Comparing B2B and B2C CX Obstacles

In previous posts, I compared customer experience (CX) management efforts and CX competency assessments across these three types of companies:

• Companies that primarily serve businesses (B2B)
• Companies that primarily serve consumers (B2C)
• Companies that serve both business and consumers (B2B & B2C)

As part of our research for the report The State of Customer Experience Management, 2011, we asked companies to identify significant obstacles to their CX efforts. Here’s how those different firms responded:

Here are some of my observations:

• “Other competing priorities” is the biggest problem for all companies, but it is much more of an issue in B2C firms
• B2B firms run into three obstacles considerably more than B2C firms: “lack of commitment from senior executives,”lack of leadership for CX efforts,” and “lack of a clear customer experience strategy.”
• The obstacles that B2B companies face represent a lack of internal commitment to making major CX improvements

The bottom line: B2B firms lack the CX commitment of B2C firms