The personal experiences of corporate banking clients—hyper-relevant, simple, instant and more—are shaping their expectations for their business-to-business (B2B) experiences. In payments, for example, corporate customers want immediate transactions akin to a retail purchase done over a mobile app. Payments leaders are taking notice and action.
B2B payments leaders are prioritizing client experience for growth
B2B payments in the US is a $30 trillion market. Pre-, during and post-payment customer experience (CX)—from sales and servicing to origination and reconciliation—are defining how payments leaders distinguish themselves to protect and/or gain market share and enhance margins.
Yet, this distinction is predicated on payments providers’ ability to do two things: keep a deep understanding of client needs and how they may evolve throughout the B2B relationship, and adapt engagement approaches, go-to-market offerings and operations.
How deep is your understanding of your commercial bank customers?
Delivering a distinct B2B CX requires a very deep understanding of clients’ needs, both at the company and the role levels. The cash flow pattern of a manufacturer of wine-making equipment and accessories, for example, is much different than that of a health care provider. In a QuickBooks study, 66 percent of business owners report that the time it takes money to process after receiving payment has the largest impact on their company’s cash flow.¹ Similarly, CFOs need integrated dashboard visibility into expenditures compared to those in the accounts payables department who need direct access through business-software suites.
With an intimate understanding of the nuances between clients and the specific traits of a single client, payments providers can better improve their CX performance across the board—from more innovative and tailored service to channel interactions to spend optimization. It means incorporating “smart” technologies, such as artificial intelligence and intelligent automation, to turn data-driven client understanding into strategic action.
Engagement approaches, go-to-market offerings and operations
Much of that strategic action will be to engage and delight commercial bank customers with compelling offers delivered at high speed and efficiency. For payments providers, we see four key actions to take to improve their CX with corporates:
- Run on a single, harmonized portal that serves as the data “source of truth” for provider teams and client stakeholders
- Mine client and industry data for insights to drive targeted, optimally timed actions
- Expand functional-area focus from just hitting the metrics to collaboratively serving clients
- Integrate into partner ecosystems (such as B2B marketplaces) and client systems (such as ERP) to extend value to clients
For more information on how payments leaders can preserve revenue and margin through B2B CX, read our Payments Pulse Survey: Two ways to win in payments
1Intuit QuickBooks, “The State of Small Business Cash Flow” 2019
