Commentary – 2
Affise: “B2B rewards and incentives help businesses retain customers and build brand loyalty. This is achieved by offering some kind of prize in return. This prize might be a physical reward, or some other sales incentive. Often, these rewards are offered for spending over a certain amount, or making a certain number of purchases. They may be done in conjunction with a channel partner for greater efficiency. The B2B market is different to the B2C market, and B2B merchants face unique challenges. Business customers are looking for different things compared to a consumer, which should impact your planned B2B rewards strategy. The most obvious difference is that any deals you make are fewer in number but greater in importance. This means you need to think about what value you’re offering to a business customer, as much more is riding on this deal.”
SmartKarrot: “B2Bs can tap into several benefits, including access to reliable customer data, encourage up-selling and cross-selling, and gain actionable insights to enhance business strategies.”
Comarch had this chart based on a commissioned study conducted by Forrester on its behalf.
strategy+business: “In a recent PwC customer survey, almost 60% of B2B customers reported they had never had an experience with a brand that made them feel special. That’s an alarmingly high percentage of customers who’ve been given no particular reason to stick around. But the implications of consumer loyalty for B2B companies are enormous, and, if anything, as crucial as they are for consumer-facing companies. After all, it can cost five times more to acquire a customer than to retain one, and on average the most loyal customers account for up to 80% of a company’s revenues. For companies willing to reimagine the traditional transactional nature of their B2B relationships, a loyalty program represents an important growth opportunity. But in this regard, B2B customers can be a tough nut to crack. Many times, the B2B “buyer” is actually more than one person—including those in procurement and finance, along with heads of business, for instance—and these individuals have different needs. Companies must figure out who to pursue: the whole entity or the different purchasers? And getting targeting right is just one piece of the puzzle. To be successful, a B2B loyalty program must also align with the customer’s strategic goals and transform transactional relationships into dynamic partnerships designed to promote mutual success… It won’t be long before loyalty programs begin to take off throughout the B2B world, particularly as the economy springs back from its pandemic lows. And once relationships become sticky, the switching costs for customers will only grow. This should be incentive enough for companies to get serious about showing some love to customers.”
