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5 Ways Improving Your B2B Customer Experience Impacts the Bottom Line

Posted: 13 Sep 2019 02:00 PM PDT

People are now used to instant access and seamless customer service. It started in the B2C sector but is now becoming more critical – and expected – for B2B customers as well. B2B businesses have lagged in this area, but they will need to up their game if they hope to compete effectively moving forward.

B2C companies typically score in the 65-85% range when measured for positive customer experiences. B2B companies average less than 50% positive reviews on customer experience, according to a study done by McKinsey. This represents a significant opportunity for B2B companies to provide a higher level of support and positively impact the bottom line.

Here are five ways you can improve your bottom line by improving your customer experience (CX):

1. Improved customer satisfaction

B2B companies that have dramatically improved their customer experience have higher average margins than their competitors. Client satisfaction scores have risen 10-20% while revenue growth exceeded 10%. The B2B companies that excel at CX report a doubling of their investment.

With B2B marketing, it is important to remember that you are not just selling a product or service, but the long-term satisfaction that comes with gains associated with money or time saved to the customer and their client base. That satisfaction will keep your customers interested in what you have to offer for a long time to come.

2. Improved client retention

It's always cheaper to keep a client than to find a new one. It can be challenging to earn a client's trust, especially in a B2B transaction. Once you've got it, you need to nurture it by delivering value on all future interactions. Improvement in customer experience and support can lower churn by as much as 15%.

B2B industries rely especially on client retention. To retain these critical relationships, there should be cultivation. The easiest way to do this is to get technology involved in the process. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) can help keep track of customers, communications with them, where they are located in the sales funnel or repurchase cycle, and much more. This vital data can assist you in nurturing customer relationships while boosting retention and sales numbers.

3. Improved consistency

Poor or inconsistent customer service and support can cost you even your most loyal customers. Almost a third of customers say they will stop doing business with a brand they love after as little as one bad customer experience.

B2B customers expect – and demand – a consistently high level of support. Having a partner that is consistent and has follow-through builds trust across the customer base and within the organization. Individuals who bring on reliable partners often gain a reputation internally for supporting the business and being responsible. Developing a structured approach can help with delivering a consistently positive experience for customers.

4. Improved revenue opportunities

There's real ROI in enhanced customer experience. In addition to improving customer satisfaction, loyal customers buy more as well as buy more often. 70% of customers are willing to spend more with companies that provide them with great customer support.

Generating revenue from viable ROI leads requires a deep knowledge of your target audience and their needs. From this information, you will be able to understand how to reach them and what kind of messaging will appeal to them at the moment. You will also need to access information from your current customer base so that you can develop personas based on higher-value clients are looking for in a product at the moment. If you set tangible goals, measure the results of each sales campaign, and analyze how you can improve more each time, you will see improved results each time.

5. A competitive advantage

In a hyper-competitive environment, you need to provide an extraordinary experience. A Forrester study report reveals that only 9% of companies feel they have created a superior customer experience that exceeded their competitors. This represents a huge competitive opportunity.

Adopting a customer-centric strategy

So much of a company's efforts tend to focus on gaining potential customers leading up to the sale. However, you also need to put resources into customer support after the sale. Done right, your customer experience efforts can serve both purposes.

To improve your B2B customer experience, you need to put the customer in the center of your strategy. This means a structured, efficient system for your customer support team. It means putting the information your team needs to track at their fingertips and delivering a quality experience to your customers quickly and efficiently.

By targeting and also selling to businesses who will be willing to work with your B2B business for many years to come, you may reduce your own costs and drive up revenue. Once a new client is obtained, great strides need to be made to make sure they are satisfied and keep doing business with your company. This requires developing a deep, professional relationship nurtured through marketing, trust, and regular contact through talented sales representatives.

Customer Identity Management

When clients call with a question or problem, you need to be able to quickly identify them and track their past contacts. You should have a database that shows which products they currently have. There should be an easy way for customer reps to quickly assess concerns and escalate problems.

Knowledge base

Your support team needs a robust knowledge base to allow them to serve customer needs. You may also wish to have a customer-facing solution to allow 24/7 self-service. Within the system, you will want to link feature requests and bugs to your ticketing.

Ticket management

Your CX team will need immediate access to all prior interactions to quickly build and track tickets. Your customer support system should also allow for custom conditional fields and automated ticket routing.

Omni-channel support

Customers communicate in various ways these days, including phone, text, chat, and social media – sometimes in the same conversation. You need a seamless way to serve your customers in every channel without making them have to repeat information.

Also, make sure that the full internal team is communicating with one another. It's an all-too-common lament: siloed sales and marketing teams cause miscommunications opportunities. However, this issue can be resolved easily through increased communication. By encouraging regular dialogues between the teams, goals and strengths can be united. Stronger internal relationships translate to stronger strategies – and a growing bottom line.

Integration

CRM (Customer Relationship Management), Help Desk, and other business tools need to be integrated smoothly. APIs can connect with internal systems to avoid duplication of effort and more comprehensive workflows.

Reporting

You also need a way to track interactions and assess effectiveness. Reporting and analytics can provide business intelligence, customer insights, and track customer support effectiveness.

Improving your customer experience

How important is Customer Experience for B2B? A study by Accenture reveals 90% of B2B executives believe improving customer experience is critical to achieving strategic priorities. In fact, nearly three-quarters of businesses say that improving customer experience is their top priority.

To improve your customer experience, you will need a robust technology infrastructure with a flexible architecture. This infrastructure should provide a systematic and organized approach for customer support teams, a historical perspective on clients, and a structured approach to solving problems and concerns.

Only then can you improve your overall customer experience and deliver increased customer value to improve your bottom line in the long run.

Nearshoring: A Unique Alternative to Independent Contractors

Posted: 13 Sep 2019 11:00 AM PDT

Regardless of the industry, there is one obstacle every business owner must overcome: hiring help without going bankrupt.

Human capital is the single most important asset a business has. However, the cost of hiring the right talent can be tough to swallow. That is even more true for startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

What, though, should small business owners do, at least in the early stages of their business, to find qualified employees without incurring financial problems?

Business owners look for creative hiring solutions that won't kill their bottom line and leave the business bankrupt before it ever has a chance to get going.

Two of the most common solutions they come up with are freelancers or independent contractors, or outsourcing to extremely low-cost countries in Asia. There is a better solution that is right under most business owners' noses.

The challenges of outsourcing to Asia has been covered ad nauseum. Utilizing independent contractors can have significant consequences for your business if you aren't careful.

In this article, I outline the pitfalls of using independent contractors and discuss an alternative that could be the perfect balance for SMEs.

The challenges of working with independent contractors

Businesses turn to independent contractors or freelancers for obvious reasons. Primarily, they help a business avoid dealing with complicated employment and tax laws that can have expensive ramifications.

Independent contractors can often complete a job quickly, and unlike using offshore outsourcing companies, contractors are fluent in English, which makes communicating expectations and the parameters of a project easier.

There are significant risks that business owners either push to the back burner or don't comprehend, though, when it comes to using this type of employment structure.

The enforceability of independent contractor agreements

Most independent contractor agreements are virtually worthless. They are nearly impossible to enforce, unless you are hiring through an agency. You have no idea whether a contractor will be trustworthy.

Most independent contractors work for themselves; they are freelancers, and, as a result, don't carry liability insurance that could protect you if you were ever sued by a client.

You could employ a contractor through an agency and have the agency's liability insurance as a backup, but many agencies have contracts in place to protect them in the event of a lawsuit.

Tax liabilities of working with independent contractors

The Internal Revenue Service defines an independent contractor as "an individual…[who] has the right to control or direct the result of the work and not what will be done and how it will be done." They further clarify that "You are not an independent contractor if you perform services that can be controlled by an employer."

For businesses that misclassify employees, the IRS can levy the following penalties:

  • A $50 fine for each W-2 form that has not been filed
  • A fine of 1.5% of total wages for not withholding income taxes
  • A 40% penalty of FICA taxes that were not paid plus 100% matching FICA taxes that the employer should have paid. Interest also accrues from the date taxes should have been paid.
  • A penalty of 0.5% the unpaid tax liability for each month it is unpaid up to 25%.

That alone could sink many small businesses.

Independent contractors' legal obstacles

It's also possible that an independent contractor could report you to the IRS claiming they are an employee. While you may not face tax penalties, you will have to open your books to the IRS.

Apart from independent contractor agreement enforceability and potentially being reported to the IRS, there are other potential consequences. How labor-friendly the state where your business is located in can determine how the laws ‒ and your actions ‒ are interpreted.

Maintaining consistent quality

This last concern is less about tax and legal liabilities and more about working with a contractor. Freelancers need to have multiple clients, which means you never really know how much time, or care, they are devoting to your projects. And that can have a drastic impact on the products or services you provide to customers. If you want to build a good reputation and engender the trust and loyalty of customers, you must provide consistent quality to customers.

How nearshoring solves these problems

As a business owner, there is an option to hiring independent contractors or freelancers. You could potentially nearshore your operations to a country located right next door, like Mexico. Nearshoring in Mexico offers advantages for businesses based in the United States and Canada.

First, it can eliminate the liabilities that come with working with independent contractors, including the issue of recourse should you ever be sued.

Second, with nearshoring, you could reduce potential tax liabilities because you are paying a third party that employs the worker. There is no claim that they are independent as they are employed by the agency.

Third, because the nearshored employee works for a third-party, any potential legal claims that arise are directed against their employer – not you, the client of the employer. Further, using an agency does not require you to establish operations in the nearshored country.

Fourth, with nearshoring, it is easy to maintain consistent product quality. You can train workers precisely on the work that needs to be completed, and you can have it done exactly the way you want it.

You should always seek tax and legal advice from your advisors. Nearshoring, though, could help you scale your business while avoiding the pitfalls that come with employing independent contractors.

Business.com does not provide tax or legal advice. Readers should consult their own attorney(s) or tax advisors to understand the tax and legal consequences of any strategies mentioned in this article.

Analytics Achieving Retail Victory for Data-Centric SMBs

Posted: 13 Sep 2019 07:30 AM PDT

Ecommerce has come as a significant challenge for brick and mortar stores, but retail analytics have saved the day for them. Physical stores open to adopting retail analytics have found answers to meet the challenges of how the business will be done in the changing environment. 

Brick-and-mortar stores are expecting the profits from retail analytics resolutions to comprehend the hitches in their storefront business policy. With these explanations, many enterprises would surely able to recognize their expectations of the customers, such as what are the actions of the client? What does he want? When to visit the store and so on. Also, they could achieve proper results of their best marketing products, such as maximum conversions and what the top hours of sales will be.

Retail analytics provides a comprehensive picture

  • There may be many problems with the issues data-centric as there can be an absence of the correct implements for gathering and attaching info. Or maybe there can be tools. However, it is difficult to use them with full potential.
  • For a competitive edge over their online counterparts brick and mortar stores will need to get customer shopping behavior analyzed and improve shopping experience based on the data.
  • Retail analytics provides a chance to understand and reorganize store operations according to customer requirements. 
  • One emergent trend is that brick-and-mortar stores must have an online or multichannel presence. 
  • Analytics discovered that several customers who browse products online make purchases only at physical stores. 

Therefore multichannel analytics will give better insights about the purchasing path customers follow. Armed with these insights, retailers can make more accurate decisions about how their stores operate. 

What retail data analytics can provide

Because of the absence of a complete proof as well as an efficient method to check the exact influence of retailing choices, retailing has always been carefully measured as an art, related with a set of principles. With the considerable growth in online website sales, there has been a new shopping arrangement where the customer actually investigates the anticipated products in any store and later buys them online.
 
Because of the appearance of people searching tech, new methods to examine in-store performance and measure the influence of retailing exertions have industrialized. To enhance marketing strategies, a data manufacturing policy could also be of considerable assistance to retailers. Retailers could monogram the experience of in-store to start and determine faithfulness by providing incentives or offers to the recurrent customers to make sure that there are a lot of purchases, attaining advanced sales all over the channels.

Data retail analytics will allow:
 

  • Physical stores to understand their customers' requirements over and above purchases better.
  • Businesses to find answers to what more retailers can do to make the shopping experience in their store different, fun and exciting. 

 
Retail analytics identifies the needs of each location 

 
Retail analytics identifies the unique needs of a brick-and-mortar store in different locations. Retailers can tailor their store based on customer needs as they can stock up on those products that customers are not purchasing online. If a store provides paint for home improvement, perhaps providing brushes and ladders too could add value and seal the deal. Through retail analytics, retailers can understand what products customers never purchase online and which ones they do. Retail analytics will provide a brick-and-mortar owner with insights about the assortment of products that they can make available in the different localities. Analytics can help measure the effect of a product switch, so you don't make a massive investment without analyzing if you will retain customer loyalty.  
 
Retail analytics can help you target specific customer segments. Retail analytics has helped brick and mortar stores to adapt to customer tastes and preferences according to age and gender. Analytics help them identify factors like location, population, income, presence of competitors, etc. to derive a winning formula for their store. Retailers can also realign their store portfolios according to sales performance with the help of data provided by retail analytics. The data will enable them to resize or reformat their stores and even close down those in localities where there are more online purchases. 

Customer journey analytics in the retail industry

Nowadays, it is very informal and straightforward for the clients to enter all type of info with the help of channels such as social media, mobile and online websites. This creates a choice of procurement and acquisitions suitable for the patrons. At the same time, clients have begun to expect a lot of things from the productions, such as providing reliable info, unified understandings through networks that reproduce antiquity, favorites and benefits. The sellers need to familiarise with considerate and linking with its patrons uninterruptedly. This is conceivable only when the retailers have informations that might support every client's outline and account through many channels.

Complicated retail queries could be solved, such as:

  • Undertakings on each phase in the client's journey
  • The higher value consumers as well as their conduct
  • The most excellent probable method to reach them

 Brick-and-mortar analytics: Giving them what they want

The fundamental thing to any fruitful, customer-facing industry is gauging the demand of the market. Customers currently suppose a good product understanding when buying from a firm. However, it's problematic to gather knowledge to their requirements and wishes when there is no analytics as well as the expertise that brings the information to dealers. Brick-and-mortar companies that have not succeeded to preserve the assurance with the developing merchandising expertise tendencies will not only look out for themselves incapable of striving with industry businesses leading online stores.

The sustained development and acceptance of online shopping are making new-fangled tests for brick-and-mortar stores. Though, by applying the correct use of analytical implements, such stores have no reason to get threatened. Physical stores carry on to be an appreciated network for stores for the reason that they provide a tangible experience where online websites cannot. The development of shopping online would not be the departure of offline stores. Nonetheless, it would need brick-and-mortar shops to modify their philosophy. With the correct combination of information, visions, approaches, and activities, offline retailers could still flourish. Few of the highest appreciated consumers are incredibly involved at brick-and-mortar stocks. Retailers must reply by classifying and pointing them with a suitable selection of product.

Essential strategies for connecting the physical and digital division:

  • Exploit on valued customers: connecting consumer's data with a verified subdivision scheme, you could get understandings about customer demographics, routines, choices, approaches, and standards. 
  • Take advantage with the BOPIS trend: An important third party subdivision structure could help classify customers, safeguarding that stores are sufficiently stocked and operated.
  • Analyze shopping outlines: To enhance the selling of a new store location, a retailer requires to know the preferences of customers and also customers shopping patterns.

5 Tips for Building Useful Website Forms

Posted: 13 Sep 2019 05:00 AM PDT

Do you currently have a website that's lacking traffic and high-quality leads? If so, you're not alone. Both professional bloggers and business owners struggle with getting more eyes on their website and improving contact with their audience. Believe it or not, 63% of business owners say that generating leads and getting more traffic is their greatest struggle. 

What if we told you that the forms you use on your website could have a significant impact on the way you interact with your audience? That's why we are here today. We are going to take a look at the following topics: 

  • Importance of forms
  • Why you need a 2-step opt-in 
  • How to find pointless fields in your forms 
  • Creating an attractive value proposition
  • Adding alternate contact methods 
  • Using Google Analytics to track your form traffic 

The goal is to explain why you need high-quality forms on your website and how to make them useful for generating leads and traffic. 

Importance of forms 

There are plenty of different reasons for including forms on your site. Both business owners and bloggers frequently use forms as a way to allow subscribers to sign up for their newsletter. Forms are also useful for contacting you with questions, signing up for events, online ordering, allowing customer feedback, and much more. 

The value of having forms is far-reaching, and you're going to want to include at least a contact form on your website. If you create the right type of form, you can generate leads, while promoting your products and services. 

Have you ever tried to contact a website, only to find that their communication is lackluster and sometimes non-existent? Odds are, you bounced from that website and never looked back. Here's the thing: consumers who come to your site feel the same way. If they can't reach you when they need something, they will leave and not think twice. 

Maintaining a healthy relationship between your audience and business is crucial to your success and the happiness of your audience. Now let's look at several ways you can build useful forms for your website. 

2-step opt-in 

First, let's look at a debate that has persisted since the feature was added to many form builders. Should your form have one step or two? Some marketers say one-step forms are the best because they generate additional leads. While it's true that you may see an increase in traffic with a form that has one step, but two-step forms will provide you with a stronger, more engaged audience.

One-step forms have the fields that the consumer has to fill out, then an approval button. Two-step forms require the user to click once to say they are interested in the deal or contact page, and then they have to fill out the required fields and click submit. The two-step process takes a couple of seconds longer, but the lead quality makes up for the consumers who change their mind halfway through the process. 

The method behind the madness is pretty easy to follow. If your forms have one step, you're more likely to have people click through and sign up without considering whether or not they are interested in continuously engaging with your business or blog. On the other hand, 2-step opt-ins are more deliberate and require the consumer to think through their decision. Consumers who are genuinely interested in what you're offering or contacting your business will complete this extra step. 

Limit the number of fields 

Another essential factor you should consider is the number of fields in your form. We have all landed on contact pages with so many forms that you wonder if they are going to ask what you had for dinner. You don't want your audience to feel this way, especially if you're using a 2-step opt-in. 

Your goal is to make the contact/sign up process as easy and pain-free as possible for the consumer. Before you launch your next form, look at your required fields, and determine if they are all necessary to your overall marketing goals. For instance, it makes sense to ask for an email address if a consumer wants to sign up for your mailing list. However, it makes far less sense to ask about their location or phone number. 

The required fields section will vary based on your industry and how you operate your business. As a general rule of thumb, it's usually beneficial to ask for consumer's email addresses and first/last names for personalization purposes. 

Create an appealing value proposition

Your value proposition plays a massive role in the usefulness of your forms. Why would anyone bother to contact you if they have no idea what to expect? Small promises or details go a long way in securing trust and confidence in your audience. 

For example, your contact page might say, "Have questions? We have answers." Similarly, if you decide to create a contest, you'll want to list the details of the contest on the sign-up form so consumers know what they could win and when you'll announce the winner.  

If your goal is to get people to join your mailing list, entice them with a value proposition they can't refuse. Offer a free ebook or checklist to help make their decision easy. Don't forget to include what to expect if they sign up for your email list. Will they receive blog posts? Updates on products? A mixture of both? These details are important and worth considering when creating your online form. 

Add alternate contact methods 

Accessibility is vital for consumers who want to get in touch with you, but need a secondary option. On your contact page, include the other ways viewers can contact you if they have questions or concerns. 

Use this opportunity to display your social media links and business email address. You want to leave as many doors open as possible. The key to obtaining new leads is communicating with them through their preferred method. For example, if consumers don't check their email often, they may want to get in touch with you through Facebook or Twitter. 

Use Google Analytics to track stats 

Finally, make sure you add Google Analytics to Wordpress if you want to make forms that are useful for your business or website. Google Analytics allows you to track how many people clicked on your form, signed up or left early. 

You can use this data to build better forms in the future. If you notice a large percentage of your audience bouncing from your form once they hit a required field, this could be a sign that you have too many fields. Similarly, if many people click your form, but no one subscribes, this could be a sign that you need to enhance your value proposition. 

There's a lot we can learn from analytics, and adding this feature to your forms can give you valuable insight and allow you to create better forms. 

Bottom line

Online forms are the preferred way for consumers to reach brands. It's not hard to see why people feel this way. The level of convenience and privacy compared to platforms like social media make forms a crucial part of the web design process. 

If reaching your target audience and getting more leads is your goal, forms are a great way to start. After you build your website, design a contact form so consumers can get in touch with you if they have any questions about your site. Next, you can work on the more sophisticated uses such as marketing or allowing customers to send feedback. Overall, forms are the fastest and more efficient way to enhance your website.
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