• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, February 26, 2021

B2B buyers have moved beyond basic personalization — they now demand “individuation, a one-to-one interaction tailored to a customer’s specific organization and pain points,” according to Transforming the B2B Ecommerce Experience In A Digitized Landscape, a study by Capgemini. 

But have B2B sellers caught up with them? Only 48% of buyers receive email offers that are significantly personalized to their companies’ needs, the study says. Another 40% say they get moderately personalized offers. 

Yet 60% of buyers rank personalized emails as one of their top three resources. 

In general, 38% expect advanced personalization. And they are willing to surrender a little privacy to get it.

For instance, 67% of buyers are comfortable with suppliers using their data to personalize their experiences and offers — as long as the company is transparent about how it is done. And almost 100% are comfortable with suppliers using their data in some form.

What drives B2B loyalty? For 46%,it’s inventory and pricing transparency. And 43% are drawn to subscription commerce/auto-refill capabilities.

But don’t throw everything at one form of customer engagement.

“While sales organizations may think of a successful connected experience as simply offering different touchpoints (a website, email marketing), the data from this report shows that customer loyalty is won through a connected ecosystem of storefronts, customer insights, and back-end systems,” the study notes.

Meanwhile, executives with sole decision-making power over purchases at their companies are even more likely to demand accuracy and transparency. 

Among them, 66% ay accurate product descriptions are a top-three driver of supplier trust, versus 60% of all procurement officers. 

Moreover, 55% of those with sole authority say inventory and pricing transparency is a top three loyalty driver, compared to 46% of all procurement officers. 

And, 56% say inaccurate product descriptions are among the main three experiences that will make them less likely to return to a supplier. In contrast, 49% of all procurement officers say that. 

Here are the overall stats. The top five drivers of supplier trust are:

• Accurate product descriptions — 60%
• Advanced pricing features for complex orders — 33%
• Recommendations from a trusted platform — 30%
• Suggested offers based on search — 29%
• Insight into available inventory — 28%

And the leading motivators of supplier loyalty:

• Inventory and pricing transparency —  46%
• Subscription commerce/auto refill — 43%
• Product searchability — 37%
• Personalized offers or suggestions based on past purchase — 35%
• A personalize online portal — 28%

What turns buyers off? The primary annoyances are:

• Inaccurate produce descriptions — 49%
• A lack of insight into available inventory/untrustworthy product data — 42%
• A lack of advance pricing features for complex orders — 36%
• A lack of review — 32%
• Price is too high — 32%

Capgemini surveyed 650 U.S. B2B sellers and buyers in two waves — in February 2020 and in September 2020, after COVID-19 had fully hit.