B2B vs. B2C Customer Service: the Differences and Trends You Need To Know

When you think about customer service, the first thing that would pop into mind for most is perhaps that damaged product you need to swap, return or get a refund for. Or trying to reach your internet provider due to bad Wi-Fi connection, for example. These are the usual B2C customer service interactions that we all come across on a daily basis. Another instance is B2B customer service - business to business exchanges.

In some instances, companies can provide excellent B2C, but lack the support for B2B. A good B2B customer service example is Amazon. They excel in B2C customer service, it is their motto after all - Jeff Bezos has said customer obsession is one of their 4 keys to success.

On the other hand, there have been several instances in the media about their B2B seller service, sellers having to pay for Amazon’s mistakes and waiting for weeks to get a reply. This approach won’t work for most small and medium sized businesses. Larger businesses like Amazon, projected to surpass $500 billion in revenue in 2021, knows their sellers will keep using their platform despite.

So, the question is, does small business customer service have to differ from large? How can this be improved without spending a large budget? In the following article we do a little deep-dive into the main differences between the two, to help you decide how to appropriately support your direct customers as well business customers.

Definition of B2B and B2C customer service

If you are a small business owner, you could be catering to: consumers, other business owners, or both. If you own a B2C business, you are serving the end consumers, in B2B, you are operating in the business-to-business market. But often, depending on the industry, you need to first get the product to sell to your end consumer, meaning your business will have to deal with both.

B2C - Business to Consumer customer service

With B2C customer interactions, you need to take care of products or services that are sold directly to the customer, as a single person. Restaurants, retail chains, ecommerce companies are all great examples of D2C businesses. With the growth of the internet, webshops, such as Ebay or Amazon, became popular, selling directly to the end consumer.

Compared to B2B customers, end consumers purchase just for them, direct-to-consumer companies have smaller basket sizes, they sell to single customers. They are influenced by product features, usability, prices and discounts. Customer service agents have to deal with issues around product returns or swaps (wrong sizes for clothing or damaged products), refunds & payments, complaints, shipment tracking and deliveries, and product queries, to name a few.

B2B - Business to Business customer service

B2B SaaS companies expect more personalized and hands-on support as they are dealing with higher order volumes and expect more dedicated support. For most B2B interactions, it is rather important to have a specialized account manager, instead of having customer care agents that support all customers.

Business partners need to know they can get support to get stuff done, and don’t need as much of the niceness as in B2C interactions. As wholesale (B2B) customers have much higher order values, B2B customer support should fully understand the industry their customer operates in and be treated as a partner rather than single customers: you can’t sell a product you don’t have.

For example, a brand selling on Zalando is a wholesale customer of Zalando - buyers purchase products from the brand in bulk to then resell them on their marketplace. As a brand, you need someone to support you with any issues regarding production, order and stock deliveries when dealing with the marketplace.

What are the main differences between B2C and B2B customer support?

A good sales and marketing strategy can win over B2B clients and should be handled differently than B2C customer service strategy. There are differences in main communication channels, client / customer behavior and expectations - so how could we expect the same approach for both?

Different communication channels / methods

1. B2C: live-chat, FAQ knowledge base, mobile devices, B2B customer service reviews

In most cases, customers don’t want to contact customer support - it's the ultimate inconvenience. I have been waiting for a reply from Asos regarding a faulty returns label, postponed contacting Amazon regarding a refund I never received for a product I sent back a month ago and delayed contacting Zalando for an unpaid invoice. So yes, it is an inconvenience and it can be time consuming.

First you call, then you listen to the options, you choose the options, you wait. You listen to the music, you listen to more music, you listen to the music for 30min, you get connected! Just to be disconnected. That’s why live-chat and social media has become the preferred methods of contact.

Customers want to use channels that provide fast support that is available to them at all times. According to Businesswire, Gen Z consumers are 60% more likely to hang up if a phone call isn’t answered to in under 45 seconds, and 45% use their smartphone to research products or reach customer support. The main communication channels are therefore mobile devices - messages and social media, chatbots & FAQ knowledge bases.

Self-service portals are growing in popularity - they provide instant access to information and save time for businesses.

2. B2B - email, desktop, customer service wholesale software, B2B ecommerce

In contrast, B2B interactions require a higher level of personalization than just an FAQ base. Those clients or partners who need B2B support are usually working from the office / from home on computer anyway and don’t need mobile support as D2C customers. Therefore, the preferred methods at the moment are still B2B customer service emails, personal phone calls, ticketing software systems and also live-chat. However, there are signs that trends are moving to a different direction.

Different aim and need

1. B2C - returns & refunds, deliveries, complaints, product queries

Another main difference between B2B and B2C customer service is the reason why they contact customer support. Usually these interactions and concerning issues that are fairly easy to solve and don’t need much dedicated, long-term support. For example, issues with damaged products, issues with the service provider, product queries, returns & refunds, deliveries (where is my order?!) or complaints.

2. B2B - shipment delays, stock deliveries to the warehouse, damaged shipments, order management, sales meetings

B2B businesses, on the other hand, are much more likely to have problems that are highly complex and much harder to solve. There is usually more at stake due to higher order values. Usually multiple teams have to get involved.

For example, if there is an issue with how the shipment is packaged, customer service managers have to get in touch with logistics teams. Or if the product is incorrectly labeled, they have to get in touch with the buyers of the business to solve any production issues.

Different way of support

1. B2C - customer service agents, support agents

Direct customer interactions require fast handling and come in high volumes. Usually there are large customer service teams set up for this. There is no specific agent assigned to a single customer as the cases are so one-off, and can be solved without personal interaction due to the nature of these cases.

2. B2B - dedicated account managers

Business-to-business interactions, on the other hand, are more like partnerships than one-off direct-to-customer interactions. It isn’t ideal that these cases are handled by normal customer service teams and should always have a dedicated account manager - these businesses market their products and services at an account / wholesale level. These kinds of sales processes add a level of extra complications - terms & conditions, purchase prices, order quantities, legal issues always involve negotiations.

B2B and B2C customer service best practices and main trends

1. B2C - automation, B2C customer support software, personalization, AX, omnichannel, self-service

Consumer behavior has changed immensely in recent years. Customer expectations are high in 2021, especially now that the sales have shifted to online. Research suggests that 59% of the consumers care more about the customer service now, after the Covid-19 pandemic. The increase in competition has contributed to the need for any company to provide excellent customer experience (CX) in order to remain competitive.

The main trends include agent experience (AX) - companies need to care also for their support agents, after all happy agents = happy customers. The ways to help your agents include: better customer service software, enhanced training, providing context and access to customer data. Personalization will be in the centre of attention - collecting and analyzing your customer data can help in providing friendly and highly customized support. More and more tools and customer service software allow this.

Automation saves time for both customers and businesses and avoids unnecessary interactions. Focus on tools and software helps companies to include higher levels of automation in the CX strategies, so they could focus on solving more complicated issues.

Omnichannel strategy has been gaining popularity in recent years - people want to be able to shop on all possible channels - in stores and online. Similarly, they expect to access customer service across multiple channels - from social media, live-chat, messages, phone calls to emails.

2. B2B - automation, self-service portals, “B2B ecommerce”, B2B customer support software, omnichannel, self-service

The main trends in B2B customer service differ a little due to the nature of these issues. However, there is overlap. We talked about how important it is to have a human account manager to support your business customers, but there is also a trend towards self-service in B2B customer support in the form of “B2B commerce” - online self-service transactions.

We can also see many trends carry over from D2C - personalization and omnichannel support. Using data and customer service software to get new leads, for example, LinkedIn info linking directly to a support software.

McKinsey found that omnichannel support in B2B is here to stay and is rising in popularity. As face-to-face interactions and meetings moved online, businesses need support across all channels: mobile - Whatsapp, Wechat, social media and emails. It also predicts that 64% of B2Bs intend to increase the number of representatives that interact with customers via video, phone and apps with occasional in-site visits.

Therefore, account managers in B2B support will remain extremely important and won't go anywhere - the same goes with customer service agents in B2C face-to-face interactions. However, it will be more and more important to provide hybrid, omnichannel support.

To sum up - know the difference to customize your support

All in all, to provide good customer service on both levels, the key is understanding the customers, whether business or direct consumers. B2B providers have to have a deeper understanding of their customers and know the company products / services in and out. What mostly differentiates B2C from B2B customer support services are higher order volumes, longer sales cycles and closer and more meaningful relationships that should be treated like partnerships.

In B2B, communication and being connected is key. Bearing in mind that as a company you are communicating both business-to-business, as well as person-to-person. Treating your business customers like your direct customers can go a long way and teach a few lessons. Many trends in the customer service space will overlap, that’s for sure. However, the main differences remain and will have to be customized to each use-case.