Over the past few years, it’s become abundantly clear that delivering outstanding experiences to existing and potential customers is critical for competitive success. There’s a widespread recognition among marketers and other company leaders that customer experience has become a new basis of competition for B2B companies.
Numerous research studies have shown that company leaders now view customer experience as an important driver of revenue growth and competitive advantage. For example, in the B2B Digital Trends 2016-2017 report by Econsultancy (in association with Adobe), which was based on a survey of 1,141 B2B marketing, digital, and e-commerce professionals, respondents identified optimizing the customer experience as their most exciting opportunity in 2016 and for the next five years.
Several research studies have also clearly demonstrated that delivering great customer experiences drives superior financial performance. For example, annual research by Forrester has found a strong correlation between superior customer experience and superior revenue growth across more than a dozen industry groups.
But despite the undeniable importance of customer experience, and all of the recent attention it’s received, there is compelling evidence that most B2B companies are still struggling to provide the kinds of experiences that their customers increasingly expect.
- A recent report by Gallup stated that only 29% of B2B customers are strongly committed to the companies they do business with, which means that B2B companies are at some risk of losing 71% of their customers.
- A 2015 survey of 1,350 B2B executives by Accenture found that only 23% of B2B companies excel at delivering great customer experiences, while the majority of B2B companies are “idling in customer experience mediocrity.”
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