Do you want to reach new clients in order to increase your sales? Sure! So, let us be clear, digitalisation is the next step: clients and companies are interacting and sharing knowledge in the digital world. You have to be part of it! You also need to monitor your clients ‘online behaviour. A B2B digital customer journey (linear and circular) is a fascinating scenario for business interaction. By reading this blog post, you will quickly learn how to create a more personalised experience for your clients. Then, they will be more than happy to stay with you and to talk positively about your brand. So, you will create a more profitable business experience overall.

😏 What clients think of you matters…to other clients. So, a positive online image is a must.

Traditional (linear) and circular b2b digital customer journey

• Awareness
• Consideration
• Purchase
• Post Purchase Experience

Nowadays, there’s a tendency to see it as a more circular model where happy clients become loyal to your brand. (Loyalty)

😏 B2B buyers are now using more than ever digital channels during the information acquisition phase. (Research)

Let’s see each phase in more detail and how clients are now reshaping the linear model.

📣⭕ these symbols will refer to the new ways clients look for info and share it with others

Awareness and consideration in the b2b digital customer journey

Awareness. Potential clients are conducting research here, including online and offline channels: word of mouth, search engine suggestions, billboards, SoMe, and leaflets, for instance. They may have curiosity about a product or service, or they can be seeking educational content. However, they don’t know your brand yet. This is not a moment for your organisation to adopt a product-oriented approach, as it is still early days. However, it would help if you stay active, especially online. Digital Marketing is, without a doubt, the way to adapt your strategies in an agile way. Once visitors start paying attention to you, chances are they will start following and interacting with your brand. Therefore, give them reasons to look at you 👀 and stay.

😏The sales team offers helpful information about their experiences with clients to the marketing team to help them create valuable content (Blog posts, Webinars…).

📣⭕Loyal clients raise awareness of your organisation with happy testimonials, promoting your brand on SoMe, for example, or talking with family and friends.

Consideration. Now, prospects are consuming your content. Maybe they are also considering whether or not to buy (and not only from you). Again, online users are more than ever seeking information before making a purchase. They will look for satisfied customer testimonials to consider whether or not to buy the products on offer. Digitalisation accelerates and makes this process more efficient.

😏 Your marketing people will help your salespeople identify which prospects are interested in the company (Email Marketing, Landing Pages…).

📣⭕Customer reviews play an essential role in this phase.

Purchase and post-purchase experience in the b2b digital customer journey

Purchase (Decision stage). This is when customers actually buy your product after weighing up the different choices in the market. The message sent to the client is more personalised. You know whom you should target with your products. (And what product is their favourite)

😏Your marketing and sales TEAMS will cooperate to identify the prospect’s activity and where targeting advertising is needed.

📣⭕All the data generated in each digital interaction is studied and analysed to create a more satisfying purchase experience.

Post Purchase experience. After the purchase, the relationship does not end. What you do for your clients from this point on is essential to reinitiate the process at a different stage or create new ones (other products, even with other customers).

😏You could offer loyalty discounts or provide easy access to support or advice to any customer who may need it.

📣⭕Loyal clients will:

• Buy more from you (they come back straight to the Purchase stage)
• Consider buying another product you offer (Consideration stage)
• Spread the word about your business (Acting as fuel in the new cycles for new clients in the different phases)
• Help speed up other clients’ processes as they offer their own experience of satisfaction with your brand.

 To sum up: a b2b digital transformation

Traditional customer journey models are linear. They offer a visual map to set the right digital marketing strategies. Nowadays, those models tend to adopt a more circular design.

 There are 3 key points in a circular B2B digital customer journey⭕:

• The customer has the power to fuel the process. (Research, loyalty)
• Digital Marketing Strategies need to be more client-focused.
• In this circular digital customer journey model, Marketing and Sales teams work together, not “taking turns.”

When we help our B2B clients (for instance, a business like yours) to reach their goals, we care about the paths you are taking. In fact, we guide you in the process. We collect accurate and helpful information for you to tailor your marketing campaigns and reach the key clients.

That’s precisely what we offer at Acebo: the right digital tools designed to optimise your business performance.