How Co-Creation Can Boost UX and Customer Loyalty in B2B Payments

As a B2B payments leader, you know by now how important it is to provide a great user experience (UX) for your B2B customers. There is increasing demand for B2B payment experiences to resemble the frictionless, almost invisible experiences that are ubiquitous in the B2C world.

You want B2B buyers to trust your payment solutions, to use them frequently, and to recommend them to others. But how can you achieve that in this competitive, dynamic, and complex market?

One way is to involve your customers in the co-creation and collaboration of your payment solutions. Co-creation is a process where you and your customers collaborate to ideate, develop, and test new or improved products or services. Co-creation can help you to:

• Understand your customers’ needs, preferences and pain points better
• Generate innovative ideas that solve real problems and add value
• Validate your assumptions and get feedback from your customers
• Build trust and rapport with your customers
• Increase customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention

Co-creation is not just a buzzword. It is a proven strategy that successful companies in various industries, such as Starbucks, IKEA, and Netflix have used. B2B payments are no different as co-creation can also help you to differentiate yourself from your competitors and create a loyal customer base.

How to co-create with your B2B customers

There are many ways to co-create with your B2B customers, depending on your goals, resources, and timeline. Some examples of co-creation methods are:

• Surveys: You can use online or offline surveys to gather data and insights from your customers. Surveys can help you identify customer segments, needs, expectations, and satisfaction levels. You can also use surveys to test your hypotheses and to measure the impact of your solutions.
• Workshops: You can organize workshops with your customers to brainstorm, prototype, and test your ideas. Workshops can help you to generate creative solutions, get feedback, and build relationships with your customers. You can use various tools and techniques, such as design thinking, lean startup, and business model canvas, to facilitate your workshops.
• Beta programs: You can invite your customers to join your beta programs, where they can access and use your solutions before they are launched to the public. Beta programs can help you test your solutions in real-life scenarios, collect data and feedback, and improve your solutions based on customer input.

The benefits of co-creation for UX and customer loyalty

Co-creation can have a positive impact on the UX and customer loyalty of your B2B payment solutions. Some of the benefits are:

• Improved UX: By co-creating with your customers, you can ensure your solutions are user-friendly, intuitive, and relevant. You can also avoid costly mistakes and rework by validating your solutions with your customers before launching them. Co-creation can help you to deliver a UX that meets or exceeds your customers’ expectations.
• Increased customer involvement and ownership: By co-creating with your customers, you can make them feel valued, respected, and empowered. You can also increase their sense of ownership and commitment to your solutions, as they have contributed to their creation and improvement. Co-creation can help you to foster a sense of partnership and collaboration with your customers.
• Enhanced customer loyalty and retention: By co-creating with your customers, you can build trust and rapport with them. You can also increase their satisfaction and loyalty, as they are more likely to use and recommend your solutions. Co-creation can help you to reduce customer churn and increase customer lifetime value.

How to get started with co-creation

If you are interested in co-creating with your B2B customers, here are some steps to get you started:

• Define your goals and scope:
  What do you want to achieve with co-creation? What are the specific problems or opportunities that you want to address?
  Who are your target customers and what are their needs and pain points?
  How will you measure your success?
• Choose your methods and tools:
  What are the best co-creation methods and tools for your goals and scope?
  How will you recruit and engage your customers?
  How will you collect and analyze data and feedback?
  How will you communicate and collaborate with your customers?
• Plan and execute your co-creation activities:
  How will you organize and facilitate your co-creation activities?
  What are the roles and responsibilities of your team and your customers?
  What are the timelines and milestones of your co-creation process?
  How will you manage risks and challenges?
• Evaluate and improve your co-creation outcomes:
  How will you evaluate the results and impact of your co-creation activities?
  How will you incorporate customer feedback and data into your solutions?
  How will you iterate and improve your solutions based on customer input? How will you share and celebrate your co-creation outcomes with your customers?

Conclusion

Co-creation is a powerful way to improve the UX and customer loyalty of your B2B payment solutions. By involving your customers in the co-creation and collaboration of your solutions, you can create value for both parties and gain a competitive edge in the market.