Navigate the new B2B buyer journey.
Exploring the Modern B2B Buyer Journey
B2B buyers are experiencing new journeys due to events of the past few years. Covid and remote work have impacted buyer behaviors and decisions in ways many businesses couldn’t have anticipated. Yet, businesses that haven’t adapted to the modern B2B buyer journey may be missing out on valuable opportunities to attract and retain customers.
Let’s have a look at what’s changed, so you can identify how to best reach B2B buyers at any stage of the journey.
The New Buyer Journey for B2B Customers
Younger, Digitally Native Buyers: The demographic for B2B customers is skewing younger – an audience that’s grown up with digital and wants to consume content that way. Businesses serving this audience need to consider the various devices (mobile, tablet, desktop) and channels influencing these buyers, which may involve reaching them in new ways.
Self-Serve Journey: B2B buyers are going a long way down the funnel before speaking to someone these days. They want more control and choice over when and where they consume content from brands – and how (and if) they choose to make a more serious commitment like returning an email or phone call from a sales team. Again, this is where you may need to map your customer journey a bit differently than in the past.
Looking for Solutions: While addressing customers’ pain points isn’t a new concept, it has become even more critical to reaching the modern B2B buyer. Rather than listing the features or capabilities of what you offer, it’s time to focus messaging on the problem you are solving. This is what helps businesses differentiate from the competition.
Different Types of Data: As third-party data becomes less available, you will need to rely more on first-party data for information on your customers’ behaviors and intent. This means you want to establish new ways of gathering data, such as through downloadable content that can be exchanged for buyers’ email addresses or other information.
Customized Customer Journeys: As data becomes more fragmented and buyers have more choice in how they consume content, businesses will need to activate tools to customize the individual buyer journey versus one set platform or approach. One size fits all won’t be as effective as in the past, so an analysis of your tools and strategies is critical to thriving in this new environment.
The past few years have changed the ways B2B buyers experience their journeys. Digital, devices, data, and channels all play important roles in this new landscape, and it’s up to businesses to meet buyers in these new spaces and places if they want to capture and keep them for the future.
To get started on reaching the modern B2B customer, here are some ideas for mapping your customer journey.
