How Uncertain Times Affect B2B Buyers' Journeys
Uncertain times make business leaders more risk-averse. Find out how these changing attitudes affect the way B2B customers make purchasing decisions and how to tailor your content accordingly..
Selling to other businesses is complicated. Unlike with household consumers, there’s no one person making most purchasing decisions.
Major purchases generally involve buying panels made up of various influencers and decision makers. These can include, not only the department manager who needs your product, but also purchasing, IT, finance, legal and senior management.
Although businesses preach alignment with a clearly defined mission and teamwork, in practice, these groups usually have competing, if not conflicting, interests and agendas. So their buyer’s journey is often slow, complicated and convoluted.
‘Know Your Customer’ Never Goes Out of Style
That’s why DemandGen’s annual B2B Buyer’s Behaviour Survey is unique. The marketing literature produces a lot of surveys of various marketer categories, but the old adage “know your customer” never goes out of style.
By surveying individual B2B buyers directly, DemandGen helps us see things from the other side of the table. It’s essential to know what’s on our buyers’ minds and how they perceive their journey from recognizing the need for a product to making a final purchasing decision.
Not surprisingly, buyers report that they’re working in uncertain times. On the one hand, while most respondents (31%) reported having to delay planned purchases because of budget freezes,? almost as many (29%) said they’d had to escalate purchases as business needs changed.
Unpredictable Environment Influences Decision Making
This unpredictable business environment influences buyers’ decision making. They’re even more focused than ever on how solutions benefit their business.? With instant access to reams of online information, they’re thoroughly researching brands and solutions earlier in the buyer’s journey.
In particular, buyers have adopted or expanded five processes as part of their purchasing decisions. These are:
Seeking Information, Not Contacting Sales Teams For It
So, B2B buyers are looking for more information, but they’re not contacting suppliers or their sales teams to gather it. Instead, they’re researching your brand independently, either online or via their business contacts.
Buyers’ preferred information resources are web searches, vendor websites and industry experts and analysts, followed by vendor sales representatives. In high-risk circumstances, businesses become risk averse, leading them to stick to time-tested relationships.
For example, while 25% of buyers reported relying on prior vendor experience in 2022, that figure rose to 40% in 2023. They’re also more open to up-selling and cross-selling from familiar brands rather than working with multiple, lesser-known businesses.
Content Major Influencer for 81% of Buyers
All of this makes B2B content marketing more vital than ever. In fact, 81% of buyers said content was a major factor in their buying decisions
For example, 33% of buyers said that online advertising favourably influenced their perceptions of supplier brands in 2022. In 2023, that figure jumped to 44%.
Two findings won’t surprise readers. The top channel where buyers noticed vendor advertising was social media, and the main social media platform was LinkedIn (36%).
Generation Gap Between Millennials and Boomers
Beyond that, there’s a social media generation gap between millennials and boomers. The older generation reported that Facebook and YouTube were their preferred platforms.
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Among millennials, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok topped that list. The younger generation is more receptive to video and, unlike boomers, they view it on Instagram or TikTok rather than YouTube.
None of this means that your brand’s website has become irrelevant. As buyers move closer to a decision, vendor websites become the top place they look for information.
Buyers Seek Five Things on B2B Brand Websites
Potential buyers are looking for five things on your B2B brand’s site:
The strong emphasis on pricing is another result of the uncertain marketplace. Risk-averse purchasers are also very price conscious.
They’re also more conservative in terms of both ensuring solutions meet business needs and social proof. Making the wrong purchase can be a career-limiting move when businesses cope with risk.
Meet Buyers’ Need for Deeper Information
Uncertain times call for understanding and speaking to potential clients’ current risk aversion. This calls for customized B2B content marketing strategies that meet buyers’ need for deeper information.
The information they’re seeking needs to reassure a range of client influencers and decision makers that they’re making the right choice. That comes down to showing them a reliable return on investment, and that your brand is trustworthy and competent.
LinkedIn remains the focal point for B2B social media networking. Even so, you need to meet your target audience on their other preferred platforms, which vary by demographics, and increasingly involve video-based content.
On a Deeper Level, They’re Seeking Peace of Mind
On one level, potential clients are looking for cold, hard business facts. On a deeper level, they’re seeking peace of mind.
The purpose of content marketing is to establish trust. In these uncertain times, your B2B content needs to earn the trust of potential clients by demonstrating that your brand provides the solution on which they can depend.
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