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I woke up today and noticed that we’re 20 days away from 2024! If you’re like me and still haven’t begun preparing for next year then this issue is for you.
The best thing about December is that it comes with a whole lot of end-of-year insights.
We begin this one with…
B2B and B2C Customer Engagement Trends
This one is based on a survey by Salesforce, a marketing SaaS giant, of 14,300 consumers and business buyers from 25 countries. Here are the key takeaways:
- 62% of surveyees say they’ve re-assessed their priorities, ranking cost of living as a top concern followed by well-being
- 81% of customers are expecting faster service as tech develops
- 78% of B2B buyers expect businesses to adapt their products to their changing needs
- 79% of customers expect consistent interaction and persona across different departments
- The trust gap is widening as AI-business tools become the norm
- 72% of consumers say they have switched brands due to better deals
- 85% of B2B buyers expect personalization to be better, given the amount of data companies collect
- 74% of customers expect to be able to do anything online
- 89% of consumers say it’s important to know if they are communicating with AI or a human,
2024 Digital Customer Experience (UX) Trends
Contentsquare, a SaaS company, surveyed 2751 professionals working in marketing, UX, and product development in a variety of industries and across 48 countries, asking them about 2024’s UX predictions. Here are the key takeaways:
- Data-driven insights are a skyrocketing product. The big-data market is projected to hit $8.4 billion in 2024.
- 88% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as the service or product it sells.
- Companies that focus on personalization secure 40% more growth. That’s why expect to see the term “hyper-personalization” a lot in 2024.
- Personalization with AI and AI-powered business tools will dominate the business scene; however, the main growth is projected in our ability to integrate them into everyday business operations.
- Customer-centric companies are approximately 60% more profitable. Transitioning from a one-size-fits-all to a customer-centric approach is the way to go.
- The number of touchpoints consumers use before buying has tripled from two to six on average. In 2024, it’s all about creating one unified experience. And that means brands must take action now to support future front-end innovations.
- Social commerce will hit $1.2 trillion by 2025, your customers are searching for products and buying them through social media.
CRM Priorities for B2Bs
Keeping track of leads, sales activity, and managing customer relationships often means 10 different spreadsheets and many small details to keep track of, enter the importance of Client Relationship Management (CRM) software.
If you’re a small business, here’s our top 5 recommended CRMs
SugarCRM, a CRM provider, surveyed of 800+ sales and marketing leaders about how B2Bs use CRM.
Here are my key takeaways:
- 33% use CRMs for cross-selling and up-selling; while 32% use it for mid-funnel lead generation
- 40% say that lead scoring is becoming their top function in CRMs
- Intelligent forecasting is the top feature businesses are looking to adopt
- 95% say it’s extremely important to have a comprehensive view of customer interactions across teams
- 41% say the top challenge when dealing with CRMs is the technical integration
B2B Influencer Marketing is on the Rise: Here’s how to make it work for you
This one is from marketing giant, Oglivy, where the agency interviewed almost 500 B2B decision-makers from a variety of industries. Here are the key takeaways:
- 75% of B2B decision-makers around the world currently use influencer marketing, of which 93% are planning to expand their use of influencers in 2024
- The biggest payoffs from working with B2B influencers are increased brand awareness and growth in sales or ROI
- 60% of responders say their B2B-influencer deals are to promote content; 41 say it’s for product endorsement; 38% ask them to act as brand ambassadors
- 89% of C-suite marketers recognize that using employees as influencers holds immense value for their businesses