B2B brands love to talk up their customer experience. But the volume is often turned down in reality. New research shows that’s because companies aren’t using AI with vision. The Drum sat down with Code and Theory’s co-founder Dan Gardner to find out why – and what marketers can do about it. And he was anything but quiet.
A zig-zagging maze can make the modern B2B journey complex
The modern B2B buyer journey is long, messy and relentlessly complex – a zig-zagging maze of stakeholders, handoffs, platforms, sales stages, content drops, nurture tracks and human moments that rarely line up. Getting this experience right is fundamental for success and growth. But 93% of US execs say they’re getting it wrong, reveals recent research from Wall Street Journal Intelligence and Code and Theory.
And, says Code and Theory co-founder Dan Gardner, that’s because they’re wasting their AI investment: “Most companies are just automating their existing mistakes faster. They’re bolting AI onto broken customer journeys instead of reimagining what customer engagement could become. That’s not innovation. That’s expensive procrastination.”
What does today’s B2B sales cycle actually look like, why does it need AI to fix it – and how can B2B leaders enable AI to transform the customer experience instead of just tidying up its mess?
B2B sales cycles aren’t impulsive; they’re a long, more considered and involved process. Modern B2B buyers expect a lot of personal attention, support and responsiveness but they don’t want the friction that often comes with that level of involvement – excessive meetings, lumbering processes, slow follow-ups or hand-holding that goes on too long. In short, the sort of high-touch interactions, at scale, that can be improved with AI.
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But most organizations still treat AI like an internal efficiency tool – a way to tidy operations, automate tasks or streamline systems. Over three-quarters (76%) of execs say they’re behind on AI transformation. Only 28% are leveraging new technologies to create digital customer experiences that are ‘innovative or adaptive.’ And 56% don’t really understand AI’s emotional potential.
The entire industry is “optimizing back-end processes while the customer experience remains inconsistent and disconnected,” says Gardner. AI’s true power – its ability to “connect platforms, connect dots in ways that are traditionally very difficult for humans” – is barely being touched.
It’s a cultural and organizational problem, says The Wall Street Journal Intelligence and Code and Theory research: 49% cite leadership misalignment as the main obstacle to CX maturity, 44% say it’s down to creative talent shortages and 43% blame the age-old issue of organizational silos.
It’s because they’re using new AI capabilities to solve old problems. “It feels like you’re making momentum, but really you're not doing anything, because you’re not being creative and taking today’s technology for tomorrow’s opportunity,” says Gardner. Many are “confusing implementation with innovation.”
It’s an easy trap to fall into: it’s easier to measure and justify investment for efficiency gains. “You can’t put creativity or customer experience in a spreadsheet the way you can see savings on efficiency. So then you neglect it because it’s easier to quantify,” says Gardner.
With the lion’s share of AI budgets going to efficiency instead of CX, the result is a neglected customer.
So, what should B2B brands do now to start transforming their customer experience?
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AI can’t transform CX if your data, content pipelines and tech stack are a mess. Real value starts with unified data, interoperable platforms and solid governance. Get the back-end right, and you’ll unlock richer, more personal customer experiences and real returns.
2. Find customer-first experience gaps
The CX gap is massive – and so is the opportunity to fill it, says Gardner: “Less than 10% of people think they have a good CX experience. That means the market is wide open for putting your customer first and solving it.”
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Use AI and agentic capabilities to stitch together touchpoints, fill long-standing experience gaps and co-pilot the customer journey. That’s not about reducing friction: it’s about creating new modes of interaction. Anticipate what your customer needs before they ask for it, or before another brand delivers it.
3. Put more AI budget into CX
Investing in CX pays. CX leaders generate 30% more revenue – $1.4bn on average – than customer-experience laggards. And that’s because leaders know that investment delays just hands ground to competitors. They treat CX as an organizational mandate, not a marketing cost, with dedicated budgets, teams and agency partnerships. As a result they are winning both your customers’ hearts and budgets.
For more advice on how to build better B2B customer experiences, visit Code and Theory.