Personalization has always been important to sales in the broadest sense. Consider the instances you enjoyed shopping the most when a store made you feel comfortable. Perhaps a great salesperson not only assisted you in locating the item you were searching for but also suggested alternatives or add-ons that enhanced the value of your purchase. The key to bringing great shopping experiences to the digital world has been personalization in e-commerce as more and more buying has gone online, a trend that was accelerated by the pandemic. B2C retailers raised customer expectations and set the standard for all e-commerce, including B2B sales, as they were among the early adopters of digital personalization tactics.

Customers who shop online today expect personalization, and there are many use cases for boosting the sales process with personalization throughout the entire customer journey in the B2B sector where the buying cycle can be terribly complex. Consumers expect businesses to provide personalized experiences, and 76 percent become annoyed when this doesn't happen, according to McKinsey. Compared to other players, businesses that succeed at customization pull in 40 percent more profit from those activities.

Knowing how to offer customers the ideal products at the ideal time in their online shopping journey and delivering it all with a first-rate digital experience is really the key to personalization success. Therefore, how can B2B businesses provide personalized experiences that surpass that of B2Cs? How will they customize the sales process for their business and corporate clients? 

De-Risking B2B Buying Experience - B2C customers are at a lower rate of risk while buying online as they are exposed to N number of reviews and ratings on products but it is not this easy for B2B user base to explore new products due to the high risk of non-performing articles. Brands can de-risk the B2B experience by offering returns on procured products, credit lines, and sales officer support who help retailers and wholesalers with product recommendations to improve margins and in turn profits.

Use Personalized Sorting to Personalize the Shopping Experience - It is no secret that personalized product recommendations can massively increase your online sales. Microsoft bought LinkedIn in 2016 for $27 billion. According to studies, there were 40 million corporate decision-makers and 61 million senior-level influencers in LinkedIn's user community. In fact, 94 percent of B2B marketers' content is distributed via LinkedIn, making it their preferred platform. Their personalized recommendations were a big part of their platform's success. The website for LinkedIn displays a heavy reliance on recommendations. The content that appears in their feed is decided by the connections in their network or the search keywords they have submitted.

By automatically ranking and reordering the results on product pages to display the specific products an individual shopper is most likely to engage with first, personalization allows for the customization of the shopping experience. 

Smart Communication Through Various Channels - WhatsApp and push notifications are two different techniques to use personalization to address situations like abandoned carts, back-in-the-stock messaging, and more. A great way to get customers to opt into your notifications is to offer them the option to be notified as soon as a product becomes available or to get new discount updates. The same and more can be done through channels like SMS and WhatsApp too. 

Promoting Challenger and Regional Brands - Another tried and tested way to personalize the experience for small businesses is by offering them a mixed basket of the top FMCG brands along with some challenger regional brands. In India, a lot of buying behavior is driven by cultural preferences in taste and regional likeability. So promoting region-specific brands to targeted audiences can help SMEs to personalize the buying experience for the B2B sector.