3 Market Research Methods To Develop an Exceptional B2B CX Strategy
In today’s competitive business climate, an exceptional CX strategy is needed to reach and retain customers. Here, Rick Kelly, CPO, Fuel Cycle, shares three qualitative market research tactics marketers should consider to gauge customer sentiments and level up their CX strategies.
The saying, “the customer is always right,” has taken on new meaning in this digital-first world. It is a buyer’s market, and customers have more purchasing options than ever at their fingertips. According to McKinsey, 70% to 80% of B2B buyers prefer remote engagement in response to the pandemic. Because of this, companies must find a way to elevate these engagements to attract and retain customers or risk losing out on them to competitors.
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The Rise of Customer Experience
Price is no longer the biggest deal-breaker for a customer. Now, it is whether or not buyer interactions feel personalized, how easy it is for buyers to navigate a website to find the information they need or how long the buying process takes. These examples play a role in customers making their final decisions and going through with a sale. According to research from Salesforce, 80% of customers say the experience a company provides is just as important as its products or services. B2B companies must account for customer experience (CX) within their strategies to maintain their market share and customer base.
Appealing to Customers Begins With Market Research
CX starts with understanding the customer and their needs. When B2B companies identify prospective buyers, they conduct extensive research to figure out how to reach them. They immerse themselves into a prospect’s business to gain a well-rounded view of existing pain points to determine how their product or service can best serve the customer. Their research allows them to determine the avenue they need to take. CX must be approached the same way.
B2B marketers can account for CX by involving customer bases in market research. Here are three qualitative methods marketers should consider to gauge customer sentiments and shape their CX strategies.
Semi-structured Interviews
The best way to understand customers is to hear directly from them, which is why surveys are a standard method in market research. But while effective, surveys are often rigid, close-ended and hard to change once in respondents’ hands. To fully comprehend customers’ expectations, their values and business needs, a flexible, agile and open method should be employed, like semi-structured interviews.
These interviews gather customer insights by encouraging two-way communication. From it, marketers learn how a customer feels and the “why” behind their response, giving marketers a more in-depth perspective.
Semi-structured interviews allow customers to share their viewpoints during the sales cycle, such as what is working and what is not, what areas need targeting and where they need extra support. From there, marketers can adjust their strategies by leveraging the feedback and providing a customer experience tailored to what interview respondents discussed.
Handling objections and closing the deal are the best stages of the sales cycle to conduct a semi-structured interview since those are when buyers expect a dialogue as opposed to just being presented with information. Sales reps should prepare questions beforehand to guide the conversation and keep it on topic.
Similar to how building rapport is vital for building relationships during the B2B buying process, it is also vital in semi-structured interviews to help customers feel more comfortable answering questions. Be sure to put respondents at ease and start with simple questions before diving into more complex ones.
Observational Research
While self-reported research from respondents is helpful for understanding audiences, it is not always reliable. If participants are not forthcoming in their answers, it can skew data and prevent marketers from getting accurate findings. That is why observational research should be considered another method for gathering customer insights.
Observational research relies on observing participants without interference from outside factors. There are three types:
- Controlled observation: variables like location, study time, and participants are controlled.
- Naturalistic observation: participants’ behavior is studied in a natural setting without influence from others.
- Participant observation: similar to naturalistic observation but where researchers are inserted into the environment.
Naturalistic observation may be the most viable option to discern what customers value in an experience. It allows marketers to get a better idea of how and why people react the way they do by watching how they respond to situations and stimuli in real life. For example, a researcher could present a participant with two websites: one with fast response times to customer inquiries and one with average response times. With the help of Google Analytics insights, B2B marketers can see which website participants interacted with more frequently (likely the one that prioritizes speed), how long they interacted with each site and how active they were. From there, they can conclude what customers value (speed) and form a CX strategy that prioritizes that value.
Customer Segmentation
While the B2B buying process’s favored outcome is the same: gaining customers and making a sale, the journey there for every buyer should not be. Customers are unique, and their experiences should reflect that instead of a one-size-fits-all approach. Customer segmentation is a market research method that can help in this area.
When marketers segment customers effectively, it is easier for them to personalize content, optimize marketing efforts and boost sales. It is especially crucial to segment customers because of the different buyer personas, due to multiple decision-makers, at each step of the buying process.
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One way to segment the audience is by firmographics — the process of analyzing B2B audiences and grouping them based on their shared characteristics. Marketers can pull data by industry, revenue and company size, then group companies based on which ones are alike. The idea here is companies that share similar attributes will likely have similar needs and preferences. By taking this into account, marketers can develop CX strategies relevant to identical customer bases.
CX is essential for reaching and retaining customers in this day and age. Listening to customer needs, observing how they prefer to interact with a business and segmenting them based on their shared attributes are just a few ways to understand what they want in an experience. Once B2B companies consider these insights, they can build a CX strategy that will meet the needs of their customers.
What tactics have you implemented to improve your CX strategies in today’s competitive market? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
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