By: Sean Jolliffe, Senior Manager, Digital Transformation & CX

As the demographic of B2B buyers becomes more diverse and economic uncertainty increases, traditional B2B marketing tactics and engagements will no longer cut it. While purchase journeys have always been complex, these new behaviors require new approaches. Sales and marketing leaders must embrace self-serve and adopt more innovative experiences to engage and convert their audiences. In this article, we’ll explore how brands use innovative experiences to create meaningful interactions with their customers.

What are innovative experiences?  

Creating innovative experiences begins with a focus on customer-centricity. This means looking at customers as people as well as B2B decision makers and understanding their behaviors and needs that ultimately influence their decision-making during the buying experience. If businesses focus on this first, they will be better set for success as they begin designing their experiences. This is especially important as the B2B buyer demographics are shifting younger than ever before. In 2023 64% of B2B buyers are now millennial and gen Z (Forrester 2023), both generations yearn for self-serve product discovery and consideration methods. It’s on businesses to listen and react to what this group needs as part of their buying experience to ensure they will even be in their consideration set now, and in the future.

Personalization isn’t ‘table stakes’ 

A key tactic for delivering a customer-centric experience is adding personalization to both self-serve and face-to-face interactions. In fact, 74% of buyers expect an experience personalized to their needs and preferences across all sales and marketing interactions. These days, businesses have the opportunity to leverage the power of AI to develop these personalized experiences. It can help replicate experiences that customers already see through products like Spotify personalized playlists and Netflix's use of specific thumbnails for their content that cater to individual interests. 

Product walk-throughs to engaging demos 

Another way to create innovative experiences is to embrace emerging technologies such as augmented and virtual reality. These technologies can help create immersive experiences that engage customers in new and innovative ways. 

These rich and interactive product demos were featured on the wish lists of 60% of B2B buyers (McKinsey & Company Global B2B Pulse 2016 -2021), and emerging immersive technologies play a major role in this space. We have seen businesses use AR to create interactive product demonstrations that give customers the power to explore product features in 3D. For example, agricultural equipment manufacturer John Deere embraced VR to allow customers and journalists to experience their products as if they were on the farm during a virtual demonstration. Ganesh Jayaram, the Chief Digital and Information Officer at John Deere, stated, "If you’re able to provide a digital experience that mimics the physical world, it enables customers and employees to be much more engaged with the product." 

Embracing your community   

We know B2B buyers want to discover products themselves, and they also want to know what their peers think. A traditional product spec or demo meeting will no longer be enough to convince them. 

With increasingly large communities of users discussing their likes and dislikes in online forums, we are also seeing B2B businesses encourage and lead these conversations. Dell Technologies recognized a lack of trust from decision makers towards IT providers and decided to take action by partnering with Reddit to create a best-in-class I.T. Squad. This became the go-to resource for key decision makers in their purchase journey. 

As decision makers grow increasingly dissatisfied with current vendors, brands that are able to elevate their customers' experiences in the buying journey, and not just the user journey, will win. Those who are able to adopt, adapt, sometimes circumvent technology, and embrace experience innovation will lead the way in creating more engaging interactions and will ultimately see ROI through sales growth and commercial effectiveness. 

Systematically evaluating and evolving the end-to-end, omnichannel buyer experience is now as key to B2B sales success as it has always been to B2C buying journeys. Using tools like persona development, empathy mapping, customer journey mapping, and experience innovation, you can build a long-term roadmap to test and learn and improve your customers' buying experiences in the short, medium, and long term." 

Wrapping it all up 

Treat your B2B customers like B2C consumers and focus on meeting elevated experience expectations that are set outside of typical B2B interactions. 

• Consider how you might create consistent, personalized experiences that span self-serve and guided interactions with your sales team. 

• Bring your product to life in interesting, immersive, and relevant ways. 

• Engage with and lead your customer communities with thought leadership and full lifecycle guidance. 

• Build a systematic customer experience practice to own, measure, and manage the full omnichannel customer buying journey.