Simply creating a stylish website, setting up a company profile on LinkedIn, or attending a trade show is no longer enough. If you want to reach your business customers in a targeted way, you need to know them. You should know how and where to find them. This requires an in-depth analysis of the B2B customer journey for each persona.
The B2B Customer Journey in Theory
This is nothing more than a (potential) customer’s journey from initial contact through to purchase and beyond. However, before you can understand how this customer moves through the B2B customer journey, you must develop a detailed persona.
You can learn more about personas and what a persona profile might look like here.
Once it’s clear who the persona is and what makes them tick, it’s time to analyze the customer journey. It consists of four phases:
Awareness
In the first phase, the goal is for the potential customer to become familiar with the company. The customer should realize: “This company offers the product I’m looking for.” This way, the customer keeps the company name in the back of their mind.
Consideration
The Consideration Phase takes it a step further. The goal is to convince the customer that the company should be shortlisted. In other words, the customer should consider it.
Decision
The purchase decision is made during the Decision Phase. The customer makes the purchase. But the journey doesn’t end there.
Loyalty
The goal of the final phase is for the customer to recommend the company to others. The customer is satisfied with the product and lets those around them know.
Within each of these four B2B customer journey phases, various points are addressed:
- Touchpoints: Where does a potential customer come into contact with the company?
- Thinking: What is the persona thinking? Why might the persona be interested in the product? What are their motivations?
- Feelings: What emotions lie behind them? What need can the product fulfill?
- Message: What message does the company want to convey? This is an important first step in developing content ideas.
- Content Ideas: What Kinds of Content Are Worth Considering?
B2B Customer Journey
Phase: Consideration
For this company, we focused specifically on the consideration phase. The goal was to encourage potential customers to fill out the contact form. In such cases, it’s important not only that the content is relevant, but also that the entire website is optimized for conversion.
Current Situation: The company’s U.S. website is not generating the desired number of leads.
Goal: We want to convince our internal team that optimizing the website can have a positive impact on the conversion rate.
Process: A separate section of the website was redesigned. A dedicated menu featuring the most important product categories was created, tracking was set up, and everything was optimized for SEO. In addition, Google Ads and call tracking were implemented.
Result: The conversion rate was twice as high as that of the other pages. Since the pilot project was so successful, it is now being rolled out across the entire site.
B2B Customer Journey
Phase: Awareness
This company is a good example of how a B2B customer journey doesn’t always follow a standardized pattern. While other clients focus on generating content through blog posts, LinkedIn was the best choice in this case.
Initial Situation: The brand awareness of Teufelswerk, a producer of films and 3D animations, is not at the desired level.
Goal: The personas—namely, marketing directors and CEOs in Germany and Austria—are familiar with Teufelswerk and know what the company offers.
Approach: As we considered the ideal touchpoint, it quickly became clear that LinkedIn was the right channel. As a first step, we worked with Teufelswerk to identify the LinkedIn profiles that should receive our messages. We deliberately kept these messages very brief. No more than 275 characters. In them, we noted that Teufelswerk produces 3D animations and films. We also included a link to the website. Our efforts proved highly successful. For this reason, a second LinkedIn account was set up a year later to reach even more people.
Result: We have currently achieved an acceptance rate of about 18%. This means that 18% of all networking requests are accepted. The response rate is just under 4%. This means that 4% of all networking requests result in a reply to the message. At the same time, the quality of the resulting inquiries is very good.
B2B Customer Journey in Industrial Automation
Phase: Consideration
The customers contacted as part of the campaign were already familiar with Keba, so the focus here was on the consideration phase. The strategy of choice was a combination of a conversion-optimized webpage and Facebook Ads.
Initial Situation: Keba, a developer and manufacturer of automation solutions, has had to cancel its annual trade show appearance due to the coronavirus pandemic and is looking for a viable alternative.
Goal: Schedule appointments for the online trade show alternative in our in-house studio
Approach: We created our own landing page, which we optimized for conversion rates. Here, interested individuals could book appointment slots. In addition, we ran Facebook ads with links to the landing page. Following a successful first KEBA Live Dialog (KLD), another one was planned and promoted by LeadEngine. Since the first KLD had exhausted the existing database in the DACH region and there was virtually no database outside the DACH region, expectations were modest.
Result: In the first KLD in the fall of 2020, 199 appointments were booked. Despite the more challenging starting conditions, the second KLD generated 150 registrations (117 via phone). In addition, 25 sales appointments and 30 webinar registrations were secured. However, 38% of the appointments did not take place. Furthermore, several new topics were initiated that will also have an impact in the medium term:
- 40 online self-registrations
- Cleaning Up Outdated Records in the CRM System Worldwide
- Development of the U.S. database, purchase of D&B data, and expansion and enrichment of the IT database
- First Telephony Campaign in Italian
- Cross-Channel Tracking for Facebook and LinkedIn
- Setting Up Audiences for Retargeting Campaigns
- Launch of the first Facebook campaigns (50% of the people subsequently reached by phone participated in the KLD)
- Set up Sales Viewer to track website traffic
"We are very pleased with the results: Over 200 live conversations were scheduled. We are planning the next event for April and will once again be relying on LeadEngine's support."
B2B Customer Journey in the Passenger Car Trailer Industry
Phase: Complete Journey
In analyzing the B2B customer journey, it became clear that a holistic approach is necessary. For this reason, several phases of the journey were identified.
Current Situation: Pongratz offers a wide range of trailers for residential and commercial customers. The company now plans to expand its business in Austria and Germany. However, the company receives no more than 25 inquiries from new customers per month. This results in a high degree of dependence on dealers and their activities.
Goal: Expand lead generation and better manage German retailers through lead management.
Approach: With our “LeadEngine Flex 30” package, we were able to respond flexibly to Pongratz’s needs. We redesigned the website with a focus on lead generation. This involved optimizations in the areas of SEO, conversion, and off-page factors. In addition, we ran Google Ads campaigns and created content.
Result: We achieved a steady increase from 25 to 260 leads over 24 months. At the same time, the cost per lead dropped from €83 to €17 during this period. After 3 years, we succeeded in reducing costs by 85%, resulting in a cost per lead of €12. The conversion rate on the website rose from 0.4% to 1.8%. With a new product landing page—which we designed and wrote with a focus on a key keyword—we immediately reached the number-one spot. In addition, we appear on the first page of Google search results for several keywords that are relevant to the target persona and frequently searched for, thanks to our blog articles.
B2B Customer Journey in Environmental Technology
Phase: Complete Journey
This company analyzed the entire B2B customer journey in order to both generate new customers and re-engage existing ones.
Initial Situation: The company’s website, with its outdated design, offered few opportunities for conversion. Combined with a product that required a lot of explanation, this led to a decline in search rankings and very few new customers. As a result, the company had to rely on its existing customers.
Goal: Increase lead generation
Procedure:
Result: Leads generated through the website have increased sixfold. The conversion rate is eight times higher. The cost per lead has been reduced to one-third of what it was. All in all, we optimized the website for a successful B2B customer journey by improving page speed, focusing on relevant keywords, and making it user-friendly with the help of a well-thought-out keyword matrix. In the process, we learned some important lessons:
- A comprehensive optimization is crucial.
- Time and patience are essential.
- User behavior ≠ one’s own behavior
- The keywords are different for Germany and Austria.
B2B Customer Journey in Industrial 3D Printing
Phase: Complete Journey
Here, too, the entire customer journey was examined in order to realize the company’s full potential. In addition, a multichannel campaign was used to support these efforts.
Initial Situation: Evo-Tech, an Upper Austrian manufacturer of 3D printers, wants to expand in Germany and Austria but has been unsuccessful in establishing its own sales force.
Goal: Build a lead generation process to help sales representatives succeed
Approach: As a first step, a potential analysis was conducted and a comprehensive marketing strategy was defined. The results were implemented as part of the website redesign. Using the LeadEngine Flex 37 package, we focused on online marketing, content generation, and telemarketing (scheduling appointments, invitations to in-house trade shows, roadshows, etc.).
Result: By focusing on the B2B customer journey, we increased leads from 37 to 131 per month over a 12-month period and reduced the cost per lead from €142 to €55. In addition, 90% of the top keywords now appear on page 1 ofGoogle search results.
B2B Customer Journey in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering
Phase: Complete Journey
Working closely with the company, we reviewed and optimized the entire B2B customer journey. The analysis revealed that a shift in strategic direction would be beneficial.
Initial Situation: Schmachtl is a company that provides components and system solutions for the industrial sector. Proactive lead generation is not part of the company’s culture and needs to be established.
Objective: Develop and implement a lead generation strategy. Restructure the organization with three art directors.
Approach: Based on a potential analysis and the definition of a comprehensive marketing strategy, it became clear that the focus should shift away from trade shows and toward online marketing (SEO, Google Ads, and content creation). The measures were implemented as part of the “LeadEngine Flex 30” package.
Result: We increased the number of leads from 20 to 285 and reduced the cost per lead from €43 to €13.
B2B Customer Journey in the Energy Sector
Phase: Loyalty
The right strategy varies from company to company. That was clearly evident here. The focus was therefore on the loyalty phase.
Initial Situation: The company is facing the problem of losing customers once their contracts expire.
Goal: Retain customers shortly before their contracts expire. The goal is to exceed the internal success rate of 45%.
Procedure: A customer retention call was made once a quarter.
Result: The customer retention rate has risen to 69%.
B2B Customer Journey in the Software Industry
Phase: Consideration
This company is a good example of how different the approach to a single B2B customer journey phase can be. Often, the focus during the consideration phase is online. In this case, however, the company deliberately chose to rely on phone calls.
Current Situation: The company faces the challenge that not enough appointments for the field sales team are being generated internally.
Goal: Scheduling appointments over the phone without online support
Procedure: Scheduling appointments by phone using LeadEngine Flex 13
Result: The appointment rate for telephone calls increased from 1.8% to 7%, not including self-scheduled appointments.
