Our World’s Simplest Brands: The B2B Report 2026 examines how B2B decision-makers perceive simplicity across 80 brands in four industries—and how those perceptions relate to trust, consideration, and the desire to do business. In this excerpt, Britt Bulla and Sadie Dyer share their perspective on the report’s US industrials findings.
The business value of simplicity
Across the US and UK, simpler industrial brands earn greater loyalty, trust, and consideration. The study reports the following advantages:
Simplicity impact |
Industrials |
|---|---|
| Increase in NPS |
+32 |
| More likely to receive the benefit of the doubt |
40% |
| More likely to be considered |
27% |
| More likely to be trusted to do the right thing |
39% |
| More desirable to do business with |
66% |
What drives simplicity in industrials
The research identifies five leading brand elements that contribute to perceived simplicity in industrials, shown below in order of contribution.
Category |
Brand element |
|---|---|
|
Brand strategy |
Company direction is clear |
|
Brand visuals/design |
Visually consistent |
|
Brand strategy |
Easy to find the product/service |
|
Brand communications |
Communicates compelling |
|
Brand communications |
Communicates relevantly |
Industrial brands win when they do the heavy lifting for buyers.
Industrial companies make complicated things.
Precision matters. Detail matters. When engineering, operations, and science drive the business, simplifying can feel like leaving something important out. Then comes the mergers, acqusitions, and spin-offs. Portfolios expand. Product lines overlap. Customer experiences start to mirror the org chart.
Complexity, it seems, is built in at the factory. But buyers don’t want to see all the machinery behind the brand. They want to understand where the company is going, how its capabilites fit together, and what it can do for them.
Our research points to four ways industrial brands make that easier.
A clear direction helps customers understand the strategy.
John Deere holds one story across machinery, software, connected systems, and precision agriculture.
A consistent identity makes a growing portfolio feel connected.
Schneider Electric maintains one visual and verbal system as it moves into new technologies.
Human communication turns expertise into value.
GE leads with better outcomes, faster decisions, and greater efficiency rather than asking buyers to decode technical specifications.
Easy navigation organizes the experience around customers, not internal structures.
Caterpillar brings fleet management, service support, and parts ordering together around the work customers need to do.
These choices don’t make the engineering less sophisitcated. They make the company easier to understand, navigate, and choose.
Customer experiences start to mirror the org chart. Complexity gets built in at the factory.
Explore the full findings across financial services, technology, industrials, and healthcare.
Download World’s Simplest Brands: The B2B Report 2026
