Final thesis How can B2B companies improve their customer experience How can B2B companies improve their customer experience By using sensory marketing in a digital context Author Caroline Hallgren &[.]
How can B2B companies improve their customer experienceBy using sensory marketing in a digital context Author: Caroline Hallgren & Paula Mamusha Supervisor: MaxMikael Wilde Björling Examiner: Kaisa Lund Date: 26 May 2021 Subject: : Business Administration III Level: Degree of Bachelor Course Code: 2FE67E Abstract Sensory marketing is a broad concept that can be used as a marketing tool The sensory marketing can be used in different ways and in different environments The most common use for sensory marketing in a B2C environment where the customer can interact with their senses more.But how B2B companies comprehend sensory marketing in a digital environment The use of sensory marketing is a hard marketing tool to use when applying it to the digital environment Therefore, the purpose of this thesis has been to examine how B2B companies can implicate sensory marketing in digital marketing and how it can affect their brand image The research questions were to be answered by using qualitative case study where eight different industries within the B2B companies participated in semi-structured interviews Using the qualitative method to get a more in-depth understanding of how different industries within the B2B companies use sensory marketing is the right choice for collecting correct data Later in the theisi the collected data is going to be analyzed and discussed with the theory for the purpose to see similarities and differences The conclusion of this explains to those B2B companies that were interviewed for this thesis, that the use of sensory marketing is not a conscious decision The companies use vision and hearing as a subconscious method of spreading awareness about the companies Although the B2B companies feel it's hard to imply for the business the choice of using the other sense is not aucurrent for their business Keyword B2B company, sensory marketing, digital marketing, customer experience, brand image and touchpoints Acknowledgement We would like to express our deepest appreciation to all the participants that have dedicated their time and knowledgment to help us with completing this bachelor thesis Therefore we would like to send a special thanks to all of the interviewees that has taken place in this thesis without their help, knowledge and time our research would have been completed This bachelor thesis would not have been possible without the support, valuable advice and nurturing of our supervisor MaxMikael Wilde Björling We would also like to send a special thanks to our examiner Kaisa Lund as well as our opponents for their time and constructive criticism during the seminars that have helped us develop and improve the quality of our bachelor thesis Linnéuniversitetet Kalmar, 21 May 2021 Caroline Hallgren _ Paula Mamusha Table of Contents Introduction 1.1 Background 1.2 Problem discussion 1.2.1 Theoretical problematization 1.2.2 Research gap 1.2.3 Managerial problematization 1.3 Purpose 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Delimitations 1 3 4 6 Theory 2.1 Relationship within B2B in a digital environment 2.1.1 Introduction to the subject 2.1.2 Relationships in B2B marketing 2.1.3 B2B marketing in a digital environment 2.2 Stimulating the customers five senses 2.2.1 Introduction to the subject 2.2.2 The four different elements in Sensory marketing 2.2.3 The connection between Sensory marketing and Customer Experience 2.2.4 Response and stimuli 2.3 Adapting sensory marketing in a digital environment 2.3.1 introduction to the subject 2.3.2 Advantages with marketing in a digital environment 2.3.3 Sensory marketing adapts in a digital manner 2.4 Brand Image & Expectation 2.4.1 Introduction to the subject 2.4.2 The experience economy 2.4.3 Image, expectations and touchpoints 2.5 Theoretical synthesis 7 7 8 9 9 10 10 11 11 11 12 13 Methodology 3.1 Research approach 3.2 Research strategy 3.3 Research design 3.3.1 Multiple case study 3.4 Type of data 3.4.1 Primary data 3.5 Research method 3.5.1 Semi-structured interview 15 15 15 16 16 17 17 17 18 3.6 Operationalisation 3.7 Selection of Cases 3.7.1 Company and employees criterias 3.7.2 Table of cases 3.8 Data Analysis 3.9 Quality of research 3.9.1 Reliability in qualitative research 3.9.2 Validity in qualitative research 3.10 Ethical considerations 3.11 Sustainability considerations 18 18 19 19 20 20 20 21 22 22 Empirical findings 24 4.1 Company cases 24 4.1.1 MilliFormis 24 4.1.2 Advoco communication 24 4.1.3 MADE FOR 25 4.1.4 Company A 25 4.1.5 Grant Thornton 25 4.1.6 Tellit/ Finansia 26 4.1.7 WiseIT 26 4.1.8 Stokab 26 4.2 General strategies within marketing in case companies 27 4.3 Starting to know your customer 28 4.4 Stimulating the customers five senses 29 4.4.1 Sensory marketing in B2B companies 29 4.4.2 Barriers for adapting sensory marketing 31 4.4.3 Gain benefits and differentiation through Sensory marketing33 4.5 Brand Image & Expectation 34 4.5.1 General strategies within Brand image in case companies 34 4.5.2 Brand expectation in correlation with Brand image 37 4.5.3 Customer journey mapping and touch points 40 4.5.4 The value of understanding the customers expectations 42 Analysis 5.1 Stimulating the customers five senses 5.2 Image & expectation 5.3 Knowing your B2B customer in a digital environment 5.4 Sensory marketing adapts in an digital environment 45 45 46 48 49 Conclusion 51 6.1 Answering the research question 51 6.1.1 How B2B companies use sensory marketing to enhance their brand image 51 6.1.2 The barriers for companies for using sensory marketing in a B2B digital context 52 6.2 Theoretical Implications 52 6.3 Managerial Implications 53 6.4 Social, Ethical and Sustainable Implications 53 6.5 Limitations 54 6.6 Suggestions for future Research 54 Introduction 1.1 Background In this thesis, the authors have chosen to examine how B2B companies use sensory marketing in a digital environment to improve their customers' experience Before this study began, a prejudice existed, that it is mainly B2C companies that use the benefits that sensory marketing can contribute to organizations A curiosity was created about whether this prejudice is true but also if and why B2B companies not use this opportunity to the same extent as B2C companies If it were the case that the prejudices are not correct, i.e that sensory marketing is as common in B2B companies as it is in B2C companies, it may indicate that B2B companies are generally more discreet in their marketing Another possible explanation for whether the prejudice could be wrong is that the authors are significantly more involved in B2C marketing than the authors are in B2B marketing because the authors are currently not part of B2B companies' target group This may mean that the current prejudice is unfounded and is a conclusion that will be reached after the end of the work Webbstrategerna.se (2021) defindes that the B2B buying processes have changed over time This means that companies 'sales strategies must change as the business customers' buying behavior changes 83 % of all purchases made through B2B companies are made on their own by consumers (webbstrategerna.se 2020) Only 17 % of the purchases made involve a supplier or with a personal contact (ibid) This means that resources that have previously been invested in sales interactions between companies and buyers must instead shift focus For the purpose of helping the customer with consumption according to their new purchasing needs (ibid) Instead, companies need to shift focus to supporting digital consumption and educating the customer online (ibid) The companies who help and facilitate the customer's purchase journey are then the ones who succeed in attracting most of the customers (ibid) Previous information is proof that further research on B2B marketing is necessary Buying behaviors are constantly changing as society becomes increasingly digital The traditional B2B marketing largely consists of salespeople at the company who close a deal physically present with the customer According to the statistics above, this is proof that there has been a shift At present, only 17% of sales are made through an interaction (webbstrategerna.se 2020) As customers' buying behaviour changes, the supplier needs to comply with this The interest in this thesis is based on how companies can, with the help of sensory marketing, create a better experience for the customer online Since customer experience is a broad concept the focus in this thesis will be on image and what expectations of a brand that a corporate image creates According to an article published on Linkedin.com, Williamson (2020) states that the customer's expectations of a brand's experience are the same regardless of whether the customer is at work or in their private role B2C companies seem to have come further in their marketing in terms of adapting to the customer's needs (Linkedin.com, Williamson 2020) 94% of all marketers in B2C use data and analysis to get to know their customers' needs and to create an understanding of the experience for the customer (ibid) While B2B marketers are considered to have come shorter in this process of switching to a more customer-oriented view (ibid) Forbes.com (2020) states that customer experience is an important and prioritized topic in terms of B2C contexts But as far as B2B companies are concerned, this development has lagged behind where customer experience is not prioritized to the same extent (ibid) It is believed that the reason for this is that B2C companies work with individuals and that it should be easier to personalize the marketing (ibid) Therefore, Forbes.com (2020) decbrice this view as B2B companies can make them fall behind in the development (ibid) It is considered that B2B companies can become better at working with their customer experience by listening to their customers and clearly identifying the difficulties the specific person is facing at the time (ibid) It is pointed out that even if it is a company you are targeting and not a private consumer, it is still people you talk to and thus the relationship with the customer is important even in a B2B context (ibid) Forbes (2020) highlights that when working with B2B or B2C, the relationship and creating an experience is important (ibid) Forbes.se (2020) suggests that regardless of whether you operate in B2B or B2C, B2P (business to people) the relationship and experience is important (ibid) After comparing different companies' websites, the authors can see that the common thread around sensory marketing in a digital environment is that B2B companies stimulate sense vision For example, a company called Bravura uses moving images on the website to convey a feeling (Bravura.se) But what the authors of this thesis have not been able to find is how B2B companies use other senses to create a multisensory experience A B2C company that is good at involving more senses is for example Nelly.com, for their clothing they have a recorded video where a model shows the clothes (Nelly.com 2021) this can to some extent create a perceptual re-creation (Petit, Velasco and Spence, 2019) That is, replacing the need to feel and try a product by helping the customer to visualize The biggest obstacles that exist to using sensory marketing in a digital environment compared to a physical environment is that it is difficult to completely replace the ability to feel, smell and taste goods (Petit et al., 2019) The solution to this problem is to try to find new ways to virtually replace them with a visualization (ibid) To circumvent the actual problem that the customer is not physically present, companies as mentioned above can use perceptual re-creation In turn this requires creativity to find new complements But from what the authors have seen, B2C companies succeed with this but not B2B companies to the same extent What this depends on is difficult to identify in this stage of research, but one thought is that B2B companies use physical contacts to sell and not provide web shops to the same extent as B2C companies 1.2 Problem discussion When the authors started this research, the authors started exploring what has been studied so far The reason for this is to find a research gap so that the authors could be able to add new insights and conclusions to the subject The authors of this thesis were able to conclude that there are some studies that have been done on sensory marketing in both a B2C context and a B2B context What the authors were able to establish is that no one has investigated this phenomenon based on digital environments 1.2.1 Theoretical problematization A previous study by Hulten (2011) aims to investigate sensory marketing and its importance for building a clear brand image (Hulten 2011) For the brand to create a general good experience, an important factor is sensory marketing, where the five different senses have a significant factor in creating sensory experiences and stimuli (ibid) An image is created and shaped based on how the customer receives the impression of a company By raising awareness of the effect that sensory marketing can generate, companies can improve their marketing but succeed in creating a better experience for the customer (ibid) The conclusions that could be drawn from that article were that the more senses that the company stimulates, the better sensory experience is created for the customer (ibid) This will then create a stronger bond between the company and the customer (ibid) What defines sensory marketing is an involvement of the customer's senses, which is vision, sound, smell, taste and touch which affects the perception, evaluation and behavior (Moreira, Fortes & Santiago 2017) Sensory marketing has a connection to multisensory marketing where you as a marketer consciously stimulate more than one of the five senses of the consumer (Hulten 2011) When integrating sensory marketing into the marketing mix, a marketer can create a better experience for the consumers Which in turn adds value to the business and improves the consumer perception of the business (ibid) Another study done by Dinet, (2014) addresses that digital marketing is a changing phenomenon where customers' buying processes are constantly changing What is known today about the subject is that the use of digital marketing has a greater effect on the consumer compared to, for example, traditional media such as newspapers and signs (Cowan, Spielmann, Horn & Griffart, 2021) When sensory marketing reaches customers in a digital format, the customer experience tends to be perceived as better (ibid) B2B marketing is defined and described as a previously called concept ´industrial marketing´ (Lilien 2016) This definition focuses mostly on transactions where the exchange of goods was important (ibid) One similarity that can be drawn is the different paradigm shifts that have taken place where the start was from a transaction marketing perspective Bodnar and Cohen (2012) suggest that B2B companies are more suited for digital marketing than B2C companies are This is because B2B companies are considered to know their customers better (ibid) This should mean that B2B companies are considered to be more aware of which their habits are, what other companies' needs are and their desires (ibid) However, it is not just a matter of having knowledge to understand your customers but must be lore at creating relationships with other companies for B2B marketing to be successful (ibid) Previous research for Achrol and Kotler (2011) states that the experience of a brand has a significant role Customer experience is defined as an effective marketing strategy that enables differentiation both in physical environments and in online environments (Shobeiri, Mazaheri & Laroche 2018) Customer experience focuses on creating a good experience for the customer and not focusing on product attributes Customer experience focuses on positioning and differentiating through the experience companies create for the customer rather than differentiating with the help of products (ibid) By creating an experience for the customer, it can generate more satisfied and loyal customers (Achrol & Kotler, 2011) One way to improve and create a good experience for the customer is to work with Sensory marketing (Schmitt 1999) Including stimuli for the five different senses creates a mood in the consumer that provides a more intimate and personal approach to a brand, this should lead to the differentiation to co-competitors becoming clearer (ibid) 1.2.2 Research gap The knowledge gap that could be identified is the combination of the research areas and the different contexts the authors have chosen to investigate There are studies that focus on sensory marketing in a digital context, but how sensory marketing can affect the customer experience broadly and in general There are studies that focus on sensory marketing in both B2B and B2C contexts What the authors of this thesis have identified is that there are no insights into how sensory marketing can improve a B2B company's image and expectations in a digital context There are studies conducted in all of the actual study areas but no study when all the factors are in the same study The research gap is thus these factors combined The clearest research gap the authors can find is the niche in customer experience where digital environments, B2B and sensory marketing have not previously been analyzed in consideration of image and expectations