This Is What 86% Of B2B Customers Think Brands Should Be Doing

There are two research and information companies and websites looking into the inner workings of the B2B world – McKinsey & Company and Gartner. Both have released invaluable insights into the changing world of B2B and the ever-changing demands of B2B customers.

The latest article by Gartner, published in June 2022, looks at the growing tension between personalized experiences and personalized privacy.

They found that 86% of B2B customers now expect companies to be well-informed about their personal information during a service interaction.

That correlates with the Salesforce data, which highlighted how 89% of B2B customers put personalization as one of the key factors for winning their loyalty.

Below, we’ll look at what personalization buyers expect, how to protect personal privacy, and how to utilize data to maximize personalization.

What Personalisation Do Buyers Expect?

Buyers can be demanding, but with 86% of buyers willing to spend more with a brand that gets them, it’s essential to explore what personalization they might be looking for from B2B brands.

As the Gartner study found, one simple way to – yet now essential for buyers – personalize the sales cycle is simply knowing about the brand during an interaction. That might be a company name, location, niche, and even sales goals.

But the current studies reveal that only one in five B2B brands have a personalization plan that supports buyers and nurtures long-term collaboration.

A personalization plan might be the view to offer b2b loyalty programmes that offer reward-based spending, sending out personalized newsletters, or simply knowing who the people are involved in the buying team.

Personal Information Privacy Consideration

As Gartner pointed out, there is a clash between the race to offer personalized experiences and knowing personal information during a sales interaction. But only 75% of personal information stored will be covered by privacy regulations by 2025.

But buyers are worried. In 2021, a 650% increase in software hacks often led to the theft and distribution of sensitive personal information.

Many companies are taking a data-driven approach to creating personalized experiences, meaning mass amounts of data are flooding online platforms. The mass influx of data flooding the internet combined with the rise of cyberattacks is leading to concern.

Gartner thinks that brands can effectively manage the battle between personalization and data safety by being explicit about consent management, and the intended use of the data can prevent buyers from feeling concerned.

Related: Challenges of B2B Marketing

Utilizing Data To Maximise Personalisation

Personalization and data collection are still key, despite the growing concerns for data safety on the internet. Artificial intelligence (AI) is thriving in the B2C industry for brands hoping to create more personalized and targeted experiences.

Now, the B2B industry is following suit, with 87% of B2B marketers adopting AI to improve personalization and 53% to improve marketing effectiveness.

AI and Big Data technologies can easily collect thousands of personal company information like names, telephone numbers, emails, and more to maximize personalization.

The latest figures also show that 85% of B2B brands will use intuitive AI-based selling by 2025. The rate buyer expectations and demands are changing is exponential, but personalization is one of the simplest demands to meet.

At the core, personalization is about knowing the buyer and the company – and data collection methods like AI are helping brands understand a company with ease.

Personalization doesn’t have to be tricky – 86% of buyers only want brands to know their personalization information. How hard can that be?

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