What Is B2C CRM? Differences Between B2B and B2C CRM

As one of the most commonly used types of business software, a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is estimated to be used by over 90% of all businesses with more than 11 employees. From starting out as just a sales tool, It has now become a staple of digital transformation by helping companies automate their diverse customer-facing and operational processes.

However, when selecting a CRM solution for your business, it is important to distinguish between B2C and B2B CRMs and choose the one that better fits your business model, or even has a seamless combination of both.

What Is a B2C CRM?

A B2C CRM is a customer relationship management software that enables companies to automate end-to-end journeys for individual consumers, streamline B2C lead management, and deliver personalized customer experiences at every touchpoint of typical B2C interactions. A B2C CRM is designed to handle large volumes of data for thousands and millions of clients, as well as extract valuable insights and analytics from that data.

A B2C CRM is a key tool for companies looking to transform their sales, marketing, and service departments to meet the demands of a modern competitive marketplace. By consolidating diverse data on customer profiles, preferences, and interactions, a B2C CRM allows companies such as retailers, hotels and restaurants, delivery service providers, Telecoms, or banks to engage with their target audiences at the best time and with the best offer.

So, the key factor in distinguishing CRM systems lies in the nature of the company's interactions - whether it operates in a business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer model (B2C).

What Is the Difference Between a B2B and B2C CRM?

Let's take a closer look at the differences between B2B and B2C CRM. The following table outlines the key differentiators of each of the solutions.

Individual customers vs businesses

The B2C CRM allows companies to gather and analyze customer data to tailor the approach to each client individually. Everything from contact details to individual preferences, and shopping patterns can be used to enhance customer relations. Based on that B2C businesses craft personalized experiences, customize marketing strategies, and customer interactions that resonate on a personal level and often appeal to emotions.

Case in point: According to Accenture’s research, 91% of consumers are more likely to shop with brands offering personalized experiences.

On the other hand, B2B CRM collects lead data and uses them, among other things, for lead and opportunity management, and account management of business customers. Since one business might include multiple persons that participate in the buying process, the B2B CRM uses collected data to personalize outreach to each stakeholder.

Sales dynamics – B2C velocity vs. B2B complexity

Another difference between B2C CRM and B2B CRM lies in the velocity of the clients vs the complexity of acquiring them. B2C businesses need to handle vast quantities of customers coming from multiple sources. The lead journey is short, so the main task of the B2C CRM is to store and process a large volume of individual customer data efficiently. The specifics of B2C clients demand quick and streamlined interactions, making it crucial for B2C CRM to focus on real-time data management.

Conversely, in the B2B, clients are businesses with intricate structures, involving multiple stakeholders and decision-makers which significantly lengthens the sales process. The journey from prospect to paying customer is extended, so the B2B CRM needs to capture all touchpoints, to aid businesses guide leads from initial contact to contract signing. B2B CRM helps businesses understand the complexities of organizational structures, bring long-term value propositions, and guide leads through the decision-making processes.

Marketing strategies – personal preferences vs. business challenges

B2C CRM provides features to manage an individual customer's journey, from automating omnichannel marketing campaigns to optimizing customer segmentation, tracking customer behavior trends, and many more.

B2C CRM helps businesses act quickly, explore consumer trends and preferences, and deliver targeted marketing strategies that appeal to personal preferences and buying behaviors. The customer segmentation feature categorizes individual customers using various criteria and with the help of marketing automation tools, streamlines and personalizes marketing campaigns.

Data collected by B2B CRM is used in lead scoring to help businesses evaluate and prioritize leads based on their likelihood to convert into customers. This helps marketing teams focus their efforts on leads with the highest potential, and craft marketing campaigns that will relate to the specific challenges, goals, and interests of the targeted business. With the pipeline management feature, they can track the progress of potential deals, understand where leads are in the buying process, and tailor their campaigns accordingly.

Decision-making – individual choice vs. stakeholders consensus

In B2C, the purchase decision process is swift and rests squarely on individual consumers. By gathering and analyzing customer data, tracking interactions and transactions, B2C CRM systems provide insights into customer behaviors and patterns to help businesses understand the factors that drive individual purchasing decisions.

Since the decision-making process in B2B is complex and involves multiple stakeholders, B2B CRM strategies must address their diverse buying and decision-making cycles with fine-tuned granularity. According to Harvard Business Review, on average, there are 6.8 stakeholders involved in the B2B purchase decision process significantly extending the time needed to finalize a transaction.

How to Choose the Best B2C CRM for Your Business?

Let’s discuss the key aspects that will help you navigate the landscape of B2C CRM solutions and choose the best option for your business.

Determine your business model

If you work in the B2C realm, you’ll need software that can support collecting and analyzing a vast amount of customer data. Look out for customer behavior analytics features that will help you make sense of client’s interactions with your business across multiple channels and craft a personalized experience.

On the other hand, CRM for B2B companies should support complex and flexible lead management processes. B2B CRM requires advanced analytical features since customer structure is more complex and the decision process involves multiple stakeholders. CRM must help businesses understand the unique needs and preferences of all of them to create tailored experiences and win a deal.

Check the scope of CRM functionality

Identify and analyze the specific needs of your company by taking a look at your business processes, customer interactions, and goals. Understand the challenges you currently face in managing customer relationships and assess what B2C CRM functionalities might help you overcome them. We described some of the features you might find helpful.

Nowadays businesses can benefit from the evolving possibilities of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) functionalities. You can use them to introduce enhanced data analytics, effectively predict future sales, and suggest the next best offer or cross-selling possibilities. With AI and ML your B2C CRM will help you get the most out of the customers’ data.

One of the most important functionalities of a B2C CRM is customer segmentation. This feature categorizes individual customers based on demographics, behavior, preferences, etc. Behavior tracking system helps with understanding and leveraging individual customer behavior and tracking interactions to provide more targeted and effective communication.

B2C CRM using a multi-channel communication feature tracks the interactions happening via email, social media, and other customer touchpoints for many clients at the same time. This ensures consistent and personalized messaging even if customers communicate with your business on many different platforms.

To make sure your B2C CRM is customized to suit your needs and adaptable to your business's growth opt for composable solutions. Choosing a CRM that allows you to construct your own system by selecting from available features guarantees maximum personalization.

Consider the CRM types

Consider which consumer-facing process you want to enhance. Do you need a B2C CRM to boost your sales, marketing, or service efforts? Or maybe all of them?

Each of these CRM types will offer different functionalities. Sales CRM accelerates sales processes with features such as lead automation and sales pipeline management, sales productivity, and many more. Marketing CRM boosts marketing efforts with features like campaign and ad management, audience segmentation, behavior tracking, etc. Service CRM offers a platform with functionalities such as omnichannel communication, contact center, case management, and more.

Find out more about other CRM types from our previous article and discover the possibilities of Collaborative, Analytical, and Operational CRM.

Consider scalability and flexibility options

A CRM system should not only meet your current requirements but also have the potential to grow with your business. Consider where your business is headed in the next few years and make sure that the B2C CRM solution you choose can adapt to evolving demands.

B2C CRM should be tailored to your specific workflows and processes. Adaptability is essential to ensure a seamless fit into your business ecosystem.

Go for a user-friendly interface

The effectiveness of your CRM and its solutions largely depends on the ease of user adoption. While browsing through the B2C CRM options, you should look out for the ones providing a user-friendly interface. It’s crucial that your team can navigate the CRM effortlessly and leverage its functionalities to the fullest. Otherwise, they might waste time and resources trying to understand an overly complicated tool.

The easier it is for your team to adapt to the CRM, the quicker you will see the results. A well-designed, intuitive interface will significantly increase productivity, reduce training time, and allow you to benefit from the whole range of CRM features.

Check the integration capabilities

The integration feature ensures there’s a consistent flow of data between your B2C CRM and other tools, and the ideal CRM should seamlessly integrate with other solutions your business relies on.

Choose a CRM that is compatible with third-party applications popular in your industry and relevant to your business. It will not only improve your teams’ efficiency but also provide a holistic view of your operations.

Creatio’s CRM integration capabilities - an example of marketplace applications for the insurance industry.

Prioritize data security and compliance

The trustworthiness of your B2C CRM system is non-negotiable, so you need to prioritize data security and compliance features to safeguard your customers’ sensitive information. Ensure that the B2C CRM platform you choose adheres to industry standards and regulations relevant to your business.

Look for encryption protocols, secure authentication methods, and reliable access controls. Additionally, check the vendor's track record in terms of data security. Did they recently experience a security breach that endangered their customers’ data? Make sure the vendor you go for is committed to staying up-to-date with cybersecurity best practices.

Choosing the best B2C CRM for your business involves a meticulous evaluation of your specific needs. Make sure the CRM system that you choose not only meets your current requirements but also evolves with your business. It’s the key ingredient of your success in customer relationship management, so don’t leave anything to chance.

Creatio B2C CRM - Tailored Solution for Every Business

Creatio stands out as a versatile and adaptive CRM designed to elevate customer relationships across diverse business landscapes and industries. Creatio offers comprehensive feature sets for both B2C and B2B domains. Let’s look at some of the B2C CRM features that will help you elevate your business performance.

The Customer 360 feature offers a complete view of contacts and accounts with customer insights and buying and communication history tracking. Based on that data Creatio B2C CRM performs advanced customer segmentation to personalize marketing efforts and better target individual consumers. Enhanced analytical capabilities will help you understand your customers, improve their experience with your business, and increase their satisfaction.

Creatio’s Customer 360 feature

Order and contract management functionality provides omnichannel order, proposal, and contract management to streamline order processing from various channels. It improves efficiency and helps provide a seamless customer experience. This feature reduces administrative burden, improves accuracy, and builds collaboration among different business departments.

Creatio offers custom industry-specific solutions that are designed to enhance businesses operating in specific sectors. These functionalities go beyond the standard features, providing businesses with specialized tools and capabilities to address the unique challenges and requirements of their particular industry. They automate specific processes such as loaning management in the banking industry, claims processing useful to insurance companies, or production management necessary in manufacturing.

An example of a Creatio CRM’s Lending feature tailored to the banking industry

With its comprehensive features, customizable functionalities, and no-code solution, Creatio empowers businesses to tailor B2C CRM to their specific needs and conditions. All that can be achieved without the necessity for coding skills due to the composable architecture of the platform.

Creatio's B2C CRM is a scalable and flexible tool that seamlessly integrates with your existing systems. You can easily elevate your customer engagement with Creatio's easy-to-navigate and intuitive interface. Comprehensive analytics, and commitment to continuous innovation, ensure that your CRM evolves hand-in-hand with your business goals.