Comparing B2C vs. B2B to Inform Customer Experience Initiatives

Customer experience is a hot topic in both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) circles. It’s something constantly being addressed, evaluated, and refined.

Where most customer experience research focuses unilaterally on one type of purchase or the other (B2B or B2C); Radius wanted to gain deeper insight by taking a look at these two mindsets head-to-head. Our aim was to understand where B2B vs. B2C priorities converge and diverge by addressing a number of burning questions:

• What matters to purchasers when they’re in these different buying modes?
• How do the dynamics of these decisions compare?
• Do you need to think differently depending on which mindset the purchaser has?
• How do these differences and similarities impact the way you manage the customer experience?

B2B companies see the customer experience as a way to reduce commoditization of their product, provide differentiation, and show off their innovation side. While many of these initiatives are driven by the digitization of information and processes, focus is also turning to improving customer service — empowering service agents, reducing response times, and providing online issue tracking. With these things in mind, many wonder to what extent B2B experiences should mimic B2C experiences.

From our head-to-head assessment, we’ve gained insights into what B2B can learn from B2C when it comes to creating a positive customer experience. The result is our white paper, Inspiration Not Imitation: 3 Customer Experience Lessons B2B Can Learn from B2C.

Contact us if you’d like to receive a copy or learn more.