2nd Annual Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Study Underway

The role of customers in business-to-business companies is being explored in the Second Annual ClearAction Business-to-Business Customer Experience Benchmarking Study. As the only global analysis of best practices to create excellent business customer experiences, this research effort provides insights to executives who want to maximize value for their stakeholders and clients alike.

This comprehensive survey answers these questions: Who in the organization has overall responsibility for driving customer experience improvement? What are the primary goals, motivations, and obstacles for customer experience excellence? And to what extent does the company strive to understand customer perspectives, build customer-centricity, and create customer value?

Business-to-business (B2B) scenarios are underemphasized in other customer experience studies, which tend to highlight consumer sentiment, customer service contact centers, customer management tools and technologies, or specific geographies and industries. “B2B customer management is exciting,” explains Lynn Hunsaker, Customer Experience Strategist at the management consulting firm ClearAction. “Ongoing conversation and tweaking among a variety of functions influencing the purchase decision characterize the B2B environment, typically with customized offerings at high unit prices, such as machinery and enterprise software. In reality, poor customer experiences in the B2B world can have far-reaching personal impacts, and the social factor at trade shows, forums, and alliances is just as important to manage in B2B firms as it is for B2C companies.”

This second annual survey differs from the 2010 baseline study which explored the functional owners of various customer experience programs, and the degree of organizational deployment. The 2011 questionnaire consists of about 40 questions to gauge comprehensive aspects of customer experience management.

Customer experience management (CEM) is an emerging discipline that some companies view as the determinant of corporate strategy, while others view it as a component of customer-facing professionals’ roles to grow revenue. CEM is a composite of customer service, voice of the customer, co-innovation, experiential marketing, customer relationship management (CRM), customer references, internal branding, and similar efforts. The vast array of CEM approaches across companies will be assessed in this study to determine meaningful patterns for differentiating the customer experience.

Best practices and recommendations will be shared with survey respondents in a complimentary copy of the study report. As another token of appreciation, participants may receive a complimentary copy of the ebook Customer Experience Improvement Momentum. To maximize integrity of the study’s findings, participation is limited to B2B companies that do not provide customer experience tools and methods to others. To participate in the 2nd Annual ClearAction Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Benchmarking Study survey, contact info(at)clearaction(dot)biz.

About ClearAction
ClearAction LLC is a customer experience consulting firm specializing in customer-centric innovation, enterprise-wide employee engagement in customer experience optimization, and customer relationship skill-building. Lynn Hunsaker, head of ClearAction, is on the advisory board of CustomerThink, The Customer Care Network, CustomerExperienceOne, and Marketing Operations Partners. She is author of three ebooks: Innovating Superior Customer Experience, Metrics You Can Manage for Success, and Customer Experience Improvement Momentum.

About The Insight Advantage
The Insight Advantage is a full-service research firm, providing a wide range of services (web surveys, focus groups, telephone interviews) to help companies implement customer research for ongoing insight into their customers’ evolving needs and expectations. Jennifer Berkley Jackson, head of The Insight Advantage, is an extension faculty member of University of California – Santa Cruz.