What B2B brands can teach B2C marketers about customer experience

Business-to-business (B2B) marketing has long been deemed the poor cousin of its consumer-focused counterpart. But B2B brands can no longer afford to lag behind consumer brands when it comes to customer experience given people measure brands by the same standard no matter if it’s a business or personal purchase. As a result, there is now far less of a void between best practice in B2B and B2C marketing, creating many more opportunities for consumer marketers to learn from their business peers. Blake Cahill is senior vice-president and global head of digital marketing and media at Philips and oversees both its B2B and B2C marketing across 10 business groups. “B2B customers are still customers, so they expect the same frictionless experiences they would receive as a B2C customer, so it’s in Philips’ best interests to maintain customer experience standards,” he explains. “The biggest challenge is providing a consistent experience across the many business lines and audiences we engage with. Understanding the needs of a radiologist, or MRI technician, say, compared to a chief information officer, drives various customer journeys and outcomes,” Cahill says. Tim Buchanan, group head of digital at insurance firm Hiscox agrees the gap between B2B and B2C is reducing.