Customer journey in online B2B marketing
In the B2B segment many businesses are convinced that paid ads (e.g. Google Ads, Facebook ads etc.) have no role in the buying process and that prospective customers don’t even come across online ads. They think customers only use Google as a channel to search for business solutions and choose a product / service based on their impressions on social media. These are, of course, false assumptions. In a study by CSO Insights, 70% of B2B shoppers go through an educational and information gathering process to identify their purchase needs before contacting a salesperson, and 44% specifically identify what solution they need before getting in touch with the seller.
According to the CMO Council, in the case of nine out of ten B2B customers the online content they read has a significant impact on purchasing decisions and on who they ask for a proposal. Regardless of personal attributes and habits of the potential customer, it can be said that most of them try to determine their needs before making a purchase. In fact, we call this process the customer’s journey.
Source: the-most-useful-types-of-content-during-b2b-purchase-decision-making-60fd9eca7d388.jpg – https://99firms.com/blog/b2b-marketing-statistics/#gref
In our current article, we try to shed light on how we can influence the customer’s journey, and what series of steps the customer themselves need to take before they get to the purchase decision. In addition, we try to provide some help for advertisers and content producers in determining what messages and tools they may use in the specific stages of this journey.
The three main stages of B2B customer journey
The customer journey can be defined in a more traditional way opposite to the definition we gave in the introduction: by this approach customer journey means not just the purchasing process of the customer but also all the impressions they gathered and experienced during the decision making which leads them to purchase the particular product or service.
Essentially, the seller also has the responsibility to be aware of this process and to help the customer make the right decision as much as possible. For this, it can be useful to know and understand the three main pillars of the customer journey which show what problems or insights the prospective customer would face until the desired transaction occurs. This is very similar to the Top, Middle and Bottom sections of the sales funnel. If we already have experience with that funnel, the main stages of the B2B customer journey will not be completely new either.
The three main stages can be defined as follows:
Source: buyers-journey-3-stages.jpg – https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/content-for-every-funnel-stage
Awareness Stage: The potential customer recognizes the problem they are facing and realizes that they need to find a solution for it. This is when the educational process we mentioned in the introduction takes place. Thus, in this information gathering phase, the prospective buyer becomes aware that he or she needs a solution to his or her problem and starts “broad” searches, reading or watching related contents, and learning about their purchasing options.
Before turning to the other two well-defined main stages of the customer journey, we should mention another stage that – according to many approach models – in many cases precede the Awareness stage. This could be the “zero milestone” of B2B shopping.
It may seem surprising, but in many cases the B2B sales process doesn’t start when a particular company’s purchaser or decision maker starts looking for the product or service they want to buy, not even when they start gathering information about it. Usually these decision makers don’t even know what they need in the first place and because of that they start to search more “remotely”. To give you a quick example: a high volume of searches are “effective sales methods” or “sales software” in general, while in reality the searcher looks for a complex CRM system, just not knowing what it is called or if such a tool exists.
Consideration Stage: At this stage, the customer is already past the problem definition and begins to explore their options. They gather extensive information, perform more precise searches than those in the previous stage, and rely on more relevant contents to find the most appropriate solution to the problem they defined in the Awareness stage.
Decision Stage: The client already knows what strategy, method, or approach they are going to choose to solve their problem. They gather the relevant sellers, products or services and narrow the options down until they finally decide which seller they would choose.
Sales goals of the B2B partner
By being aware of what decision-making process our potential customer is going through and what steps they are taking during the customer journey, we can also tailor our goals to the specific stages. In doing so, we provide the customer more detailed and easier-to-understand information which strengthens the commitment to our business. In the awareness stage we, as experts, help the prospective partner to understand their problem and provide guidance on who they can turn to for a solution. In the consideration stage, we show how our solution fits into his or her business ideas and goals. Finally, in the decision stage, our goal is to give the final push to commit and choose our product/service for purchase.
Source: What_is_B2B_Marketing – https://landerapp.com/blog/demand-vs-lead-generation/
Content for each stages
The seller – in regards to their own interest as well – has a major role to play and influence to guide the buyer through these stages and get to the decision as easily as possible. In the online space they can achieve this goal with the right channels and content. Adapted to the three stages (Awareness, Consideration, Decision), it is advisable to use the following tools to inform the prospective customers about the opportunities and present the seller’s market advantage in order to ultimately choose them.
Donald Miller, author of Building a StoryBrand, summarizes the essence of the pre-purchase educational phase and the importance of the relevant content provided by the seller as follows:
“People don’t buy the products and services that are the best. They buy the ones they can understand the fastest.”
Donald Miller, author of Building a StoryBrand
Awareness stage: At this stage, the messages and content need to be focused on the potential buyer’s concerns. Educational content and channels play an important role in showing the customer what solution they need. In the meantime, we must not differ far from the problem itself and how we can offer a solution for it. We must endeavor to keep what we offer in the focus for the customer during this educational process. This is obviously not to be achieved by showing the specific name of the product – as at this stage the potential customer is probably not even aware that this product exists – but by well-chosen content. These can be eBooks, customer guides, blog posts, infographics, and reports on the results of various researches.
Consideration stage: At this stage, the content still needs to reflect on the customer’s problem and to some extent be educational, but at this point the focus is already on helping the user concretize the businesses / services and products which are relevant to their problem. In the final stage, this list of businesses will be narrowed down to those who will eventually be asked for proposals by the customer.
The messages and content of this “Middle-Funnel” should be written to encourage the user to consider choosing our particular solution and to show why and how our solution is the best choice. These goals can be achieved through practical guides, case studies, videos, podcasts, and comparative analysis.
Decision stage: At this stage, the content, messages or advertisements must already be very product-specific, but it must also emphasize how the customer can achieve their desired business goal by purchasing our product / service. At this stage it’s a clear expectation to differentiate and place our own product in front of competitors’ in order for the buyer to put their vote next to us. This is most effectively achieved through content and channels such as webinars, fact sheets, demo videos, and ROI (Return-on-Investment) calculators.
Source: Buyers_Journey_and_Content.jpg – https://umamimarketing.com/buyers-journey/
In summary
Since online B2B marketing – as we mentioned earlier – is an extremely complex process that involves multiple customer and decision-making stages, this article focuses on the customer journey and the key elements the buyer goes through the decision-making process. Of course, there are still many aspects and topics of online B2B marketing to unfold, which we will cover later in this B2B article series.
If you need professional support for your digital marketing activities, do not hesitate to contact us!
Sources used:
https://klientboost.com/google/b2b-google-ads/
https://www.heinzmarketing.com/2020/09/breaking-down-the-b2b-buyers-journey/
https://www.sherweb.com/blog/partner/buyers-journey/
https://www.youlead.agency/blog/buyer-journey-10-b2b-statistics-you-need-to-know-in-2020
https://99firms.com/blog/b2b-marketing-statistics/#gref
https://goldenspiralmarketing.com/insights/how-to-optimize-your-messaging-content-for-the-b2b-buyer-journey/
https://www.tslmarketing.com/blog/designing-for-the-b2b-buyers-journey
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/02/01/shorten-the-sales-cycle-through-effective-b2b-messaging-and-content/?sh=37afe90d6651
https://umamimarketing.com/buyers-journey/