Customer experience has become one of the biggest buzzwords in ecommerce – but are dealers truly meeting the mark in light of the rapid changes in how audiences engage online?

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared in Dealer Support

In the summer issue of Dealer Support, we spoke with Dani Attard of Comgem to explore what dealers are getting right, where improvements are still needed, and how the sector can better adapt to evolving customer expectations.

“Everyone’s talking about ‘customer experience’ or CX. And they should be. But for most people in our industry, their technology is holding them back. Your buyers go home and order from Amazon or book a holiday on their phone with zero friction and that’s the experience they now expect from their supplier. Most of dealers have a web shop and a decent search. That’s progress! But the real problems are much deeper. There is a lot of fragmentation. A customer gets one price online, another on the phone and sees a different stock level on the app. It’s a massive own goal, and it screams that your systems aren’t talking to each other.

The Myth of “Self-Service”

A pretty website slapped on top of a creaky, disconnected back office is like putting a Ferrari body on a tractor engine.  “Self-service” is often a myth. Customers want to see their entire order history – online and off – in one place. If you can’t give them that, you’re not offering self-service; you’re creating a chore. A lot of ‘personalisation’ is skin-deep. Real personalisation isn’t a mailshot with a first name. It’s showing a customer their specific pricing, their contract items and content that actually helps them do their job. You can’t do that if all your customer data is scattered.

When we talk about that customer experience, do you think there’s a tendency to focus more on the immediate or initial experience? There’s a huge obsession with getting the sale. Getting the customer to find a product and check out. But that’s like a restaurant spending all its effort on taking your order and then forgetting to bring you the food. Treating your ecommerce platform like just a till is a massive, missed opportunity. The real gold for loyalty and repeat business is in the after-sales experience.

Customers Want Control

Your customers are crying out for control. They need one place to see every order they’ve ever placed (online, offline, mobile, all of it), reprint any invoice on demand, manage returns without a dozen emails and handle their own user permissions. Dealers need to stop the generic “thanks for your order” emails. Use that unified data to send replenishment reminders for things they buy, useful tips on the products they’ve purchased, or a quick, relevant satisfaction surveys. Show them you know who they are.

The future of B2B ecommerce is clever, personal and happens everywhere. It’s going to be defined by a few key trends, and dealers who aren’t on top of them are going to be left behind.”