B2B brands are under increasing pressure. The market has shifted, expectations are rising, and the old playbook doesn’t work anymore. 
 

It’s not just macro-level volatility that’s shaking things up. B2B deals have become tougher to win. Consider these data points from dentsu’s 2024 B2B Superpowers Index: 

• The competitive gap between winning and losing brands has shrunk 78% since 2021. With success often hinging on the smallest margins, every interaction in the buyer journey counts.
• There’s a 62% increase in brands considered for the average B2B purchase.
• Loyalty is eroding, with incumbents losing in the buying process 1 out of 3 times—a 17% increase from last year.
• Customers aren’t satisfied with the B2B journey. Even the best-performing aspect of the journey, quality of offer received, was only ranked positively by 42% of respondents.

B2B brands don’t have a choice. If they want to survive, they need more than good products and competitive pricing. We believe that B2B brands will win on experience — interactions that are relevant, create convenience, and inspire trust. Brands that get it right will see the payoff:

• Customers are willing to pay a 7-16% pricing premium if the company provides a good customer experience. 
• Experience-led businesses have 1.7x higher customer retention.
• Employees who had better experiences with processes and technology at work were 68% less likely to report higher levels of burnout.

Let’s look at what’s driving this pivot and how companies can lead instead of lag.

The Four Forces Behind the Shift

These changes aren’t just about competition. Four structural factors are reshaping how B2B operates.

• Profitability Pressure: Changing B2B suppliers has never been easier. This forces brands to become hypercompetitive on pricing, leading to razor-thin margins. To stay profitable, teams must do more with less. 
• AI Uncertainty: AI promises big gains, especially for B2B’s highly complex but often repeatable processes. But deploying it in a way that adds value and builds trust isn’t easy. Very often, B2B isn’t about how many things you get right, but how few things you get wrong.
• Workforce Fatigue: The combination of complex processes and doing more with less leads to employee burnout. Brands must relieve some of the burden on their teams to attract and retain top talent.
• Geopolitical Instability: Supply chain disruptions, tariffs, and shifts in economic sentiment can all impact B2B business performance, especially in industries like automotive, electronics, and manufacturing.

Together, these pressures are accelerating the need for B2B transformation, forcing brands to reimagine how they work, compete, and lead.

How B2B Companies Will Win on Experience

To compete in a challenging environment, brands must make their experiences more valuable for buyers and employees alike. Three priorities can help:

• Balance human and digital/AI touchpoints. As mentioned above, B2B’s complex (yet repeatable) processes lend themselves well to automation. At the same time, B2B buyers are still fundamentally human – with personal decision drivers, like feeling safe signing a contract, influencing buying decisions more than professional decision drivers for the first time. 

  Striking the right balance is critical for building a strong relationship while maximizing resources. Need ideas for how to do that? Here’s our high-level thinking on which parts of the journey can be human-led versus digital or AI-led.

   

• Shift to account-based everything. We’ve been talking about account-based experiences (ABX) for years – that’s now translating to account-based strategies across marketing, selling, operations, and service. With AI, these strategies are more targeted, data-driven, and scalable across the entire customer journey.
  
  Moving to an account-based approach across the business isn’t simple. It demands tight cross-functional collaboration, unified and accurate customer data, and a tech foundation that supports seamless orchestration across key channels. But in a competitive, uncertain landscape, it’s not just beneficial—it’s essential. The payoff is real: account-based strategies lead to 2x higher average contract value, 92% better net promoter scores, and sales cycles that are 25 days shorter.
  
  
• Connect analytics and insights to drive decisions. Efficiency demands clarity on what's working and what isn't in real time. B2B companies have historically struggled with this due to extended sales cycles that involve both digital and in-person interactions.
  
  That's changing rapidly. Today, brands can track performance with precision throughout the entire customer journey, enabling faster, more strategic optimizations and informing the next best action. With advanced analytics, you no longer need to wait for conversions to understand channel effectiveness or make data-driven adjustments.
  
  To transform analytics into action, identify and act on the insights that matter most. Focus on metrics that directly impact pipeline and revenue, not vanity metrics that look impressive but don't drive decisions. Map how different touchpoints contribute to conversions throughout the buyer journey—not just the final click before a sale. Look for early indicators that predict future outcomes, giving you time to optimize before problems emerge. Set clear thresholds that trigger specific actions when performance shifts. Most importantly, ensure these insights flow smoothly between marketing, sales, and operations teams so everyone can act on the same intelligence.
  
  The organizations that thrive will be those that close the loop from insight to action, creating a continuous optimization engine that drives measurable business impact.

Conclusion

Customer satisfaction across the B2B journey is low, but brands have the chance to change that. Rich customer data and clear AI opportunities position B2B companies to win in today’s environment – perhaps even more so than B2C. What remains is the tall task of bringing it all to life.

If you want help crafting and implementing that plan, drop us a note. We'd love to talk through your unique business situation.