There are clear differences in B2B and B2C, but one thing remains. It is people who make the purchase decision. And especially in B2B, the customer as a person is often neglected. But he only wants one thing: The customer wants to be understood. And this is exactly where the concept of the customer journey comes into play. The customer journey Knowing this is important because it is not only important to identify the customer's problems and help to solve them, but also to address the customer where he is. The customer journey refers to the process and the sub-steps that your potential customer goes through on the way to the final purchase decision.
The four central phases of the customer journey in B2B:
Awareness/consciousness
Your customer becomes aware of a problem for which he is now looking for a suitable solution. We all know it: the first port of call is the search engine with the colorful letters. In the course of this, realize the enormous importance of the SEO keywords consciously!
Only through cleverly displayed content can your potential customer become aware of your company. And even more important: the solution you offer to his problem. In addition to search engines, there are numerous other touchpoints to potential customers that should be taken into account, e.g. social media channels, local media, Podcasts or events.
Consideration
The research has been done, now the potential B2B customer wants to obtain offers and compare them with each other. The aim here is to identify the provider who offers the best possible solution to your customer's problem. At this point it will Trust set up and the offer explained.
Transaction/transaction
The customer has decided on (D)an offer! The sales team is therefore asked to negotiate the conditions of the offer and clarify outstanding details. Attention: Always keep in mind that the purchase is not yet completely completed. Even in this phase of the customer journey Purchase process still fail!
Commitment/Retention
Even if you have now completely convinced the customer of your offer and the purchase has been completed, your customer's journey is still far from reaching its destination. Not only the Acquisition of new customers plays a major role in B2B, but above all also Maintaining existing customers. After all, you want to benefit from the positive testimonials of your customers, right? These are worth their weight in gold in the age of online recommendations and often attract new customers. In this phase, service, support and knowledge sharing are very important.
The major difference between the B2B and B2C customer journey
Isn't a customer always the same as a customer? Let's start with the basics to find out what the exact difference is in the customer journey in B2B and B2C.
At first glance it is clear: The customer groups are divided into individual and company groups. But wait, that's not the end of it. Unlike in B2C, in B2B many interest groups and people involved in the purchase. So it's not just the person who later signs the purchase contract! This is what the customer journey in B2B does complex. It is therefore logical that the Purchase decision process usually extends over a long period of time in order to be able to do justice to all interests equally. Of course, this can also be the case in B2C in exceptional cases, but on the whole it is atypical here.
Around the Trip Your customer analyze and optimize To be able to do this, more and more companies are using the method Customer Journey Map at. The aim is to make possible weak points in your company's service visible by visualizing a standardized customer journey. You can now find out exactly how this works and which steps need to be followed.
How To: Create a Customer Journey Map
1. Define buyer persona
“Who is mine target group, who is my product or service aimed at and which ones Customer needs need to be satisfied by my product?” A clear answer is often difficult to find in the B2B world, and yet it remains essential. Because that Buyer Persona is the basis for understanding your customer’s customer journey– and finally to be able to optimize. Analyzing the buyer persona is the start of creating a customer journey map.
You should consider these points when creating a buyer persona:
- Name, age, general characteristics
- Job, position, income
- Daily business and tasks
Your customer in connection with your company:
- What makes us as a company interesting for our potential customers?
- How did our potential customer find us?
- What information does our potential customer need to make a purchasing decision?
- For what reasons exactly should our potential customer choose our offer?
2. Identify touchpoints
Once the buyer persona has been defined, the next step is to determine the steps your customer goes through in their purchasing process. These will too Touchpoints called. This refers to the points of contact between your customer and your company.
Questions you need to ask yourself in this step are: Where did the customer first hear about you? How does he get in touch with you? What service does he accept or require? Slip into the role of your customer to explore what processes they go through until a purchase agreement is finally concluded. A good way to do this is Customer surveys.
3. Visualize customer journey map
In order to become aware of the individual steps of the customer journey, it helps to visualize all stages graphically. Black and white will make it easier for you to identify possible weak points in your process. But don't worry: artistic talent is not necessary here, individual stick figures will do too. The goal should simply be to be able to put yourself in your customer’s situation as best as possible.
4. Identify gaps and pain points
The analysis shows which steps have already been optimized and run particularly smoothly in your company. That's great! This Quick Wins You should continue to expand your skills in a targeted manner. It will be more difficult to identify the so-called gaps and Pain points to admit. Precisely those areas where your company is still lacking and the customer is not 100% taken up by your service offering. Keep an eye on the competition and ask yourself: Where will my potential customer jump ship and decide in favor of a stronger provider?
5. What's Next?
After you have completed your analysis, it's time to put words into action! Derive concrete measures based on your pain points and quick wins. How can success be measured – what are your KPI's? What are the specific next steps the company should take?
A short summary:
- The customer want in Focus stand, his wishes want to be heard! All measures should be aimed at meeting the needs of your customer.
- It is important to have a clear one overview about all the steps your customer goes through up to the final conversion.
- The breaks or gaps in the purchasing decision process can be specifically identified. What is still lacking in the company? Which processes need to be optimized? Where do new touchpoints need to be created?
- The insights from your customer journey can be used to create concrete ones Measures are derived that help drive targeted marketing and campaign planning.
- The new measures not only increase the Conversion rate, but also the sales of your company. The work is worth it!
