In today’s fast-paced world of B2B marketing and sales, gaining your potential customers’ attention is only the first step. The real challenge lies in converting those prospects into loyal customers. With decades of experience on both sides of the marketing and sales equation, we’ve mastered the science of conversion optimization—and compiled our five best strategies to help you boost your B2B success.
1. Get to know your audience.
In the ever-evolving landscape of B2B marketing, success hinges on your ability to adapt and connect with your target audience. A deep understanding of your potential customers and their buying journey is the cornerstone of a successful marketing strategy. When was the last time you engaged in a meaningful conversation with your customers? If it’s been a while, your marketing efforts might need a tune-up.
Market dynamics shift incessantly, and your marketing strategies must evolve in tandem. To truly resonate with your prospects, you need to immerse yourself in their world. Spend time where they gather, gain insights into their challenges, and grasp the intricacies of their businesses. Today’s digital landscape makes it easy to monitor social media platforms to see what people are saying about the industry, products or competitors, or use social listening tools to track mentions, sentiment and trends. You can also pay attention to customer feedback and reviews on your and your competitors’ products or services.
The more intimately you understand them, the smoother your journey toward securing meetings and converting them into loyal customers.
2. Appreciate their journey.
A marketing strategy should be based on a sound understanding of the customer journey. Picture the entire journey—from the origin of prospects to their objections, concerns and conversion points. Appreciate that the customer’s buying journey is typically complex and often happens simultaneously, not sequentially.
Customers engage in “looping” across a typical B2B purchase, revisiting most decisions at least once during the process. According to Forrester, 84% of buyers report they make purchase decisions in groups of three or more when purchasing solutions that cost more than $5,000 (six to 10 for complex B2B solutions). It is crucial to chart the anticipated involvement of each role, enabling you to connect with your intended audience and tailor your communication to coincide with their peak engagement. Identify the spots where prospects tend to drop off and implement strategies to mend those gaps. This synchronization is critical in turning leads into conversions.
3. Focus on their stories.
Understanding your customers isn’t just about knowing their needs; it’s about comprehending the challenges they face and the narratives they construct around those challenges. Knowing how they approach potential barriers equips an organization with a powerful tool: the ability to strategically convey their customer stories to prospective clients.
Case studies serve as the storytellers of the problems our customers grapple with and unveil how our solutions successfully address these issues. Cases that include real-world examples, precise percentages and concrete dollar figures that tangibly illustrate the effectiveness of your solutions lead to an exceptional conversion rate.
And yet case studies can be a complex, time-consuming task. To make it easier, employ templates, leverage existing content and conduct focused, 20-minute interviews to gather relevant information. Prioritize quality over quantity to tell the right story and establish your credibility with potential customers.
4. Nurture them along the way.
Enter the unsung hero of B2B conversion—lead nurturing. While acquiring a lead’s contact information through a white paper download is just the initial step, the real magic happens when we embark on a comprehensive lead-nurturing program.
User reviews, testimonials and, of course, case studies wield immense influence over potential buyers. These materials guide leads deeper into the sales funnel even before they engage in direct conversations with your team. Consider sending this content to prospects over email, where you’re able to establish a digital connection and transition from awareness to education.
The key takeaway here is not to relegate this content to the obscure corners of your website but to actively share and distribute it among your prospects. Showcasing these real-world success stories can act as a catalyst, transforming leads into meaningful meetings.
5. Don’t be coy.
In the landscape of digital marketing, where every click is a potential conversion, the speed at which your sales teams respond to leads can be the make-or-break factor for conversion rates. In 2022, B2B digital advertising spending exceeded a staggering $13 billion, with projections soaring to over $17.5 billion by 2025. In this fiercely competitive environment, your customers have an abundance of information at their fingertips. Marketers are engaged in an uphill battle to transform each click into a coveted conversion.
However, a startling statistic emerges when the leads get turned over to sales: on average, B2B sales teams take a staggering amount of time to respond. The longer we delay moving a potential customer through our sales process, the greater the risk of losing their interest. Simply put, procrastination increases the likelihood of being ghosted by these valuable opportunities.
Let’s delve into the numbers: 50% of leads choose to work with the organization that contacts them first. Yet 55% of businesses take five or more days to respond to a fresh lead, with 12% neglecting to initiate any form of outreach at all. And if five days sounds fast to you, you might not only be missing leads: you may be damaging your brand’s reputation. Decide what you’re going to say, and don’t wait to say it.
By embracing these five strategies, you can enhance your conversion optimization efforts and propel your business toward greater success in the ever-evolving landscape of B2B marketing and sales.