Buyersphere

THE BUYERSPHERE 2013: Give your buyers what they want

The Buyersphere Report reveals your customers’ behaviour patterns during the buying process. Alex Aspinall explores the findings

Believe it or not, it’s possible to underestimate the complexity of the B2B buying process. We all know about the challenging combination of long buying cycles, multi-stakeholder engagement, well-briefed gatekeepers, inbox overload, rational decision-making processes and tight budgets serving to make B2B marketing pretty challenging. But when you go and ask B2B buyers to describe exactly what goes in to the decisions they are making, things begin to look even more complicated.

The good news, though, is that the latest incarnation of the Buyersphere does a pretty good job of turning this confusing picture into actionable insight. Even the most cursory of examinations reveals a wealth of valuable information. Some of it may well lead you to believe that you were going about things correctly all along, but it’s more than likely you’ll find a few surprises hidden among its pages.

The report opens by examining exactly how major B2B purchasing decisions come about (see figure 1). It came as little surprise to hear ‘improving productivity’ was the most common reason for a purchase; it is a pretty common objective in most businesses. Another, though, didn’t generate as many decisions to purchase as some might have expected. ‘A need to cut costs’ was highlighted as a reason to purchase by only just over a third of respondents. So there’s an instant takeaway: messages concentrating on cost-saving, rather than productivity-boosting benefits aren’t necessarily going to hit home. If price is your key differentiator, depending on your sector, you could be missing a trick.

This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise though, reflects John Bottom, head of content marketing at Base One. He says: “There is an increasing emphasis on productivity. One explanation for this may be gradual emergence from recession. The budget slashing and investment freezes of the last few years have given way to cautious investment, but there has to be a return. Right now, that return needs to be demonstrated in the form of productivity, rather than quality or innovation.”

Information overload

Once the decision to purchase has been ratified at board level, the B2B buyer returns to their desk and prepares for the headache-inducing task of wading through the contradictory claims regarding which product/service is ideal for their needs. Marketers are aware of the importance of a multichannel strategy – the significance of creating a plethora of touchpoints – and the value of making sure it’s all integrated and social. But the wisest marketers won’t just do things because ‘best practice’ dictates they should. A wise marketer would place their audience at the heart of their strategy. And it’s at this point the Buyersphere comes into its own and starts to destroy a few new school marketing myths. 

Contrary to the advice coming from some quarters, it seems it’s not quite time to abandon the corporate website and invest everything in social and apps. The most popular way of finding information, as cited by B2B buyers, was by visiting company websites. This means your site needs to be good. It needs to host relevant, easily accessible information, it needs to look and feel modern, and offer the user a pleasant experience. If it doesn’t, it’s unlikely they’ll be making the return journey to locate your phone number.

Chris Vezey, sales director at Sitecore UK, recognises the important role the website still plays in the B2B buying process. He says: “Before a B2B buyer talks to your sales team, or has a chance to interact with you at an event or receive your sales call, your website is typically the sole source of information a B2B buyer has with your company. A recent article in B2B Marketing said that up to 80 per cent of B2B purchasing is completed before there is any sales team involvement at all, so websites need to do a lot of heavy lifting.

“B2B buyers are the same as any digitally-savvy consumer, when visiting a website, no one now makes the distinction whether it is a B2B or a B2C organisation. Out of date content, website journeys that go nowhere, sites that are simply not useful or helpful are just not tolerated anymore and will damage a brand’s reputation.”

This year’s Buyersphere myth-debunking doesn’t stop at reassuring us websites are still worthwhile investments. It goes on to insert a few thorns in the sides of arguments claiming the traditional ways of doing things are dead. Yes, social media (more on that later) and things like webinars and interactive infographics have changed the landscape in recent years, but the 2013 Buyersphere report suggests when it comes to old-fashioned concepts such as making deals, selling stuff and generating ROI, some of the tried and trusted non-digital tools still retain their relevance.

For example, while 51 per cent of respondents reported having downloaded a pdf to garner more information during the buying process, 47 per cent also stated that they’d used printed brochures (see figure 2). It’s fair to say that the sector in which the companies involved are operating is likely to have a pretty significant impact on whether or not brochures are used, but such a large percentage cannot be ignored.

And there’s further evidence within the report suggesting the digital era may not be quite as virtual as some may think. One third of the surveyed buyers had attended a live event as part of the buying process and it was cited as the single most influential information source. It’s difficult to overstate how significant such a finding can be. It goes to show that the old ‘people buy from people’ cliché won’t be put out to pasture just yet. But also, and perhaps more significantly, it shows no matter how advanced your digital communications are it’s difficult to beat face-to-face interaction when it comes to personalised, targeted and memorable marketing.

Social selling? 

We’ve seen that traditional marketing techniques aren’t quite as long in the tooth as many vocal industry experts may suggest. But what of digital marketing’s L’enfant terrible; social media? 

Fortunately, the voices questioning the relevance of social in B2B are considerably fewer and further between these days. Not having a decent social presence is widely regarded as an opportunity missed. But there are still meaningful discussions drilling down to what exactly social media delivers to an organisation. And specifically whether it delivers anything that can be turned into monetary values, ROI ratios, or anything else the board might be interested in or want to discuss. 

It’s worth reiterating the Buyersphere is focused primarily on why and how B2B buyers buy. The social media section of the survey sought to answer questions such as; which social media channels were most often used in the buying process; which social media channels were found most useful and how respondents’ use of social media in general compares to their use of it for the specific buying process. And it has to be said, on the surface, there are some headlines that those marketers investing heavily in the social space might not enjoy reading.

I’ll detail a few of the more damning findings before attempting to provide some context and explanation of what seems to be being said. Chief among them is that ‘47 per cent of buyers declared themselves staunchly opposed to using social media’ as part of the buying process (see figure 3). And that when invited to offer advice to a colleague considering using social media to support the buying process, a third said ‘don’t do it’. Furthering the anti-social media sentiment were also the revelations that only five per cent of respondents claimed to use Twitter as part of the buying process and that if they were to use social as part of the buying process more attention was paid to niche, industry platforms rather than the major players that so often steal the headlines.

So, according to these findings we should all close our Twitter accounts and forget all about that blog advocating the benefits of Google+ and social business? Fortunately, it’s not quite that simple. And there are several reasons for this. Social may not be widely cited as being the deciding factor behind yes/no decisions, but few would have thought this was the case anyway. Social is much better disposed towards creating the thought leadership, branding and positioning that might mean your company is on the shortlist prior to the all important buying decision being made. And, after all, marketing is about a slow drip feed of information; it’s a stretch to think you can boil down purchase decisions to one communication, especially with the long buying cycles mentioned earlier.

Steve Kemish, managing director at Cyance, sees social playing a vital role throughout the buying process. He says, “We see that social has a big part to play in the early and late stages of the buying cycle. Firstly a brand can harness social to start to engage, communicate and talk to their potential market; to make them aware you exist, change their perception (or others’) of you and your brand and, most valuably, it allows you to position your brand as a thought leader or expert, by nature of the content you write and seed out via social.

 “If you see social media as both a magnet and amplifier for what you have to say and what you stand for, it has great potential.”

Be a winner

As well as looking at the motivations behind B2B purchase decisions and the areas to which buyers look for information, the Buyersphere also seeks to paint a picture of what the companies securing deals look like. Once again, this section – perhaps the most insightful in terms of how you should be tailoring your marketing efforts – reflects the challenging task B2B marketers face. But it also provides some reassurances.

The reassurance comes in the guise of a confirmation that brand is as important as ever. ‘Brand awareness’ was cited as the strongest attribute of winning suppliers. Two-thirds of Buyersphere respondents had heard of the company they eventually did business with prior to engaging in the buying process. This underlines the continuing importance of brand-focused activity but also highlights the scale of the challenges faced by start-up and lesser known organisations.    

 David Thomas, creative director at Base One, sees this continued focus on brand as being linked directly to digital proliferation. He says: “As information sources abound and the digital landscape fragments, buyers seek the reassurance of a solid brand. Yet marketers have to work harder than ever to present a consistent, distinctive brand image. More than ever, a brand is less about the visual, and more about how you act and what you say.”

Two further takeaways from the final section of the report provide evidence for the benefits of what could be described as B2B basics. Empathy and the human touch are both still important, it seems. A sizeable 58 per cent of respondents said the company they eventually did a deal with was the one that best understood their needs, while 88 per cent of the respondents described the most memorable communications they received during the buying process as coming from the company they eventually bought from. 

In most cases this communication took the form of either face-to-face or telephone conversations.

The Buyersphere highlights the complexity of the buying cycle, especially now social media and its digital chums are so firmly in the frame when it comes to gathering general industry information and creating brand experiences. But it also suggests that – at least to a certain extent – the more things change the more they stay the same. If you are lucky enough to have a decent offering supported by a strong brand, and you’re able to show that you understand the needs of your potential customers, you stand a fair chance of emerging with a few sales. That’s as true now as it was 10 years ago, and there’s something reassuring about that.

Download the Buyersphere report for free from: b2bmarketing.net/buyersphere13-download

 

Related content

Access full article

Propolis logo white

B2B strategies. B2B skills.
B2B growth.

Propolis helps B2B marketers confidently build the right strategies and skills to drive growth and prove their impact.