2B and B2C buyers are different…and the sameB2B and B2C buyers have different demands, but they both want the same exceptional online

experiences. B2B firms have the opportunity to gain customer loyalty through outstanding, personalized

purchasing experiences. Anything short of this and customers may reward your competition.

Find out more.

Read The Power of B2B Personalization: Maximizing the B2B digital experience.

¹ InternetRetailer, Personalized web content will be crucial for B2B sales, analyst says 2 The Content Marketing Institute, B2B content Marketing: 2016 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends - North America

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