A customer’s experience is related to all their interactions with a brand.
According to Forrester, content management plays a crucial role in this respect.
An inefficient asset lifecycle has negative impacts on customer experience, even for B2B customers.
In this article we understand why and delve into the concrete economic impacts and benefits that a platform like THRON provides.
Paraphrasing Forrester’s definition1, Customer Experience (or CX) can be defined as “the way customers perceive their interactions with a specific organisation”.
Expressed in the B2B world, CX is nothing more than the way a customer company perceives its interaction with a specific organisation.
Commercial buyers do not discount it: 80% of them expect a similar buying experience to B2C2. And in the B2B world, a customer’s experience is much more than a sum of perceptions.
Source: 75 must-know Customer Experience Statistics to move your business forward in 2022, 2022, SmartKarrot.
Interactions between companies are business processes and their performance are strategic for all organisations involved.
There are several quantitative metrics that measure the impact of a good business partner experience and, according to Forrester3, content plays a key role in this respect.
1 Customer Experience Defined, 2010, Forrester.
2 75 must-know Customer Experience Statistics to move your business forward in 2022, 2022, SmartKarrot.
3 The State of B2B Content, 2022, Forrester.
When two companies collaborate, they do so through processes fuelled by content and information.
To understand the key role of digital assets, let us a classic example of a B2B relationship: that between a manufacturer and a reseller.
In addition to economic and financial flows, the processes of the two organisations are intertwined because the first shares digital assets with the second throughout the entire purchasing cycle.
In this specific case, the manufacturer shares content and information about the products to be sold with the reseller that need content and information to best position the products on its end channels.
Example of B2B relationship and related digital assets flow without THRON
Each asset has its own lifecycle that, if not managed appropriately, generates negative impacts for both companies, particularly in terms of the B2B Customer Experience, because:
It is obvious: if assets are not managed properly, the negative effects are very impactful and the risk of a real domino effect is just around the corner.
But what are the underlying causes of chaotic content management?
In Forrester’s report The State of B2B Content, gli analysts identify four:
Causes behind chaotic content management by marketers (source: Forrester)
Quoting Forrester, “Content drives the customer experience“.
To enhance the B2B customer experience, therefore, one needs to manage the entire customer lifecycle and, by extension, the entire lifecycle of each digital asset.
To do this, the solution is to rely on a DAM software and a PIM software such as THRON.
THRON makes a decisive contribution to digital asset management and maximises the quality of the customer experience because marketing and product assets can be securely and dynamically managed and distributed to end customers and business partners from a single platform.
Returning to the example, a manufacturing company that chooses THRON PLATFORM has a hub within which to centralise processes and the most up-to-date version of each piece of content, complete with all the necessary information and classified according to the taxonomy rules established by the brand.
Within the platform, each asset is quickly searchable and is shared in real-time and securely to corporate customers via an integrated brand portal.
“People used to spend a lot of time searching for assets to share with our B2B customers, who happened to have to wait days for them. With THRON all this can be done with a couple of clicks.”
Chief Marketing Officer – Manufacturing Company
The Total Economic ImpactTM of THRON. Cost Saving and Business Benefits, 2022, Forrester
In this way, reseller quickly access all the assets they need such as images, videos and product sheets, templates or corporate guidelines. Translated: the brand reaches consumers instantly and consistently.
Example of B2B relationship and related digital asset flow with THRON
In addition, content analytics capabilities make it possible to analyse the performance of each asset and gather insights to build data-driven strategies and personalise the user experience, be it B2B or B2C.
The importance of personalising the shopping experience is not only of interest to the consumer world. In B2B, customising the buyer experience can increase sales by up to 30%4.
THRON’s quality expertise, however, is not limited to B2B customers but extends to all business partners.
This is the case, for example, with photographers and post-producers, with whom it is possible to collaborate centrally and efficiently to assign, approve and manage product shoots.
In this sense, THRON can be defined as a tool that enhances the experience of all business partners, not just customers (Partner Experience).
4 75 must-know Customer Experience Statistics to move your business forward in 2022, 2022, SmartKarrot.
The Partner Experience provided by THRON offers tangible benefits, emerged from the analysis5 carried out by Forrester on a sample of companies using the platform.
Among the benefits most closely related to the B2B Customer Experience, we find three:
THRON brings autonomy and agility to the digital asset lifecycle.
In a nutshell, it enhances the partner experience for customers and stakeholders, B2B and B2C.
5 The Total Economic ImpactTM of THRON. Cost Saving and Business Benefits, 2022, Forrester.