Marketers have two theories regarding products and/or services with a long and complex buying cycle: they’re either a dream or a nightmare! On the one hand, there’s a wider gap between marketing efforts and the actual purchase—for example, in B2B, the decision-making process for buying hardware or software can take weeks or even months!
After all, we’re talking about an approach that requires adaptation to business processes before it yields tangible benefits. On the other hand, it will always be difficult to measure which marketing activity had the greatest influence on the sale, or to prove that the strategy we’re pursuing is the most profitable.
Complex purchasing behavior is also an indicator of highly engaged consumers who recognize significant differences in the benefits of their purchasing options. However, there’s good news! A complex purchasing process can be seen as a longer-lasting opportunity for communication. Having more time to communicate means having more chances to influence potential customers to buy.
The path consumers take isn’t always linear, especially when they’re facing a long and complex purchasing process. Assessing and scoring the (pre)disposition of your potential customers can be the solution. Base your scoring on demographic and behavioral data, and ensure your customers receive content tailored to their profile and interests.
How can you do this without resorting to pen and paper? Technology comes to the rescue! There are countless marketing automationsolutions on the market that allow marketers to assign scores to specific attributes or actions and automatically trigger marketing campaigns when a certain score is reached.
Practical Example 1: Customer X is interested in a SaaS solution your company offers. The first time Customer X visits your company’s website and fills out an information request form, your marketing automation solution recognizes this behavior and assigns a specific score to it. On the other hand, you know that your target audience consists of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with between 50 and 200 full-time employees. Thus, when Customer X indicates that their company has 55 full-time employees, they are automatically awarded additional points. The logic involves internally defining a point threshold that indicates when a customer is “ready to buy” or “ready for sales contact.” When that score is reached, the system alerts you to a new stage in the buying process—and that’s when your sales team springs into action! Goodbye, cold calling!
Learn more about Lead Scoring on YouBlog, and download the free eBook “Lead Scoring Guide.”
Depending on each customer’s behavior, you can share personalized content at every stage of the buying process. Performing this type of personalization in real time allows you to share highly relevant content that’s tailored to the context of each stage of your potential customers’ buying journey. Your website can display different types of content depending on who is viewing it and what a specific person has already viewed.
Practical Example 2: A photography course website can display content about different training levels based on the digital behavior of potential students—whether they searched for beginner workshops or looked for information on advanced courses. The idea is to tailor the content and elements of your page based on the visitor’s interests—as revealed by their interactions with specific content. All of this goes by one name: SMART Content (or dynamic content)!
In practical example 1, different SaaS solutions, tailored to different types of industries, can be suggested based on a simple demographic piece of information: “industry sector.”
This type of highly dynamic content delivery has a twofold positive impact on marketers’ work—they’ll be automatically sharing more relevant content while simultaneously learning more about each Buyer Persona based on how they interact with that content. The goal is clear: to continuously tailor the offering to each segment.
“Courting” your leads (Lead Nurturing), especially if they’re potential customers, is the key to turning good marketing into fantastic marketing. Remember: A lead won’t show interest in your company’s product and/or service until they understand how your solution can help solve their problem. Different types of campaigns can be run, depending on the objectives— (1) to initiate a relationship (Awareness), (2) to educate the lead as they move toward becoming a prospect and/or customer (Consideration), (3) to close the sale (Decision), or (4) to build loyalty (Delight).
A lead nurturing strategy will be your best tool for managing long-term relationships with your customers—a must-have if your goal is to maintain your customers’ interest throughout a complex buying cycle.
Once you find an effective way—tailored to your business—to score your leads and offer them personalized content, nurturing campaigns will ensure that your marketing remains relevant and aligns with the stages of the sales funnel.
Practical Example 3: Imagine that your marketing automation solution detects that Customer X, from Practical Example 1, has been spending a lot of time researching a specific SaaS solution. As a result, Customer X will be enrolled in a specific nurturing campaign—for example, email marketing —that offers videos, testimonials, and reviews about that solution. Throughout the campaign, notifications are triggered every time Customer X opens an email, downloads content, or subscribes to specific content. Then, the technology provides feedback on its own: if Customer X continues to engage with the content, they will progressively receive more material that is increasingly tailored to their interests. And they will never receive or see repeated content. If they watched a particular video via email marketing, they won’t see it again on their next visit to the website.
Marketing isn’t just about brainstorming—you need to analyze your investment. Every manager seeks to measure revenue and results to determine whether an investment was worthwhile or not. This is where the famous ROI (Return on Investment) comes in.
During a complex buying cycle, it’s essential to continuously track performance metrics and determine whether you’re allocating resources where they’re most profitable. If we don’t want management to have cause for complaint, we need to work with the most appropriate analytical tools. But first, ask the right questions:
Of course, you need some qualitative insight to interpret the hard data. But even here, a marketing automation solution can help! The answer lies in dashboards—those well-known control panels that aggregate information while providing a comprehensive view of the entire picture. There are essentially three major advantages to using dashboards in business: (1) They monitor the performance of key metrics; (2) They promote intelligent visualization of information; (3) They engage stakeholders in the monitoring process. A true management tool!
Did you sign a contract? Don’t stop there. A sale doesn’t end once a contract is signed. On the contrary! It’s after the deal is closed that your company must demonstrate value and expertise in what it has committed to deliver. Only then will you be able to build customer loyalty and create advocates for your business.
At a time when interpersonal skills seem to be the key to successful understanding and effectiveness in achieving results through people, it’s essential to ensure that our customers remain in constant interaction with your company’s sales team. The best way to make this happen is to be proactive and regularly follow up with your client portfolio—sending emails and making calls to check that everything is proceeding as planned with the product or project, promoting new solutions (cross-selling) or potential discounts, and even sending thoughtful gestures on special occasions. As American marketing guru Philip Kotler once said: “Acquiring a new customer costs between 5 and 7 times more than retaining an existing one.”
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