“Digital Hesitation” is a technology business book that examines why most B2B companies need to reach the full potential of their digital transformation efforts. It also discusses, in detail, the specific actions they need to take on the eight toughest challenges we see at the TSIA. This business book on digital transformation was written from the perspectives of a dozen experts who interact with and advise the world's top technology companies daily. It covers high-level issues like influencing the board to fully commit to digital transformation and specific topics like the next generation of sales and services operating models.”

Delivering an exceptional Digital Customer Experience (DCX) is no longer optional—it’s a critical differentiator for B2B companies to stay competitive. However, much of the guidance around DCX tends to focus on B2C companies, leaving B2B organizations to navigate unique challenges independently. This blog will highlight key findings from chapter three of “Digital Hesitation,” titled, “Confronting the Unique Challenges of B2B Digital Customer Experience.” It examines the complexities B2B companies face in creating an effective DCX and outlines actionable strategies to overcome them.

Let’s explore the key challenges and solutions your company can leverage to build a seamless, end-to-end digital experience that reduces costs and improves your customers’ journey to value.

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Why B2B DCX Needs a Rethink

Many B2B companies struggle to deliver a truly integrated DCX. This disconnect often stems from a fragmented, department-first approach, where each team manages its processes and systems without considering the broader customer journey. The reality is that a subpar digital experience can cost your company dearly—and up to 40% of company expenses may be compensating for inefficiencies in your DCX. Plus, your market share could drastically shift based on how effective your DCX is.

As the pace of digital transformation accelerates, taking a fresh look at your B2B digital strategy is crucial. Failing to prioritize an efficient and customer-centered DCX may severely limit your ability to scale and compete.

What Is Enterprise-Grade DCX?

Before diving into the challenges, defining what enterprise-grade DCX looks like is essential. A comprehensive DCX should:

• Provide the right experience in the right channel, starting from the customer’s first touchpoint.
• Be consistent and integrated across the entire customer lifecycle, from the initial sales and onboarding to value realization and expansion.
• Enable customers to achieve their targeted business outcomes repeatedly and reliably.

In short, it’s about delivering a seamless, holistic experience at every journey stage.

Related: Digital Hesitation: Are You Ready for the Wave of Digital Transformation?

The Three Core Challenges Facing B2B DCX

B2B companies often fail to deliver an integrated DCX despite their best intentions. The following are the three most significant obstacles to success.

The Consumption Gap

As B2B technology companies add more features and complexity to their products, customers often struggle to fully adopt and utilize these innovations. This leads to what TSIA calls the "consumption gap"—the widening divide between product complexity and customers’ ability to leverage these features effectively. Over time, this gap can erode customer satisfaction and hinder renewals.

• Impact: Companies invest heavily in customer support, field services, and customer success to help bridge this gap.
• Solution: Streamline product design and focus on creating features that deliver immediate, tangible value to the customer.

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Siloed and Stovepiped Digital Experiences

Too often, B2B companies approach DCX with a fragmented approach, where each department creates its isolated digital systems. This stovepiped approach results in inconsistent, disjointed experiences for customers interacting with multiple teams during their journey (e.g., marketing, sales, support).

• Impact: Customers face multiple disconnected experiences, leading to frustration and inefficiency.
• Solution: Shift from a department-first approach to a customer-first strategy. Focus on unifying the digital experience across all touchpoints to ensure consistency.

Misalignment With Customer Desires

Finally, many B2B companies struggle to align their DCX with customers' wants. Whether they fail to capture the correct data or offer a personalized experience, companies often miss the mark in understanding and meeting customer needs.

• Impact: Misalignment reduces customer satisfaction, making renewing contracts or expanding relationships harder.
• Solution: Develop a deep understanding of customer personas and map out tailored experiences for each customer journey segment.

Related: Reimagining the B2B Customer Lifecycle

Closing the Consumption Gap: Reducing Complexity and Enhancing Usability

To close the consumption gap, companies must rethink how they design, sell, and support their products. Here are a few key steps to take:

• Simplify product features: Focus on core functionalities that customers will use rather than overwhelming them with endless options.
• Automate onboarding: Reduce time-to-value by automating as much of the onboarding process as possible, ensuring customers can start using the product quickly.
• Invest in adoption analytics: Use real-time data to monitor how customers use your product and adjust your approach to ensure they realize total value.

By simplifying the product experience and providing better support, you can close the consumption gap and boost customer satisfaction and retention.

Related: Complexity Kills: Why Simplifying Your Business Is Crucial for Digital Transformation

Breaking Down Silos: Creating a Unified DCX

A seamless customer journey requires breaking down the silos that exist within many B2B organizations. This means integrating all departments' systems, processes, and data to create a cohesive digital experience. Key strategies include:

• End-to-end integration: Ensure the customer journey is smooth from the initial sales interaction to ongoing support and renewals.
• Unified data systems: Create a central repository for customer data that all departments can access, ensuring everyone has a full view of the customer’s interactions and needs.
• Consistent customer communication: Make sure every department communicates with the customer in a unified voice, reducing the likelihood of mixed messages or inconsistent experiences.

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Aligning With Customer Desires: Personalizing the DCX

Your DCX must align with what your customers want and need to stand out. This requires personalizing the experience based on their unique goals and pain points. Ways to achieve this include creating a DCX that is:

• Persistent: Support techs are aware of every interaction with a customer across assisted and unassisted channels, so each interaction is part of an ongoing conversation, not a “one-off” call, email, or chat.
• Personalized: Self-service content is filtered so customers see only information relevant to the products/versions they own, such as dynamic FAQ lists specific to their account.
• Prescriptive: Leveraging artificial intelligence to be more proactive, including anticipating and predicting issues, and streamlining agent activities by prompting for the best action.

You can build deeper customer relationships and improve long-term retention by prioritizing personalization.

Building a Future-Ready DCX

Improving your DCX won’t happen overnight, but it’s a journey worth embarking on. By addressing the consumption gap, unifying your digital experiences, and aligning with customer desires, you can create a DCX that enhances customer satisfaction and drives business growth. The successful companies will invest in building a future-ready, customer-centric digital experience.

Your Key Takeaways

• Address the consumption gap to maximize value: Many B2B companies overwhelm customers with complex products, leading to a significant "consumption gap." Simplifying product features and automating onboarding is critical to ensuring customers can quickly realize value and fully adopt your solutions. By focusing on usability, you reduce support costs and improve long-term retention.
• Unify your digital experience across departments: Siloed, department-first approaches often result in disjointed digital experiences for customers. To overcome this, companies must break down internal silos, integrating systems and processes to create a seamless journey from initial contact through onboarding and beyond. End-to-end integration is critical to delivering a consistent and cohesive experience.‍
• Personalize the experience to align with customer needs: Customers expect more than generic interactions—they want personalized experiences tailored to their specific goals. Automated value reporting, predictive analytics, and tailored expansion offers can help you align with customer desires, leading to stronger relationships and improved retention rates.