5 Ways to Differentiate Your Brand to Improve B2C Sales

The business to consumer (B2C) sales market is highly competitive. Ask anyone who’s worked in B2C sales, and you’ll hear how difficult it is to gain market share. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t put some differentiated sales and marketing strategies to work for you and your business. In this blog, we’re going to cover some key tips and strategies for improving B2C sales outcomes. But first, let’s get clear on a few things. 

What Is B2C Sales? 

B2C stands for business-to-consumer, which means you sell to individual customers and not to businesses or business representatives. Any industry that sells to individual people uses a B2C model. Compared to a B2B, the B2C model usually has a shorter sales cycle, a lower purchase value, and more personalized marketing that focuses on how the product/service will benefit the individual. 

Now that you are familiar with B2C sales, let’s take a brief look at the B2C sales cycle itself. 

What Is the B2C Sales Cycle? 

The business to consumer sales cycle can generally be broken down into the following core steps, often referred to as the customer journey. Keep in mind that yours may vary a bit. 

• Awareness. Here consumers are made aware of your brand and offerings with advertisements, marketing campaigns, and other avenues that get the word out about your company or product. 

• Interest. Consumers research information about your product or your general product category. Note, this step may be bypassed entirely if your marketing effectively captures the value of your product.

• Desire. Now, the consumer feels motivated to move closer to making a purchase. This might involve adding the item to an online shopping cart or asking to speak with a salesperson.

• Action. The consumer completes the transaction. They either take their purchase home immediately or have it scheduled for fulfillment and delivery. 

• Post-Sale Returns. Returns are a crucial aspect of the customer journey, especially for consumer goods. This stage also presents an opportunity to upsell or cross-sell. 

• Customer Service. The likelihood of consumers becoming repeat buyers often hinges on the quality of customer service they receive throughout the sales cycle. This is why it's crucial to have a modern, intelligent customer experience platform that empowers your employees to effectively support and engage with customers.

Now that you know the typical B2C sales cycle, let’s dive into those tips to improve your B2C sales results. 

Tips To Improve Your B2C Sales Outcomes

Here are some ways to differentiate your brand and improve your sales results: 

• Make it easy. A successful B2C sales process is seamless, connected, and should be as effortless as possible for the customer. Make sure you have intuitive, data-informed steps that customers can navigate – each step should feel so easy that customers aren’t even aware of the process. This is where your technology needs to be orchestrated across every customer touchpoint and empower every employee to have as much context as possible when engaging with customers. 

• Be clear and refreshingly honest. Consumers are overwhelmed with options. The more clearly you can communicate the facts, benefits, and features of your product – and connect it to how it will improve your customers’ lives – the easier you make it to choose your brand. That said, marketing hype quickly turns to noise in a crowded market, so cut to the chase, be honest, speak real, and say what is most important for a customer to hear. 

• Personalize it. Consumers value personalized interactions with brands. Invest in technology that delivers real-time customer intelligence and context so you can make customers feel that you know and value them. 

• Add a human touch. In today’s rapidly advancing world of AI and automation, a human touch will make your brand stand out. Find ways to make things more human, to engage sales associates with your customers, or provide simple touches like handwritten notes in packages. One of the biggest differentiators brands can have today is to deliver human connection. 

• Deliver exceptional support. It’s not always top of mind in the B2C sales cycle, but so much of consumer loyalty rests in how well you support them during and post-sale. Great support depends on having the right technology platform, well-trained people, and connected partners in place. 

Now that you have these tips, go back into the B2C sales cycle and find ways to implement them at every step. You’ll craft a customer experience that sets your brand apart and wins over your customers. 

Visit www.Five9.com to learn how to design an exceptional customer experience.