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

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I am a customer experience transformist, helping large organizations improve business results by changing how they deal with customers. As part of this focus, I examine strategy, culture, interaction design, customer service, branding and leadership practices. I am also a fanatical student of business, so this blog provides an outlet for sharing insights from my ongoing educational journey. Simply put, I am passionate about spotting emerging best practices and helping companies master them. And, as many people know, I love to speak about these topics in almost any forum. My “title” is Managing Partner of the Temkin Group, a customer experience research and consulting firm that helps organizations become more customer-centric. Our goal is simple: accelerate the path to delighting customers. I am also the co-founder and Emeritus Chair of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to the success of CX professionals.

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.

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