Comparing B2B and B2C CX Management

B2B and B2C customer experience (CX) management aren’t quite the same, which is why I wrote about the three models of B2B customer experience. I thought it would also be interesting to examine data from the report State Of Customer Experience Management, 2011 across three groups of companies (self-reported):

  • Companies that primarily serve businesses (B2B)
  • Companies that primarily serve consumers (B2C)
  • Companies that serve both business and consumers (B2B & B2C)

This first chart (I’ll be publishing a series of these posts) looks at some overall data…

Here are some of my observations:

  • These are somewhat small sample-sizes of companies, so I only look for broad, directional insights.
  • In the aggregate, you can see that CX is important across all three groups; about six out of 10 companies want to be the best in their industry within three years.
  • B2B companies have the least formal CX management efforts, with the least level of coordination and the and the lowest penetration of senior CX executives leading the charge.
  • B2B also have the lowest penetration of formalized VoC programs and use of the Net Promoter Score (NPS), which represents a real opportunity since they also appear to get the most benefit from these efforts.

The bottom line: B2B lags B2C in CX management

Written by 

I am an experience management transformist, helping organizations improve business results by engaging the hearts and minds of their customers, employees, and partners. My "job" is Head of the Qualtrics XM Institute. The Institute is still being established, but our goal is to help organizations around the world thrive by mastering Experience Management (XM). As part of this focus, I examine strategy, culture, interaction design, customer service, branding and leadership practices. And, as many people know, I love to speak about these topics in almost any forum. Prior to joining Qualtrics, I was managing partner of Temkin Group (leading CX research, advisory, and training firm), co-founder and chair of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA.org), and a VP at Forrester Research. I'm a fanatical student of business, so this blog provides an outlet for sharing insights from my ongoing educational journey. Check out my LinkedIn profile: www.linkedin.com/in/brucetemkin

3 thoughts on “Comparing B2B and B2C CX Management”

  2. One key ingredient in a customer experience analysis that seem to always get lost is the setting of expectations. Every time we contact the customer – from sales call to web site to social media conversations – we are telling the customer/prospect/user what he can expect from the company. So aside from product, pricing, and customer service, if we want to manage the customer experience to optimize revenues as well as customer satisfaction, we are going to have to bring marketing communications into the mix.

    Reply

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