b2b buyer journey

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Understanding and mapping the b2b buyer journey.

11 min read Mapping out and understanding your B2B buyer journey is key for understanding the moments that matter for your customers. Learn how to map out your B2B buyer journey and set the stage for the customer journeys that follows.

Your B2B buyer journey is the make-or-break-it sales approach to potential customers. Understanding how to map it and take action on gaps can be the difference between a customer signing on and a potential buyer looking for an alternative partner.

What is the B2B buyer journey?

Your B2B buyer journey is the complete process a buyer will go through, starting from initial awareness of your brand, to the evaluation of your products and services, to finally taking the decision to make a purchase.

It’s most often thought of as initial stepping stone for potential new customers to start their ongoing sales journey with you, but there is also enormous potential for driving organic growth from existing customers through cross-sell and up-sell.

There are many components to an overall customer journey, including things like delivery and customer service , but to ensure there is adequate focus on growth the B2B buyer journey really seeks out those hooks for potentially interested parties and gets them on board to complete their purchasing journey.

Learn about effectively managing the buyer lifecycle in our Account Management Solutions eBook

How is the B2B journey different to the B2C buyer journey?

In the B2C market , potential buyers are usually individuals or families, with specific needs particular to themselves. They might be most concerned with convenience or their personal financial ability to buy your products or services. Relationships might be formed over a shorter period of time, with sales and marketing targeted at a very broad customer base via market segments or personas.

In the B2B market, the concept of a customer needs to be thought of differently, and often includes multiple stakeholders. They may have varying interests, concerns, and goals. Stakeholders can span from the Executive buyer to the end-user and related functions, such as procurement and legal. Relationships might be formed over a longer period of time, with sales and account management resources targeted specifically at that individual customer. Your relationship will be built with more than just the final decision maker – the aggregated connection you create with all stakeholders will make the account a success.

Discover the best practices for improving your B2B account management. 

Why is the journey so important?

As mentioned, the buyer journey generally shapes a customer’s route through to the purchase process. Understanding buyer behavior during this process can greatly improve your chances of upselling and retaining your customers later down the line.

B2B buyer journey stages

The B2B buyer’s journey is often divided into three parts: Awareness, Consideration, and Decision. All three stages require an understanding of buying behavior particular to your customer segmentation and target personas.

1. Awareness

In this stage, the buyer is just beginning to get awareness of your company, your products and your services. This awareness is driven by your marketing team members with support from your sales and customer success teams.

In this stage, it is critical to demonstrate you understand the prospect or client’s real business needs and customer pain points, and can highlight the corresponding ways in which your business can help meet these needs. Here, marketing teams will be in content creation mode, creating content and leveraging digital channels such as websites and social media platforms that your sales and account teams can use as leverage to speak to potential customers.

2. Consideration

This stage is about showing how you can help resolve their pain points in a way that builds confidence in the quality and competitiveness of your offering.

Case studies, expert guides, effective in-person engagement and comparative content can help your sales team in lead nurturing once potential customers are aware of your solutions.

3. Decision

At this stage, your potential customers will be making decisions on which products or services they are most interested in. They might reach out to sales, but to help them along to the purchase process, sales reps might need marketing support with product demos, testimonials and product reviews to push marketing leads into sales lead generation.

B2B customer segmentation

To begin your buyer journey, you’ll first need to gather data and segment your potential customers so you can narrow down who is most likely to make a purchase.

1. Gather your data

In this step, you’re collating all the market research data you might need on potential customers. You might focus on industry, company size, location, technologies used or more. Discard companies that aren’t right for your business, but keep ones who might have a potential interest for further segmentation.

2. Create your tiers

Once you’ve got your list of potential accounts, narrow them down into tiers. These could be divided into your largest Tier 1 customers  – your key accounts that you want to prioritize – and further tiers. This way, you can develop a strategy for the maximum ROI for your marketing output.

3. Separate according to need

Though you can divide the businesses in your tiers by industry, often customer needs will transcend the sector they’re based in. You can often determine needs by what might drive your customer to your business – do they need more efficient software, or are the current products they use at risk of being deemed obsolete?

4. Divide according to customer development and sophistication

Segmenting the businesses you consider potential leads by their sophistication can help you to establish exactly at what level you need to offer your services or products. For example, a highly sophisticated software provider might not need basic cloud hosting services – but they might need your highly secure package. Similarly, offering too complex a service for a basic need is also likely to lose you potential business.

5. Segment according to behavior

Sometimes, needs and sophistication aren’t as helpful as dividing your potential customers according to their behavior. Some businesses prefer working with suppliers for many years, whereas others are more price-focused and will seek the best deal. By segmenting buyers in this way, you can tailor your marketing and sales efforts to really shape your offering to what your leads will want.

B2B target personas

Rather than starting your buyer journey aiming at all potential customers in a particular segment, it’s better to narrow down your focus to those who will find your business relevant and useful.

Before starting to create your B2B buyer journey, creating target personas can help you figure out some key factors:

•         Who is most likely to follow through to the purchase process?
•         What pain points can you solve?
•         Which marketing strategy is best to take your potential customers from knowing nothing about your brand to becoming buyers?

Your B2B target personas should include:

•         Demographics (age, occupation, decision-making capacity)
•         Goals (such as profitability or growth)
•         Their key factors for choosing a supplier
•         Their basic requirements
•         Their pain points
•         Brands they may already be using
•         How they prefer to interact (email, face-to-face, web chat etc.)

Remember, though you might have created one persona per segment, B2B customers often have multiple people involved in the decision making process. You might need to create a group of personas per segment to better reflect the needs you’ll have to fulfil.

Once you’ve built a set of personas, you can begin planning your buyer journey stages.

Mapping and optimizing the B2B buyer journey

The B2B buyer journey is often non-linear, making a map vital for understanding how your potential customers arrive at the decision to make a purchase.

By tracking your potential customers’ journey using data, you can follow their path from your content and your marketing outreach through your platforms, all the way to initial contact with the sales team.

Following the suggested buyer journey stages is a good way to start the process. However, truly understanding what has led customers to the decision to buy involves an understanding of their motives, tracking their arrival to your solutions, and continually optimizing their journey for conversions.

1. Narrow down the reason for their interest

There are many reasons why a customer might be driven to undergo the journey to purchasing your products, but segmenting your potential leads further can help identify them.

•         Looking for a solution to a problem?
•         Scoping out their potential requirements?
•         Searching for a new supplier?

By grouping customers you encounter according to their intent, you can create multiple buyer journeys that are tailored to resolving specific needs.

2. Understand how customers arrive at your content

Your journey might even start earlier than your content, with potential buyers using search engines to look for potential solutions. Tailoring your content to those searches can help to draw the right audience to your top-of-funnel content that starts the B2B buyer journey. By understanding their start point, you can figure out how to guide them to your end point.

3. Track conversions

Data will be the greatest help for understanding how customers arrive at the end point of their buyer journey. By looking at how customers find your content, engage with your content, and move on to the next stage of the journey, you can keep doing what works and discard what doesn’t. You can also quickly identify gaps where you lose customers and provide more content and sales effort to compensate.

4. Continually adapt

Remember, your B2B buyer journey is not fixed, but flexible.

What works for one customer one time might not work a year or two down the line for another. Constantly updating your B2B buyer journey according to your data and insights will help to make sure you’re still meeting needs for each individual customer.

Adding B2B buyer journey optimization into your CX strategy

Your B2B buyer journey is important, but it only forms part of your overall customer experience . Your CX program should ideally include data analysis, win/loss optimization, and customer retention strategies alongside your buyer journey efforts.

Read Qualtrics’ Account Management Solutions eBook now for insights and advice on the reasons for:

• Developing a customer health benchmark score and optimizing over time
• Formulating a customer retention strategy
• Optimizing the buyer journey
• Analyzing your win/loss ratio and taking action

Discover Best Practices For Improving Your B2B Account Management

Related resources

B2b customer churn and retention 7 min read, b2b customer service 10 min read, b2b customer experience 21 min read, customer success 8 min read, customer health scores 15 min read, win/loss analysis and optimization 10 min read, request demo.

Ready to learn more about Qualtrics?

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A step-by-step guide to mapping the B2B customer journey (with real-life examples)

It’s tricky to effectively map out all the different user personas and purchasing processes in the B2B customer journey. But understanding your customer's experience is key to improving conversions and retaining users.

That’s why it’s essential for B2B companies to follow an effective customer journey mapping process.

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Use our step-by-step guide to create a map for your business-to-business (B2B) company that tracks your users’ unique journeys, giving you key insights into your customers and their needs. 

Get valuable insights into your B2B customer journey

Hotjar helps you understand how buyers interact with key web and product touchpoints to improve their experience.

How to map out the B2B customer journey in 5 steps

Mapping the customer journey is essential in understanding your buyers and turning them into loyal customers. 

Follow these steps to create an actionable B2B customer journey map that gives insights into who your customers are and helps you build an optimized user experience (UX) for them:

1. Set goals unique to your business

Before you start mapping out the customer journey, define your larger business and customer goals. 

To begin, ask yourself what you want your customers to achieve—what are their jobs to be done (JTBD)? Does your business depend on repeat customers, or are your products one-off larger ticket items? Your customer journey will look different if you sell business clients a one-time-purchase product, like a hardware device, versus a subscription service.

For example, different B2B firms—like GE Renewable Energy and Hubspot—will have very different objectives. A company like GE Renewable Energy that sells large equipment to B2B customers may prioritize goals like generating more website conversions and creating brand advocates who recommend GE products to other businesses in the industry. 

On the other hand, a software company like Hubspot will need to emphasize the customer journey's onboarding and renewal components to increase customer retention. 

Know what your goals are before creating your B2B customer journey map to prioritize the most important steps for your customers and your business.

2. Identify your customer segments

The purchasing process is an especially nuanced cycle for B2B businesses, because the end users of your product or service are often not the same people making the purchasing decision .

John Forberger , founder of Forberger Communications , highlights this complexity: 

Typically, multiple people have influence over a deal. Maybe one person researches how to replace a current tool, then a second person does a demo, and a third person actually cuts the check.

Don't just focus on the users who’ll try out your product or service, or on the C-level decision makers: understand every stakeholder involved in the purchasing process to map out an accurate B2B customer journey . 

Consider the different needs of end users versus purchasers and think about how your user personas may differ depending on company size and type. 

Take Canva, for example: the design tool is used by a variety of businesses, from freelancers to large corporations like PayPal and Danone. Understanding different user profiles and needs gave Canva the insight they needed to design their homepage for different B2B customer types who can choose their own adventure and head off on their most relevant user journey.

Pro tip: once you define your user profiles, learn more about different buyer types by asking the right survey questions . Use these questions to dig deeper into user goals and jobs to be done to better design the B2B customer journey. 

3. Define the B2B customer journey stages

Once you have clear goals and user personas, it’s time to define the stages of  the customer journey. Let’s take a look at a typical 7-stage B2B customer journey, using the popular SEO tool Ahrefs as an example.

Awareness: a buyer becomes aware of their problem and begins to search for solutions, which is when they discover your brand. In our example, a buyer knows they need to improve their website’s SEO performance, so they search for “best SEO tools” and come across Ahrefs. They visit the homepage, where the tool’s value proposition entices them to learn more.

Consideration: customers consider your product or service as a potential solution. Here, the buyer visits Ahref’s website and learns about the brand’s unique selling proposition , reads about features, watches a demo, explores resources like the Ahrefs blog and SEO guide, and weighs up whether Ahrefs is the product solution for them.

Decision: the buyer makes a decision and purchases the product or service that best fits their needs. In the case of Ahrefs, the buyer purchases the subscription (Lite, Standard, Advanced, or Enterprise) that’s right for them. The Ahrefs website guides users in the decision and purchasing process by displaying clear CTAs that encourage users to become paying customers.

Onboarding: the buyer starts to use the product, goes through the onboarding process, and gets familiar with the tool by reading guides and watching demos. They (ideally) start to adopt it into their everyday workflow. 

Support: users contact customer teams as they need support. In our example, customers have easy access to customer support agents and the Ahrefs help center to smoothly resolve issues and questions.

Retention: customer retention is a key part of the B2B buyer journey, and at this stage, buyers decide whether or not they’ll remain loyal customers and continue using your product. Ahrefs offers a range of subscription models and gives users who sign up for an annual subscription a two-month free plan. 

Advocacy: the final stage in an ideal customer journey is turning customers into brand advocates. Ahrefs has done a good job of this: the homepage shows reviews from real users who recommend the tool, including pro SEOs, content marketers, and agencies.

Pro tip: your product's user journey may look different depending on your company and customer types: a business customer purchasing a one-off product will have a very different journey from a company subscribing to a service. 

Oleg Donets , founder and chief marketing officer at Real Estate Bees , points out how the stages of non-SaaS B2B customer journeys can differ from SaaS journeys : 

"Since the vast majority of SaaS companies utilize subscription revenue models, this directly impacts the customer journey. B2B customer journeys often scale back a notch shortly after a sale has been made, but that’s when the customer journey of a SaaS company just starts kicking in."

4. List all possible B2B customer touchpoints 

Once you map out the steps in your customer’s B2B journey, identify each ‘touchpoint’ where they interact with your company, from social media posts to your homepage CTAs and your product itself. 

Let’s go back to the Ahrefs example. 

A key touchpoint in the early awareness, consideration, and purchase stages of the B2B customer journey is their homepage and a clear call-to-action (CTA) button. These onsite touchpoints show customers what their next steps in the product experience (PX) should be and give them the information they need to make a decision. 

In the next phases—onboarding and support—follow Ahrefs' example by making it easy for users to connect with your B2B business, resolve their issues, and upgrade. On the Ahrefs help center page, customers can reach out to representatives and receive support within minutes. 

Make sure you continue mapping out  how your users interact with your B2B after they become customers—in the retention and advocacy phases . How can you make it easier for them to renew their subscription? Do you offer any rewards for referrals?

As well as mapping out touchpoints by customer journey phase, consider the different touchpoints experienced by different user personas.  

For example, the product experience of high-level executives who make the purchasing decision may not be the same as their employees who are your end-users. 

By identifying key B2B customer journey touchpoints for different customers and purchasing stages, you can improve UX, making product advocates out of your buyers.

Pro tip: use Hotjar's Observe tools—like Heatmaps and Recordings —to explore how your users interact with key B2B customer touchpoints on your website and product—and get the insights you need to improve their journey. 

Hotjar Session Recordings show you how users experience your page to improve low-performing touchpoints 

5. Measure and analyze the success of the customer journey

One of the most important customer journey mapping best practices is measuring the success of your customer journey.  

Use the right customer journey mapping tools to help you evaluate the impact of your touchpoints. For best results, combine website analysis tools with software that offers more in-depth product experience insights and user feedback. 

Use Hotjar's Observe tools to track how customers are engaging with your touchpoints. Then use Hotjar’s Ask tools—like Surveys and Feedback widgets—to learn what your users really think and feel about their B2B experience.

Tools like Google Analytics also help in mapping and analyzing the customer journey, giving you more general information on the types of users that visit your website and whether they convert or bounce. 

Combine Hotjar with Google Analytics to dig deeper into B2B customer touchpoint insights to improve conversion rates and enhance the customer experience .  

After you’ve mapped the customer journey, regularly check in on your key goals and what matters most to your customers. Keep measuring the outcomes of your customer journey to understand which aspects of the B2B customer journey are successful and what needs improvement.

Create a brilliant B2B user journey for happier customers

Successfully mapping out the B2B customer journey requires a deep understanding of all your buyers and how they interact with your brand and product. 

Adapting these steps to your customers and company helps you create a customer journey map that identifies what your users need at each stage of the buying cycle to provide them with the best possible experience.

Use Hotjar to understand how buyers interact with key web and product touchpoints—and improve their experience with your B2B business.

FAQs about B2B customer journey mapping

Why do you need b2b customer journey mapping.

Visualizing the customer journey is the first step to understanding and improving it. B2B customer journey mapping helps you identify what type of experience customers have with your product at every stage . 

Without B2B customer journey mapping, you won’t understand the process of converting potential buyers into loyal customers, meaning you have no way to make adjustments that enhance the customer journey.

How is the B2B customer journey different from other customer journeys?

With the B2B customer journey, there are often more stakeholders involved in the decision-making process than with a B2C customer journey. For that reason, the B2B customer journey is often much longer and depends on various decision-makers . 

Plus, the B2B customer journey is often cyclical, as customer retention is such a key goal for many B2B companies.

What are some common mistakes of B2B customer journey mapping?

A big mistake in B2B customer journey mapping is failing to consider all user personas. B2B products often have a number of diverse customer profiles, whether that be different positions within one company (administrator vs. C-level executive) or different types of companies (like a small business vs. an enterprise). 

Another common mistake is not taking into account the length and complexity of the B2B customer journey , which often has a lengthy approval process, and requires several different stakeholders to sign off on purchasing decisions.

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The Ultimate Guide to the B2B Buyer’s Journey

What's on this page:.

The B2B buyer’s journey has changed.

Gone are the days of traditional sales tactics; buyers are more clued-up on products and services than ever before.

This presents a challenge to B2B salespeople and marketers. How can they guide prospects from awareness to purchase when so much information is freely available and influences decision-making?

In this blog, we’ll decode the modern B2B buying journey and show you how to redefine your sales and marketing strategies for this new era.

Scroll 👇 for the ultimate guide to the B2B buyer’s journey.

What is the B2B buyer’s journey?

HubSpot de fines it a s:

"The process buyers go through to become aware of, evaluate, and decide to purchase a new product or service."

In a nutshell, it’s a series of steps a buyer takes from first recognising they have a problem to ultimately selecting a solution that best solves that problem.

We’ll explore the different stages of the buyer’s journey later, but first...

Why is the buyer’s journey important in B2B?

When a buyer turns up for a product demo, they already know lots about it. They’ve already done their research, Googling your brand and comparing it to the competition.

This is backed up by the statistics. According to Sirius Decisions , 67% of the buyer’s journey is now done digitally!

What does this plethora of online info mean for sales?

It means that it’s very easy for buyers to collect information independently. And that means your outbound sales reps have fewer opportunities to influence their decisions.

In fact, Gartner research finds that when B2B buyers are considering a purchase‚ they spend only 17% of that time meeting with potential suppliers.

And if you consider that they compare multiple suppliers, the amount of time they spend with your sales rep may only be 5-6%.

SaaS sales leaders often attribute this lack of customer access to a failure on the part of sellers to deliver enough value in their outreach and demos.

However, the problem is rooted far less in reps’ struggles to sell and far more in customers’ struggles to buy.

The typical buying group for a complex B2B solution involves 6-10 decision-makers; each armed with 4-5 pieces of information they’ve gathered independently.

At the same time, there are more options and solutions for buying groups to consider; new B2B technologies , products and services emerge every year.

These factors make it increasingly difficult for customers to make purchases. In fact, more than three-quarters of the customers Gartner surveyed described their purchase as very complex or difficult.

Understanding the B2B buyer’s journey is crucial to solving this problem and making your B2B sales process smoother.

Once your reps know who your buyers are, what they’re looking for and where they’re looking, they’ll be able to...

• Improve the buyer experience.
• Build value for your product or service.
• Increase their win rates.
• Move prospects quickly through the sales funnel .

How does the B2B buyer’s journey differ from B2C?

1. you sell to teams, not individuals.

A B2B buyer’s journey is unique in that, a B2B customer is often more than a single customer.

In B2B, you’re selling to an entire team or group of people, all of whom might have input in the purchase decision.

According to a study, 79% of B2B buyers said there are 1-6 people involved in the purchase process. Hence, the decision-making process is longer and more tedious.

This is a clear contrast with the B2C buyer’s journey, where the buyer is often an individual and the purchase decision is faster.

2. The deal sizes are bigger

B2B transactions are typically larger, both in terms of deal/order size and total revenue per customer.

These deals can take a lot longer to develop. But when they do, you often make a lot more money on each sale.

This also means that, as compared to B2C companies, you can be more choosy and afford to pay more to acquire each B2B lead . You want to make sure they’ll be the right fit for your business.

3. The sales cycles are longer

Most B2C purchases throughout the course of a year fall in the ~$100 range. And these can often be made on impulse without too much thought, research, or in-depth analysis.

It’s the complete opposite in B2B.

When you sell a large deal to a big team of decision-makers , the inevitable result is longer sales cycles. The average B2B buying cycle is 6-12 months; this is much longer than B2C.

That means you need a much slower ramp from attention to interest to purchase. You have to break down your B2B marketing and sales strategy into bite-sized chunks that can be consumed over the course of a few months.

The trick is to provide upfront education and value that convinces all the decision-makers to get on board. In other words, you need a logical progression of micro-conversions to seamlessly lead people from one step to another.

4. B2B is more emotional

On the surface, it seems like B2B decision-making would be more logical, while B2C is more emotional. However, that’s not the case.

According to this study conducted by Google, Gartner and Motista , on average, B2B customers are significantly more emotionally connected to their vendors and service providers than B2C customers.

And according to Bain, B2B offerings provide their customers with 40 distinct kinds of value . Some of these revolve around logical decisions (does it offer the features I need? Do I have the budget for it?).

But after that, it becomes more about who’s a better ‘fit’ than which one provides the lowest price. This represents an emotional decision on the part of the B2B buyer.

What are the stages of the B2B buyer’s journey?

From a high-level perspective, the B2B buyer’s journey consists of a three-step process:

• Awareness Stage: the buyer realises they have a problem.
• Consideration Stage: the buyer defines their problem and researches options to solve it.
• Decision Stage: the buyer chooses a solution.

When we compare the buyer’s journey vs the traditional sales process, it’s easy to spot where many sales teams fall down.

Too many reps focus on automation and delivering generic, product-based messaging. Instead, they should learn how to guide buyers through their journey.

To improve your sales effectiveness , you have to invest time in your process. Good product knowledge is important, but more so is knowing which stage in the journey your buyers are at and how you can move them onto the next stage.

Now, let’s deep dive into each stage and see what you can do to align your sales process to the buyer’s journey 👇

Aligning the sales process to the buyer’s journey – in 6 easy steps

1. create an awareness of need.

At this early stage, the buyer recognises they have a problem. They identify a challenge they want to solve or an opportunity they want to pursue.

They also ask themselves if the need is significant enough to warrant action.

An example could be: “I need to improve the quality of my sales data .”

Marketing’s job is to create awareness of your product, service, or company. They must educate buyers about their product and how it helps.

To do this, they should create content focused on your buyer’s pain points - not on your own product or brand.

The best sales professionals don’t wait for the buyer’s journey to start — they start it themselves!

For instance, in order to enter the discussion in this early part of the journey, you can take cues from issues affecting your industry.

Post your thoughts about them on social media; this will build up awareness of your product and make potential clients trust you as a source of information.

2. Educate your buyers

Once your buyers acknowledge they have a pain point, then the research begins.

The first stage of research begins with general, broad search terms as buyers explore their options. At this stage, they typically look for educational material, customer reviews, online courses and testimonials.

As they do some research, they’ll begin to understand what does and doesn’t meet their needs. At this point, they might eliminate some of the vendors who don’t provide the functionality or service they’re looking for. Eventually, they’ll narrow their focus to just a few competing companies.

In this stage, they also define...

• The desired outcomes they want from a new vendor or provider.
• Which stakeholders will be involved in the buying decision.
• How they’ll measure success in the short and long-term.

They often use this information to draft an RFP and establish a budget.

Educational content like whitepapers, reports and surveys are critical at this stage. Make sure you have these types of resources on your website.

Use a marketing automation tool and build lead nurturing campaigns to gradually deliver this content to your prospects.

Sales professionals must engage with B2B prospects at this point.

Because this is the stage where buyers evaluate options and draw up shortlists.

Approach likely prospects with the educational content developed by marketing. Demonstrate how your product/service delivers results that exceed the competition. Case studies and other social proof are very useful here.

How has the B2B buyer’s journey changed? Watch this discussion from Cognism’s marketing leaders to find out 🎬

3. Qualify your buyers

At this stage, buyers have clearly defined their goal or challenge and have committed to addressing it.

Once they’ve narrowed down their choices to just a few companies, they’ll return to the research stage. This time, they’ll dive even deeper into each company’s offerings, reviewing how they address their pain points.

In this buying journey stage, they’ll reach out to sales reps for further inquiries or to sit in on personalised product demos . Your buyers will want to really drill down into the features that matter to their teams.

At this point, more stakeholders will likely enter the picture. This brings more biases and diverging opinions into the mix.

As a result, priorities might change along with decision criteria and requirements. ROI usually enters the discussion at this stage.

As your buyers continue their research, you should update their lead scores in your marketing automation tool.

Your goal is to qualify them and keep track of their growing interest.

Sales reps have to help the buyer see the benefits of making a change.

To do this, they should act like trusted advisors, solving objections and providing as much information as the buyer wants.

Don’t be afraid to let a buyer go if your solution really can’t help them.

4. Prove your product’s ROI

In this stage of the journey, B2B buyers (who aren’t always the ultimate decision-makers) often have to secure buy-in from their managers.

To get sign-off from their C-suite colleagues, your buyers will want to see content that addresses things like pricing and ROI. They’ll want to justify spending money on your brand.

When creating content for this stage, remember to speak the language of the C-suite.

Drop the jargon and keep it real - focus on numbers, statistics and testimonials that prove ROI and value for money.

You’ll find more top tips on Cognism’s ultimate guide to C-suite marketing .

At this stage, your sales reps must act like consultants. They have to help the buyer convince internal stakeholders.

Proving your solution’s value is critical. You have to convince the buyer that your solution is better than the rest.

5. Guide the buyer to a decision

Once your buyers have sign-off from the C-suite, they’re ready to select a vendor and make a purchase.

At this point, they’ll start thinking about preparation, implementation, quick start costs, and customer support - the things that determine which solution best fits their needs and budget.

At this point, the customer gets serious about costs. They’ll consider the risks of doing nothing and the risks of choosing the wrong solution. Customers need assurance that implementation will be fast and pain-free.

It’s time to get brand-specific with your content.

Have a number of case studies and customer testimonials on hand. Show your buyers what other companies have achieved in choosing you, and how positive their experience has been.

Your role at this stage of the B2B buyer’s journey is to keep up the momentum!

There will be lots of stakeholders involved and lots of questions to answer. Make sure you’re available and ready to deal with sales objections .

A good way to create urgency is to show the buyer the rewards of choosing your product vs what will happen if they stick with the status quo.

6. Ensure a smooth implementation

Finally, after all these months, your buyers have chosen your product and are ready to purchase. It’s time for paperwork, setup and implementation.

At this stage, pricing and terms enter the discussion. Negotiations will occur; customers will often seek a lower price to reduce risk and financial exposure. While procurement , finance, and other stakeholders compare the implicit and explicit costs associated with your solution, your buyer will continue to research best practices, implementation guides, and more; they’ll want to hit the ground running with their new solution.

Create a drip nurturing program containing helpful content; this will move your customers through the B2B marketing funnel . You can also supply tips for using your product more effectively and efficiently.

If you can help them see more value in your product, they’re far more likely to remain your customer when renewal time comes around.

In this last phase of the B2B buyer’s journey, the sales rep is like the glue holding the deal together!

Liaise with your product and CS teams to ensure the implementation process goes smoothly. When the deal is done, hand your new customer over to CS; make sure you manage the handoff process correctly , or it’ll leave a bad taste in the customer’s mouth.

What is the future of the B2B buyer’s journey?

Where is the B2B buyer’s journey headed?

Our take is this:

It’ll be shaped by three things: technological advancements, changing customer behaviours and evolving market dynamics.

Here are some trends and possibilities 👇

Digital transformation

The B2B buying process will be heavily influenced by digital channels.

Buyers will increasingly rely on online research, social media, and virtual interactions to gather information, evaluate options, and communicate with vendors.

Personalisation and AI

Artificial intelligence and machine learning will enable more personalised experiences for B2B buyers.

AI-driven analytics will provide insights into individual buyer preferences, allowing businesses to deliver targeted content and recommendations.

This trend is already coming to pass with the rise of ChatGPT for sales .

Virtual selling

The rise of remote work and virtual interactions may lead to a more prominent role for virtual selling techniques.

Video prospecting , virtual product demonstrations, and online collaboration tools will become even more critical in engaging buyers.

Emphasis on customer experience

The focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences will intensify.

B2B buyers will demand seamless interactions, efficient communication, and responsive support throughout their journey.

Account-based marketing (ABM)

ABM strategies will gain prominence, allowing businesses to target accounts with personalised messaging and solutions tailored to their needs.

Content evolution

B2B buyers will seek more interactive and engaging content to aid their decision-making.

Videos, virtual reality experiences, and interactive product demonstrations will become key parts of the B2B buyer’s journey.

Predictive analytics

Predictive analytics will play a role in helping businesses anticipate buyer behaviour and preferences.

The future of the B2B buying journey will be proactive, not reactive; salespeople and marketers will be able to address buyer needs in advance.

Post-purchase engagement

The buyer’s journey will extend beyond the purchase.

Post-purchase engagement, customer support, and ongoing relationship-building will be crucial to retaining customers and fostering brand loyalty.

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New B2B Buying Journey & its Implication for Sales

B2b buying process has changed, and your sales strategy must, too, a new understanding of the b2b buying process is needed.

Sales leaders often attribute this lack of customer access to a failure on the part of sellers to deliver enough value as part of a typical sales interaction.

However, in studying ways to address this access challenge‚ Gartner research found a different reality altogether. The problem is rooted far less in reps’ struggles to sell and far more in customers’ struggles to buy.

Learn what sales must do to adapt

Download our special report, “cso update: the new b2b buying journey and its implication for sales.”.

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Sellers have little opportunity to influence customer decisions

The ready availability of quality information through digital channels has made it far easier for buyers to gather information independently, meaning sellers have less access and fewer opportunities to influence customer decisions.

In fact‚ Gartner research finds that when B2B buyers are considering a purchase‚ they spend only 17% of that time meeting with potential suppliers. When buyers are comparing multiple suppliers‚ the amount of time spent with any one sales rep may be only 5% or 6%.

Brent Adamson

The customers buying journey is hard

The typical buying group for a complex B2B solution involves six to 10 decision makers‚ each armed with four or five pieces of information they have gathered independently and must de-conflict with the group. At the same time, the set of options and solutions buying groups can consider is expanding as new technologies, products, suppliers and services emerge.

These dynamics make it increasingly difficult for customers to make purchases. In fact, more than three-quarters of the customers Gartner surveyed described their purchase as very complex or difficult.

B2B Buyers complete a set of jobs to make a purchase

To understand how to best help customers advance through a complex purchase, Gartner research identified six B2B buying “jobs” that customers must complete to their satisfaction in order to successfully finalise a purchase:

• Problem identification.  “We need to do something.”
• Solution exploration.  “What’s out there to solve our problem?”
• Requirements building.  “What exactly do we need the purchase to do?”
• Supplier selection.  “Does this do what we want it to do?”
• Validation.  “We think we know the right answer, but we need to be sure.”
• Consensus creation.  “We need to get everyone on board.”

The buying journey is not linear

B2B buying does not play out in any kind of predictable, linear order. Instead, customers engage in what one might call “looping” across a typical B2B purchase, revisiting each of those six buying jobs at least once.

Buying jobs do not happen sequentially, but more or less simultaneously.

Information drives purchase ease and high-quality sales

All of this looping around and bouncing from one job to another means that buyers value suppliers that make it easier for them to navigate the purchase process.

In fact, Gartner research found that customers who perceived the information they received from suppliers to be helpful in advancing across their buying jobs were 2.8 times more likely to experience a high degree of purchase ease, and three times more likely to buy a bigger deal with less regret.

Suppliers must enable buyers to complete buying jobs

To win in this B2B buying environment, suppliers should focus on providing customers with information that is specifically designed to help them complete their buying jobs.

We call this “buyer enablement” — the provisioning of information to customers in a way that enables them to complete critical buying jobs.

Implications of today’s B2B buying behaviour

Sales reps are a   channel to customers, not the   channel

Customers are largely channel-agnostic when seeking the information they need to get a job done. 

As a result, sales reps are not the only channel to customers, but simply a channel, and alignment across in-person and digital channels is crucial for supporting customers in the way they actually buy.

Supplier pipelines cannot speak the truth

Most sales organisations organise activity around a linear pipeline, seeking to move opportunities from one stage to the next. For customers, however, purchase progress is far better defined in terms of job completion rather than stage progression.

As a result, while pipeline reviews might indicate a preponderance of opportunities stuck in sales Stage 5, for example, there is no way of knowing through a linear, supplier-centric sales funnel where exactly customers are truly struggling to make progress in any given deal.

Sales and marketing must operate in parallel, not serial, fashion

Most sales and marketing teams are organised in serial fashion: Marketing generates and nurtures demand early through digital channels before handing off the most qualified of opportunities to sales for in-person pursuit. Customers, however, do not buy in a linear fashion. Rather, they use both digital and in-person channels with near-equal frequency to complete each of the buying jobs more or less simultaneously.

As a result, in today’s world of B2B buying, there is no handoff from marketing to sales, or digital to in-person. It’s a parallel process, not a serial one.

Related Resources

The sense making seller, adjust selling to 2020’s buying realities.

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What Sales Should Know About Modern B2B Buyers

Forget what you thought you knew about B2B buyers — see six things that characterize the B2B buyer of 2020.

The New Imperative for B2B Sales and Marketing Leaders

The traditional model of linear deal progression, with a handoff from marketing to sales, won’t work for complex modern B2B buying.

Sync Sales Pipeline Management to the B2B Buying Journey

Sales leaders must adjust their pipeline management and forecasting to accommodate the B2B buyer’s nonlinear buying journey.

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• Expert advice

B2B buyer journey mapping — enhance the buying experience

B2B purchases aren’t easy: they tend to have longer sales cycles, multiple stakeholder involvement, trial and procurement stages, among other things that make the entire B2B buyer journey complex and difficult to understand and manage.

That’s why we invite you to the B2B buyer journey mapping world! It is a tool that helps you understand how your B2B customers make decisions and their experience with you.

It's all about figuring out what your clients want, need, and expect. By learning this, you can grow your business in amazing ways. We'll guide you through each step of this process and share tips and strategies to help you succeed. 

Along the way, we'll explore how to identify critical stages in your customer's journey, understand their challenges, and provide solutions that satisfy their needs. Let's start this exciting journey to better understand your customers and boost your business growth.

• 1.1 Why launch a B2B buyer journey mapping initiative?
• 2 B2B customer segmentation — a step towards personas
• 3 B2B buyer journey stages
• 4 Mapping and optimizing the B2B buyer journey
• 5 Wrapping up 

What is the B2B buyer journey?

The B2B buyer journey stands for the process through which businesses go when deciding to purchase a product or service from another organization. Unlike an individual consumer purchase journey, this one is often much more complex and involves multiple decision-makers and a more extended deliberation period. 

So, what are the distinctions between a B2B buyer experience and B2C?

• B2B purchases often have significant implications for the buyer's business, affecting operational efficiency, profitability, and competitiveness. That increases the importance of trust and reliability in the customer experience.
• B2B transactions rely heavily on building and maintaining long-term relationships. Personal interactions, understanding specific business needs, and providing tailored solutions are crucial.
• B2B buyers often require customized solutions tailored to their specific business needs. That demands a flexible approach to sales and service, focusing on consultative selling and personalized product offerings.
• The B2B buyer experience often involves a significant educational component, where suppliers provide valuable content to help customers understand products, technologies, and industry trends.
• Given the complexity and long-term nature of B2B relationships, post-sale support and service are critical components of the customer experience. It includes training, technical support, maintenance, and upgrade opportunities.
• While personal relationships remain essential, the B2B buyer experience is increasingly digital, with customers expecting seamless online experiences across websites, portals, and apps for researching, purchasing, and managing products and services.
• B2B companies often work closely with customers to gather feedback, address issues, and continuously improve products and services, fostering a collaborative relationship.
• B2B transactions may be subject to strict regulatory and compliance requirements, affecting how products and services are marketed, sold, and supported.

Why launch a B2B buyer journey mapping initiative?

The B2B buyer journey, when understood and managed effectively, offers numerous benefits to companies that operate in the B2B sector. Here are some examples illustrating those:

• Improved product development and innovation

An industrial machinery manufacturer maps its buyers' journey and discovers that a significant pain point for customers is the prolonged downtime required to install and integrate new machinery into their existing production lines. In response, the company focuses on designing machinery that can be quickly installed and easily integrated with minimal disruption to production processes.

Read also: B2B empathy mapping .

Benefit: By aligning product development with customer needs, the company improves customer satisfaction and positions itself as a market leader in innovative solutions.

• Enhanced targeting and personalization

A SaaS company providing project management software uses buyer journey insights to understand that their primary buyers are IT managers in mid-sized tech companies. With this knowledge, they tailor their marketing efforts, such as targeted ads and personalized email campaigns, to address this group's specific pain points and interests, such as integration with existing tech stacks and scalability.

Benefit: This targeted approach leads to higher engagement rates, more qualified leads, and a better return on marketing investment.

• Efficient sales processes

A B2B financial services firm conducts a journey mapping exercise and uncovers that its clients frequently face delays in getting approvals for financial products and crave more personalized attention. To tackle these issues, the firm overhauls its sales process, implementing technology-driven solutions to accelerate the approval process for loans, credit lines, and other financial services. They also assign dedicated account managers to key clients. 

Benefit: This leads to shorter sales cycles, higher customer satisfaction, and increased customer loyalty, as clients appreciate efficient and personalized service.

• Enhanced customer experience and satisfaction

An office supplies wholesaler uses B2B buyer journey insights to realize that businesses seek more than just products; they want comprehensive solutions. The supplier offers bundled packages and value-added services such as inventory management and next-day delivery.

Benefit: This differentiates them from competitors and leads to higher customer retention rates as clients value the convenience and additional services.

• Strategic decision-making

A commercial real estate company uses insights from the B2B buyer journey to understand that its clients value sustainability and modern amenities. This influences their property acquisition and development decisions.

Benefit: By making strategic decisions based on buyer preferences, the company attracts more high-value clients and strengthens its position in the market.

B2B customer segmentation — a step towards personas

B2B customer segmentation is the process of turning a business's entire customer base into smaller-size groups. Customers in these group share some common characteristics. It always begins with B2B buyer journey research, where we gather information on B2B buyers, as it's essential to base our strategies on accurate data and actual consumer behavior. 

When doing segmentation in B2B,  it’s a good idea to consider factors like industry, company size, geographic location, purchase behavior, and decision-making processes.  

For example, a software company might segment its customers into small businesses, mid-sized companies, and large enterprises. Each segment has unique needs and challenges: small businesses prioritize cost-effective solutions and ease of use, mid-sized companies seek scalability, and large enterprises focus on advanced features and customization options.

Another example is a professional consulting firm that could segment its clients by industry focus, differentiating between healthcare, finance, and technology industries, to offer specialized advice and solutions tailored to each sector's specific challenges and opportunities.

Each industry has specific requirements and standards that the manufacturer must consider when developing and marketing their products.

Segmentation is crucial in B2B as it helps businesses understand and cater to the specific needs of their diverse customer base. By segmenting customers, a company can develop targeted marketing campaigns, create more personalized experiences, and build stronger relationships, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty. It also allows for more efficient allocation of resources, as businesses can concentrate their efforts on the most profitable or promising segments.

Once you've figured out how to segment your audience, the next step is to digitize and visualize the results by creating B2B buyer personas based on your segments. For instance, with a tool like UXPressia Personas Creator , your persona would be represented as follows:

B2B buyer journey stages

A B2B buyer journey typically involves multiple stages, each representing a different part of the process a business goes through when dealing with a problem or new task, deciding on a purchase, making a purchase, and then using a product or service. Here are the typical stages with examples:

• Awareness stage

At this initial stage, a business becomes aware of a need or a problem. For instance, a marketing agency might realize that its client reporting process is too time-consuming and error-prone, indicating a need for a new software solution.

• Research stage

Once aware of their need, the business starts gathering information. In our example, the marketing agency would research various reporting software, read industry blogs, and attend webinars to understand the best solutions.

• Consideration stage

At this point, the business starts evaluating specific products or services. The marketing agency might compare different software tools, looking at features, pricing, integration capabilities, and user reviews. They may also engage in discussions with sales representatives and request demos.

• Decision stage

This is where the business makes its final decision. After evaluating different options, the marketing agency would decide on software based on costs, ease of use, and compatibility with existing systems. This stage often involves multiple stakeholders and can require the approval of senior management.

• Trial stage

In this phase, the business tests the software through a demo or trial period, evaluating its ease of use, compatibility, and overall fit with their needs. The marketing agency conducts this hands-on assessment to make an informed decision, involving end-users and IT staff to comprehensively understand the software's impact on their operations. This critical step helps verify the product's value before making the final decision.

• Purchase stage

Here, the actual purchase happens. The agency would negotiate terms, finalize the contract, and make the purchase. This stage might involve legal and financial teams reviewing contracts and terms.

• Training stage

Before full implementation, the agency focuses on educating its team about the new software. It involves organizing training sessions for staff to become proficient in using the software and understanding its features and functionalities.

The training stage is crucial for ensuring a smooth transition, minimizing disruptions, and maximizing the software's benefits. It may include workshops, online tutorials, and hands-on practice sessions (led by experts or software providers) tailored to the specific needs and roles of the agency's team.

• Implementation stage

After purchase, the business implements the solution. For the marketing agency, this would mean installing the software product, integrating it with existing systems, and training staff on how to use it.

• Active or Not So Usage stage

Following implementation, the agency enters a phase where the software's usage patterns become clear — ranging from active, regular use to sporadic or limited engagement. This stage involves monitoring how frequently and effectively the team utilizes the software in daily operations. It's a critical period for identifying any barriers to full adoption, such as usability issues or gaps in training, and for gauging the software's integration into the agency's workflow. 

The insights gathered during this stage help determine if additional support or training is needed to encourage more consistent use or if the software fully meets the agency's operational requirements.

• Post-purchase evaluation

The business evaluates the performance and effectiveness of the purchase. The marketing agency would monitor how the new software impacts their reporting process, assessing whether it meets the expectations and needs that were identified in the Awareness stage.

• Renewal stage

Finally, based on their satisfaction and evolving needs, the business may decide to repurchase, renew, or upgrade the product or service. If the software has improved the agency’s reporting process, they might consider renewing their subscription or exploring additional features or services offered by the provider.

Understanding these stages helps B2B companies tailor their marketing and sales strategies to better meet the needs of potential clients at each point in their journey, ultimately leading to more successful conversions and customer relationships.

Mapping and optimizing the B2B buyer journey

We've already explored the stages of B2B buyer journey mapping, so now is the perfect time to dive into the mapping process.

Beyond identifying the stages, deciding what information you'd like to capture for each stage in your upcoming map is crucial. Whether you prefer to draft it on paper, a whiteboard, or digitally, we recommend the digital format for its ease of sharing with colleagues worldwide, facilitating synchronous and asynchronous collaboration .

Your map's vertical axis will feature information blocks, while the stages will span the horizontal axis. These blocks could include the persona's actions within each stage, utilized channels, encountered challenges, solutions to those challenges, relevant documents, interface screenshots, and anything relevant to your context.

Read also: How to create a customer journey map .

Now, let's explore how mapping a B2B buyer journey can enhance the journey and the B2B customer experience through several hypothetical scenarios.

• Tech solution provider improves lead nurturing

Use case: A tech solution provider mapped their B2B buyer journey and realized that target persona leads dropped significantly during the Consideration stage.

Optimization: They identified a lack of targeted follow-up communications by analyzing the journey. To address this, they implemented a personalized email nurturing campaign, providing detailed information and case studies relevant to the solutions the leads were interested in.

Outcome: This resulted in a higher engagement rate, with more leads moving from the consideration to the decision stage, improving the overall conversion rate.

• Industrial equipment manufacturer enhances website content

Use case: An industrial equipment manufacturer noticed that many website visitors left the site shortly after arriving at the product information pages.

Optimization: Journey mapping revealed that the information on these pages was too technical and not user-friendly for decision-makers who were not engineers. The company revamped the content to include more accessible language, explanatory videos, and real-world application examples.

Outcome: This change increased time spent on the website, more inquiries, and a better overall customer experience.

• Software company streamlines demo process

Use case: A B2B software company found potential customers interested in their product but hesitated to request a demo.

Optimization: After mapping the B2B buyer journey, they discovered that the process of signing up for a demo was lengthy and complicated. The company simplified the demo request form and began offering pre-recorded demos alongside live sessions.

Outcome: The simplified process and additional demo options led to a higher number of demo requests and a better conversion rate in the later stages of the journey.

• Healthcare equipment supplier personalizes post-purchase support

Use case: Through journey mapping, a supplier of healthcare equipment identified that customers felt neglected after the purchase.

Optimization: The company introduced a personalized post-purchase follow-up program, where account managers would check in with customers regularly, offer training sessions, and provide tailored advice on making the most out of their purchases.

Outcome: This strategy improved customer satisfaction and increased customer loyalty and the likelihood of repeat purchases.

In each of these cases, B2B buyer journey mapping played a crucial role in identifying weak spots in the customer journey. By addressing these areas with targeted strategies, businesses could enhance the customer experience, leading to better engagement, conversion, and customer retention.

Wrapping up 

In conclusion, mapping and optimizing the B2B buyer journey is transformative, replete with insights and strategic breakthroughs. This journey is not just about identifying a customer's steps; it's about delving into the nuances of their experience, understanding their needs, and anticipating their expectations. The true power of this journey lies in its ability to turn information into action - enabling businesses to create more targeted, effective, and personalized strategies that resonate deeply with their B2B customers.

From enhancing the relevancy of marketing efforts to fine-tuning product offerings, the meticulous journey mapping process empowers organizations to meet and even exceed customer expectations. It is a testament to the fact that in the complex world of B2B transactions, the most successful businesses listen closely to their customers and adapt with agility. Ultimately, the art of mastering the B2B buyer journey is an ongoing commitment to growth, innovation, and customer-centricity, paving the way for lasting business relationships and sustained success.

Ready to map your business’s B2B buyer journey?

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Home CX Customer Experience

B2B Buyer Journey: What it is, Stages + How to Mapping it

Analysis and mapping of the b2b buyer journey are not new. It is a common marketing tactic. But despite its many benefits, it has not been widely used in the B2B professional services space. That’s a lost chance to do something great.

It’s a tool that lets you find holes in your marketing, sales, and service processes. And you’ll see where your online and offline strategies may fail.

Buyer journey mapping encourages you to look at the whole lifecycle of a buyer, figuring out every point of contact between your company and your buyers.

LEARN ABOUT: Customer Lifecycle

Let’s look at the B2B buyer journey, its stages, and the mapping process so you can see how your buyers go from looking for information to signing on the dotted line and adjusting your process accordingly.

Content Index

• What is a b2b buyer journey?
• 3 Stages of b2b buyer journey

How to map b2b buyer journey?

What is a b2b buyer journey.

The b2b buyer journey describes how a buyer decides what to buy. In other words, buyers don’t just wake up and decide to buy. They go through a process to learn about, think about, and evaluate a new product or service before deciding to buy it.

Sales teams can better interact with buyers and place their product or service by understanding the buyer’s journey, the pains and challenges they face, and the influencing factors that influence their thinking.

Learn how to build your own Customer Journey Map

3 Stages of b2b Buyer Journey

The buyer journey can be broken down into three stages that show how they move toward a purchase:

• The customer awareness stage,
• The consideration stage, and
• The decision stage.
• Stage 1: Awareness

At this stage, the buyer is just starting to learn about your company, products, and services. It is done with the help of your sales and customer success teams by your marketing team.

This stage shows that you understand the prospect or client’s real business needs and buyer pain points and that you can show how your business can help meet these needs. Here, marketing teams will make content and use digital channels like websites and social media to reach out to potential customers.

• Stage 2: Consideration

At this stage, you need to show how you can help them solve their problems in a way that builds confidence in the quality and competitiveness of your offering.

Case studies, expert guides, effective in-person engagement, and comparative content can help your sales team nurture once potential customers know about your solutions.

• Stage 3: Decision

The decision stage is the final stage of the b2b buyer journey. At this point, your potential customers will decide which of your products or services they are most interested in. They might reach out to sales, but sales teams might need help from marketing with product demos, customer testimonials, and product reviews to move marketing leads into sales lead generation.

Now that you have a better idea of the  b2b buyer journey and its stages, we will learn some steps for mapping it.

Step 01: Set your objective

Setting your objective is the first step of your b2b buyer journey mapping. First, you need to set a clear goal in mind. What is the map’s purpose? What do you hope to get out of making one? Make your goal clear and single so it’s easy to see if your map is getting off track as you make it.

Step 02: Do customer research

Next, put together your questionnaire to send to loyal customers to get feedback. You can also reach out to your ideal customers to discover their pain points and what is stopping them from buying.

What you ask will depend on your business and what you have to offer, but some general questions you can add are:

• How did you find our brand?
• Like or dislike our website?
• What problem were you trying to tackle with our product/service?
• How helpful is our customer service?
• How can we make shopping from us more enjoyable?

If you are looking for survey software to know your customer’s feedback, QuestionPro is right there for you. It is a survey software with versatile features that help you do surveys according to your business needs. You can use your survey to determine how your customers feel about each step of the buyer journey and what they would like to see improved.

Step 03: List out all your touchpoints

Customer touchpoints are all the places, like your website and social media, where your customers interact with your brand.

Make a list of how they interact with you so you know what to place on the buyer journey map. Some of them:

• Your website
• Landing pages
• Contact forms
• Third-party review sites
• Social media platforms

You can adapt SuiteCX by QuestionPro to list all your touchpoints. It allows you to attach information to each touchpoint.

Step 04: List the actions customers do

Now that you have your touchpoints. Make a list of the specific things buyers do at each one. It will show you if your buyers are expected to take too many steps at a certain touchpoint.

For example, on your website, they may have to click on a tab for a service page, scroll down, fill out a contact form, hit submit, etc. The b2b buyer journey will go more smoothly as you simplify each step.

Step 05: List the problems and pain points

At each step of the buyer’s journey, write down any problems or pain points that are stopping the buyer from moving on.

At the beginning of the journey, the common problem is that people don’t know or trust your brand yet. When it’s close to the point of sale, the price or delivery time might be a bigger problem.

By pointing out the worst parts of the journey, you can fix them as much as possible and give your marketing plan a clear direction.

SuiteCX by QuestionPro is one of the best options for finding problems and pain points. It is a data collector that lets you keep track of moments of truth, pain points, barriers, and emotional states. They can store and show measures, other performance data, and ethnographic information.

Step 06: Find out what resources you need

Once you have a map of the touchpoints and problems, it will be easy to see where you need new systems and technology to improve your current system.

Take stock of the resources you already have and find out what you will need to improve the buyer journey.

SuiteCX by QuestionPro is one of the best b2b buyer journey resources. It offers many features that will help you keep track of your buyer journey more smartly.

Let’s check out their features which are given below:

• SuiteCX by QuestionPro lets you develop an outside-in, end-to-end map of all customer touchpoints.
• You can use the tool in workshops to record work in real time.
• You can create new versions of maps for different customer groups with SuiteCX.
• It allows the inclusion of visuals in other documents.
• It allows you to track and measure the impact of changes over time.

SuiteCX goes above and beyond to make great b2b buyer Journey Maps. The maps are full of customer data from surveys, interaction metrics, big data analytics, segmentation data, clickstream data, and even operational data to see how the actual experiences are doing over time.

It adds a new level of power, usefulness, and value to the buyer’s journey.

Step 07: Take the buyer journey yourself

Once you have your map with the new and improved processes, go on the buyer journey to see if it works.

Some parts of your website are still hard to use, or your frequently asked questions (FAQ) need to be updated.

Before you start your real-time analysis, it’s easy to find any big gaps in the buyer journey by giving your journey map a test run.

Step 08: Analyze results

Once your buyer journey is as efficient as it can be, monitor your Google analytics to analyze your progress. Keeping track of the following will help you do this:

• website visitors
• Bouncing rate
• Button clicks
• Contact form submissions
• Social media engagement

In the end, when you’ve nailed your buyer journey, you should see an increase in engagement and customer retention.

But if you still see many people leaving or not getting involved, look at the journey again and see where you need to improve.

Even if you get good results, regularly analyzing and making changes to the buyer journey map will help you make the buying experience as good as possible.

LEARN ABOUT: Consumer Decision Journey

A b2b buyer journey map and stages are an important part of any business. To help a customer overcome problems and make a buying decision, you need to know their pain points and how they feel about them.

Once you’ve optimized the buyer journey, you can be more confident in your marketing and outreach efforts.

Here’s where QuestionPro can help.SuiteCX by QuestionPro lets users record and see many emotional, functional, and data-driven information about buyers. It enables you to make the base map with words, icons, and pictures. 

There are more than 20 different mapping visualizations to find the right one for your b2b surveys . So contact us right now and let us know if you need help creating your buyer journey simply with SuiteCX by QuestionPro.

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B2B Buyer Journey: What Is It And How Does It Look In 2024

Things can change fast in B2B, which revolves around the buyer's journey. The B2B buyer journey used to be straightforward, with clear steps from awareness to decision-making. Recently, it's become more complex as buyers navigate countless touch points, platforms, and interactions before making informed choices.

Going into2024, we're seeing significant shifts in this journey. These shifts are driven by ultramodern technology, changing consumer behaviors, and a global market that's more connected than ever before.

According to studies, almost 80% of B2B buyers conduct extensive online research before engaging with a brand or sales representative. This figure highlights the importance of digital touch points and the growing influence of self-directed exploration in the B2B purchasing process.

A deep understanding of the buyer journey empowers B2B businesses to optimize their marketing, sales, and customer service strategies, making them more personalized and tailored.

We'll take a look at the several stages of the B2B buyer's journey in 2024 and the important B2B marketing trends influencing this process.

The new B2B buyer persona

Buyers' behavior has shifted. The modern B2B buyer is marked by several distinctive characteristics that significantly influence their preferences and decision-making processes.

Unlike the past, where one-size-fits-all approaches were enough, today's B2B buyers want tailored and customized solutions that precisely address their unique pain points and challenges.

Modern consumers are flooded with information and options. And as they cut through all the noise, the buyers are drawn to solutions that clearly understand their needs.

The emphasis on personalized experiences reflects a shift in buyer expectations.

But a personalized experience isn't just about providing a product or service. It involves tailoring the entire interaction, from initial engagement to post-purchase support, to align with the individual needs and preferences of the buyer.

So, invest time and effort in crafting detailed and accurate buyer personas. These should be based on market research, data analysis, insights gained from existing clients, motivations, challenges, and the target audience's goals.

Let's look at a few of the critical shifts in modern B2B consumer-business relationships:

1) Shift to online channels:

Online channels have long been replacing traditional B2B engagement methods. For example, modern B2B buyers prefer researching and engaging with vendors through digital platforms. Businesses looking to win must have a strong online presence and effective digital marketing strategies.

2) Extended sales cycles:

B2B marketing involves multiple decision-makers, creating extended sales cycles. Businesses must be ready to provide consistent value throughout the extended sales cycle to maintain engagement.

3) Importance of reviews and social proof:

Peer reviews and social proof carry significant weight. B2B buyers rely on the experiences of industry peers to assess the reliability of a product or service, making online reputation management crucial.

4) Demand for transparency:

Buyers now expect transparency in all business interactions, from pricing to product features. Clear and honest communication builds trust, and businesses open about their processes and values gain confidence.

5) Flexibility and customization:

Buyers seek adaptable solutions that cater to their unique requirements, allowing them to scale or modify their purchases based on changing business needs. Being flexible is critical to providing customized solutions.

6) Value-based decision-making:

B2B buyers embody the value proposition of a product or service. They seek solutions that address immediate needs and provide long-term benefits, contributing to the overall success of their organization.

So, get to know your buyers – really know them. What keeps them up at night? What makes them jump for joy? That's where the sales magic happens.

Phases of the B2B buyer journey in 2024

Advances in tech, shifting market dynamics, and changing consumer behavior has shaped the B2B buyer journey in 2024.

This modern B2B buyer journey is made up of several stages marked by distinct characteristics and interactions. Businesses that understand the B2B buyer journey will better connect, engage, and convert potential clients into loyal customers.

1) Awareness stage

Every digital B2B buyer journey starts when potential buyers identify a challenge or an opportunity within their business operations. You can call it the "Aha! moment," which could be an issue with their operations, a tool, or the need to upgrade their processes.

At this stage, buyers seek resources to help them understand, frame, and give their problem a name.

Key strategies you should consider are:

• Personalized content creation. Tailor content that resonates with specific buyer personas. A great place to start would be creating educational content around common business problems and how your product is the solution. Don't make it about selling your solution. It's just an invitation to start a conversation. Include this call to action in your blog posts, whitepapers, industry reports, etc.
• Value-centric approach. Highlight the value proposition early in the buyer's journey. One way to do that is to emphasize how your product or service resolves their pain points or optimizes opportunities unique to its business context.
• Multi-channel engagement. Use various channels such as social media, webinars, email marketing, and industry-specific forums. This multi-channel approach broadens your reach and touch points, and ensures visibility across platforms where potential buyers actively seek information.
• Thought leadership and educational content. Build credibility within the sector through informative and educational material, like whitepapers, case studies, and expert opinions. They create credibility and aid in building a relationship with potential buyers much faster.

These strategies are the foundations for engaging buyers effectively in the awareness stage and lay a strong base for nurturing them through the consideration and decision-making stages.

2) Consideration stage

The consideration stage is a critical point in the B2B buyer journey. It's the stage where potential buyers move from recognizing a problem or opportunity to actively analyzing alternative solutions. It is when they start doing their online research, reading case studies, and asking connections for recommendations.

It highlights the importance of offering transparent and credible information to help potential buyers make informed decisions. They want to know the total cost of a solution, features, and limitations of the products or services.

As a business, it's paramount to position your products or services during this stage favorably. More is needed to showcase what's on offer. It would help if you crafted compelling narratives that resonate with the unique needs, pain points, and preferences of the discerning B2B buyer personas.

Here is a little secret:

Your competitors are using B2B buyer journey mapping techniques to gain deep insights into the needs and behaviors of their target audience as they adapt to consumer behavioral shifts.

3) Decision stage

The decision stage in the B2B buyer journey is where potential buyers are ready to commit. After going through the awareness and consideration stages, buyers meticulously analyze and compare different options.

They weigh the benefits, features, and capabilities against their specific needs, seeking assurances that the chosen solution aligns perfectly with their objectives and can effectively address their pain points.

With the rise of digitalization, B2B buyers rely heavily on online platforms to gather information that helps them make their final selections.

Mapping out the B2B buyer journey stages, particularly the decision stage, holds immense significance for businesses. It would help if you recognized the criticality of this stage.

Your ability to tailor offerings, messaging, and marketing strategies to address buyers' specific concerns and queries in this stage, leading to better customer satisfaction and retention, hinges on understanding the intricacies of this phase.

Impact of digital transformation on the B2B buyer journey

With digitalization, B2B buyers now rely heavily on online resources (around 90%), social media, peer reviews, and other digital channels to assess potential solutions. And 80% of interactions between buyers and sellers will happen online by 2025.

These figures cannot be ignored. They are proof that technology plays a vital role in each phase of a B2B transaction.

The toolkit: What buyers use

Digital tools are everywhere, from search engines to social networks to online marketplaces. These act as gateways for buyers to research products, compare options, and find reviews before making a purchase.

• Search is king: Google is the starting point for many buyers searching for answers or products. Businesses must optimize their online presence to rank well in search results and get noticed.
• The power of social:  Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter let businesses connect with their audience, share content, showcase products, and gather valuable customer insights.  These interactions build trust and loyalty.

Behind the scenes: Tech that improves your business

Technologies like customer relationship management (CRM) software, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, and collaboration tools (think Slack or Microsoft Teams) streamline internal processes.  They boost efficiency, improve data management, and help you make better decisions – ultimately making the buyer experience smoother.

Modern B2B buyer journey: The importance of aligning sales and marketing strategies

Why does this matter for buyers and your business?

Businesses are increasingly recognizing the importance of aligning sales and marketing teams. This creates a smooth, impactful experience for buyers. When both teams work together, they can personalize the buyer journey at every stage.  This approach builds trust, makes your brand look strong, and helps buyers decide to work with you.

Modern buyers expect personalization

Today's B2B buyers use many different channels to find information.  A coordinated approach between sales and marketing ensures consistent messaging across all those channels. Customers get the right, personalized information whenever they interact with you. Personalization shows buyers you understand their specific needs. It also reinforces your brand's commitment to understanding what each customer wants.

Beyond the Buyer: Alignment Helps Your Business

Aligning sales and marketing makes things easier inside your company too.  It helps teams work together and drives growth by sharing insights. This means both teams work towards the same goal: increasing revenue and helping the business thrive.

The role of content marketing in the B2B buyer journey

Content marketing holds equal importance for B2B companies as it does for any other business type.

Surprisingly, recent research indicates that only 72% of B2B companies maintain a blog on their website. This leaves a notable 28% of B2B companies without a blog, and consequently, without a robust content marketing strategy.

7 reasons you should have a content strategy:

• Facilitates B2B buyers in making informed purchase decisions
• Offers a cost-effective means to enhance online visibility and rankings
• Generates enduring results for your business
• Cultivate strong connections with your target audience
• Captures and nurtures high-quality leads
• Showcases your products and services in an engaging, easily digestible format
• Positions your business one step ahead of competitors

Effective sales content management involves curating and organizing content that aligns with different stages of the journey. It helps the sales teams access the right materials at the right time, empowering them to nurture leads and guide prospects through decision-making.

B2B Buyer Journey: Data-Driven Insights for Enhanced Engagement

You can make a B2B buyer's journey better by understanding and predicting B2B buyer behavior. This is only possible through data analytics.

Data represents a pivotal change in how businesses handle their marketing tactics. In essence, leveraging data-driven insights provides a personalized touchpoint within the B2B buyer journey.

You can pinpoint specific buyer personas, behaviors, and preferences by dissecting extensive datasets. This comprehension empowers your sales team to tailor their communications and offerings precisely.

The process becomes super easy when your team understands what resonates with distinct audience segments and their interests.

Beyond understanding past interactions, these insights offer a visionary perspective. You can forecast consumer preferences, anticipate market movements, and predict potential hurdles. A digital sales room like emlen can seamlessly provide the insights you need.

For example, you get insights into which deals are hot on click-through rates, content consumption, interaction & engagement. All in real-time via notifications & in your CRM!

In simple terms, you can see what content buyers like and don’t like, and based on that, you can predict your future sales interactions with other customers.

Personalization in the B2B buying process

Personalization in B2B sales is just inevitable since B2B buyers have become conditioned to expect personalized communications.

B2B personalization primarily centers around catering to an entire business entity's specific needs, pain points, and preferences. It involves understanding the complex dynamics within organizations, identifying key decision-makers, and aligning offerings with their unique requirements.

If you are new to B2B personalization, here are a few best practices to follow:

• Personalize your website content. This involves tailoring calls to action, categorizing content based on segmentation, persona, or stage, repurposing existing content, and using automation and personalization software to dynamically display content based on individual visitor characteristics.
• Create highly targeted ads. Techniques like audience segmentation and UTM parameters can increase Click-Through Rates (CTR), but it's essential to personalize landing pages to match the corresponding ad. This ensures a cohesive and personalized experience for the B2B customer.
• Create customer personas for hyper-targeting in B2B. Factors such as geographic location, seniority, position, pain points, industry, and company size should inform the development of personas. Tailoring ads to specific industries and unique business issues enhances the effectiveness of account-based marketing.
• Implement one-to-one email personalization to increase transaction rates, revenue, and ROI. It's crucial to closely examine business customer personas to avoid sending irrelevant information. Utilize words like "now," "today," "free," and "new" to address specific pain points directly and use "you" and "your" for a more personalized touch.
• Engage trending topics , starting conversations, and showcasing expertise on social platforms. Finding the platforms where the target audience is most active humanizes the brand and enhances B2B personalization efforts.

Preparing for future trends

Looking beyond 2024, B2B sales presents a fascinating terrain shaped by various factors. Technology, consumer behavior, globalization, and evolving market dynamics will likely be the primary drivers of change.

One of the most profound shifts will continue to be the accelerated integration of technology into the B2B buyer journey map. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation will redefine processes, making them more efficient and data-driven.

It implies that businesses must embrace digital transformation comprehensively to remain competitive. Those investing in innovative technologies and agile infrastructures will likely thrive, while others play catch up.

Also, businesses must focus on enhancing user experiences, optimizing interfaces, and offering tailored solutions to meet changing demands.

Another crucial aspect is sustainability and ethical practices. The B2B buyer journey will likely see a continued emphasis on eco-friendly operations, ethical sourcing, and social responsibility.

To stay ahead of the curve, you must adopt a proactive approach. Embracing innovation, fostering a culture of adaptability, investing in talent development, and forging strategic partnerships will be paramount.

How can you stay ahead today? Start now to analyze your buyer's journey.

How emlen helps in analyzing B2B buyer journey

Problem: Buyers are hard to understand

Many B2B businesses struggle to truly understand modern buyers and their sales journey.  This makes it difficult to provide a seamless experience or tailor your approach based on real data.  Is this happening at your business?

Solution: emlen makes it easy

emlen empowers B2B businesses to understand and optimize their sales process. Our platform helps you create dynamic Digital Sales Rooms designed with your buyers in mind.

One of emlen's best features is real-time notifications about buyer engagement.  These insights show you how buyers interact with your content. You'll see what grabs their attention, what they skip over, and even who else they bring into the decision process. It's like having a map of your buyer's journey!

Technology and human understanding must work together. You need the right tools and  a deep understanding of your customers' needs to build lasting relationships.   Try emlen and get the insights you need to understand your buyers better than ever.

Marc is co-founder of emlen and responsible for the go-to-market strategy and execution that convinces today's modern B2B buyer.

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B2B Buying Journey: 5 Challenges & 5 Best Practices in 2024

Cem is the principal analyst at AIMultiple since 2017. AIMultiple informs hundreds of thousands of businesses (as per Similarweb) including 60% of Fortune 500 every month.

Cem's work has been cited by leading global publications including Business Insider, Forbes, Washington Post, global firms like Deloitte, HPE, NGOs like World Economic Forum and supranational organizations like European Commission. You can see more reputable companies and media that referenced AIMultiple.

Today, the B2B buying journey is digitized . A McKinsey report indicates that 65% of B2B companies across different industries were transacting online in 2022. 1

Consequently, customers now spend only 5% of their time on sales representatives. 2 So, businesses require newer, creative, effective ways of sales and marketing for adapting to changing customer demands and expectations.

In this article, we will investigate the modern B2B buying journey in its various aspects like stages and challenges. To help businesses in the process, we will list 5 best practices for it.

What is a B2B buying journey?

A B2B buyer journey is a process the prospective buyers goes through before making a purchase, including: 

• researching
• evaluating 
• selecting a product or service

B2B buyers need to be informed about the product in order to understand why it’s a better fit for their needs than any competitor’s offering. Companies must understand how B2B customers research and make decisions, so they can properly direct their marketing and sales efforts to generate more high-value leads and conversions.

B2B marketing teams should gain insights into current market trends as well as customer preferences by understanding their B2B buyers journey. 

What are the stages of a B2B buying journey?

In a traditional buyer’s journey.

The traditional buyer’s journey refers to the linear process of a customer becoming aware of a product or service, evaluating options, and making a purchase. We can list the steps in a traditional buyer’s journey decision-making process as:

1. Identifying the business need or problem

The customer becomes aware of a problem or need that they have and begins to search for information and solutions.

2. Exploring a solution 

The customer conducts research via various ways (online reviews, referrals, websites) to gather information about potential products or services that can meet their needs.

3. Specifying the scope 

The customer evaluates the options they have researched and narrows down their choices. They may compare features and pricing, as well as consider factors such as brand reputation and customer service.

5. Deciding the supplier and finalizing the purchase. 

The customer makes a final decision and purchases the product or service. This can be done online, over the phone, or in person.

6. Evaluating the product/service after the experience. 

After using the product or service, the customer evaluates their satisfaction and may provide feedback or leave a review.

In the modern buyer’s journey

The new buyer’s journey, also known as the modern buyer’s journey, recognizes that the process of making a purchase is no longer linear (see Figure 1). 

Figure 1. The illustration of a modern B2B buying journey

Source: CEB analysis

Customers are more likely to engage with a brand before they have a specific need, and they may research and evaluate options multiple times before making a final decision. Additionally, new technologies and channels have made it easier for customers to research and compare products and services, making the process more complex.

How is B2B buying journey different from B2C buying journey?

The biggest difference between these two buying journeys is their decision makers. Decision makers in B2C buying journey are generally individual customers while it is entire teams or departments of a business in B2B. Typically, a B2B buying group consists of 6-10 decision makers who need an agreement. 3

This fundamental difference leads to others such as:

• Buying criteria : B2B buying decisions often involve a larger number of criteria such as technical specifications, scalability, and integration with existing systems. B2C buying decisions are more likely to be based on personal preferences and emotions.
• Longer sales cycles : B2B sales cycles are often longer and involve multiple meetings and presentations. B2C sales cycles are shorter, and the purchase decision is often made quickly.
• Sales teams : B2B sales teams often include specialists such as engineers or product managers, who can provide technical support and advice. B2C sales teams are more likely to be focused on customer service and building relationships.
• Marketing and sales approaches : B2B companies often use account-based marketing (ABM) and sales strategies, targeting specific accounts and decision-makers. B2C companies typically use mass-marketing and sales strategies, targeting a broader audience.
• Distribution channels : B2B products and services are often sold through intermediaries such as wholesalers or distributors, while B2C products and services are sold directly to consumers through retail outlets or e-commerce platforms.
• Budget and contract : B2B transactions often involve larger budgets and longer-term contracts. B2C transactions are usually smaller and involve shorter-term or one-time agreements.

Top 5 challenges in the B2B buying journey

1. complexity of the journey.

As we mentioned, B2B buying decisions often involve multiple decision-makers from different departments and levels of the organization. Also, as emerging technologies, products, and services enter the market, buying groups now have a greater variety of solutions to choose from.

These circumstances make it harder for customers to complete their purchases easily. The Gartner report revealed that 77% of consumers found their most recent purchase to be intricate and overwhelming. 4

2. Non-linearity of the journey

The non-linearity in a B2B buying process refers to the fact that the process of making a purchase is highly unpredictable.

As we discussed, traditional B2B buying journeys were more predictable and linear, with a clear set of stages that a customer would go through before making a purchase. However, now with the rise of digital channels and technologies, customers have more access to information and can research and evaluate options multiple times before making a final decision (see Figure 1 again). 

On the other hand, the rise of digital channels and technologies also enables other vendors to get in touch with the same customer. This can lead to indecisiveness about the final decision and render the process non-linear.

This nonlinearity can make it difficult for B2B companies to predict when a customer is ready to make a purchase, and which stage of the buying journey they are in. This can make it challenging to:

• develop an effective marketing and sales strategy
• measure the success of these efforts
• identify the decision-makers and influencers within a buying organization and to engage with them effectively

3. Need for personalized and authentic service due to excessive access to information

More than a quarter of the customers in the B2B market conduct independent research online. 5 Although it increases buyer awareness, buyers’ excessive independent access to information can challenge the B2B buying journey for both companies and buyers:

• For companies, it can make it more difficult for sales teams to differentiate their products or services and to effectively communicate their value proposition to potential customers. Customers may already have a good understanding of the market and may be less likely to engage with sales representatives.
• For buyers, it can lead to information overload and make it more difficult to compare and evaluate different options. With so much information available, it can be challenging to determine which sources are credible and reliable.
• For both, it can lead to increased pressure on price as buyers may have more knowledge about the market and be better equipped to negotiate. Additionally, it can also lead to an increase in the number of stakeholders involved in the buying process, making it harder to reach a consensus on purchase decisions.

Excessive information also leads to less personalized and authentic content from the customer’s perspective. Besides the availability of vast amounts of knowledge about their needs, customers desire adjustments that address the complexity of B2B buying, like obtaining a personalized account with modified catalogs and exclusive pricing along with consideration to product availability.

E-commerce is on the rise in the B2B market. 6 Therefore, businesses must embrace an intelligent search-driven experience for their customers if they wish to be successful.

As customers become more informed, they have higher expectations for the level of service they receive. There is a need for companies to stand out by providing a more tailored and customer-centric experience.

Also, personalization and authenticity are required to build trust and credibility with customers, which is particularly important in the B2B space where the buying process is complex.

4. Lack of personal interaction due to the decreasing in-person sales process

According to research, when B2B buyers are considering a purchase, they spend only 17% of that time interacting with potential suppliers. 7 If multiple vendors are being evaluated for the same product or service, then each sales rep can expect to get no more than 5-6% of the buyer’s attention during this process.

This means that sales reps have less influential effect on the customers and new digital channels are required for attracting potential buyers.

5. Involvement of many stakeholders

The stakeholders in a buying journey can be:

• Recommenders/influencers
• Decision makers
• Financial representatives

With such complexity, it’s essential to stay organized and manage the back office with precision.

Top 5 B2B buying journey best practices for vendors

1. simplify the buying process.

There are several ways that companies can simplify the complex buying process for customers in the B2B market:

• Define value proposition of the products : Define and communicate the value proposition of your products or services clearly and concisely. This will help customers understand the benefits of the products or services and make it easier to compare different options.
• Streamline the buying process : This can be achieved by automating certain tasks, such as order processing and tracking, and by providing customers with clear and easy-to-use online portals for making purchases.
• Offer helpful information : Provide customers with easy access to relevant and accurate information about products or services. This can include detailed product specifications, case studies, and testimonials.
• Enable multiple options for purchase : Provide customers with multiple options for making a purchase, such as online, phone, or in-person. This will help to accommodate the different preferences and needs of customers.
• Leverage new technology : Use technology such as AI-powered chatbot to provide customers with instant access to information and assistance during the buying process. Although 87% of consumers prefer human interaction, chatbots increase sales by 67%.

2. Adopt a customer-centric marketing strategy

To overcome the nonlinearity challenge, B2B companies can adopt a more customer-centric approach that focuses on understanding the customer’s needs and goals, as well as their buying journey. 

• By using digital tools such as marketing automation and analytics, B2B companies can track and measure the customer’s interactions with the brand and adapt their messaging and engagement strategy accordingly. 
• B2B companies can use account-based marketing (ABM) strategies to target specific accounts and decision-makers, and personalize their messaging and offers.

3. Provide useful & specific information for buyer enablement

For an effective buyer enablement, the buying process should be:

• Relevant to the customer’s specific problems in the journey 
• Easy for the customer to understand and engage with quickly and effectively
• Useful for the customer in accomplishing the intended purchase process
• Credible and backed up by data and facts 

To ensure the best customer experience, buyer enablement should be socially and emotionally resonant while exuding confidence in your brand’s distinctiveness. Doing this will guarantee a positive outcome for both customers and suppliers alike. 

To increase buyer enablement, companies can:

• Conduct customer research : Understand the specific needs and pain points of the target audience by conducting surveys, focus groups, and interviews with current and potential customers.
• Create buyer personas : Use the information gathered from customer research and data analysis to create detailed buyer personas that represent the target audience. These personas can be used to guide the creation of content and resources that meet the specific needs of different segments of the target audience.
• Use customer testimonials : Include customer testimonials and case studies in the content and resources, as they provide valuable insight into how the products or services have helped other customers solve specific problems.

4. Provide engaging and helpful digital information channels for your product

According to research, during the later stages of their purchasing journey, 83% of consumers access one or more digital information channels after the initial contact with sales (see Figure 3). 8 As buyers are increasingly leaning on digital information platforms in their buying journeys, companies should catch up with this need.

Figure 2. Buyer use of digital channels throughout buying process

Source: CEB 2017 Digital B2B Buyer Survey

Companies can provide engaging and helpful digital information channels for their products to attract buyers by implementing these strategies:

• Use a variety of digital channels : Create a presence on multiple digital channels, such as a company website, social media, and email marketing, to reach a wider audience. This can also help to improve visibility and increase the chances of attracting new customers.
• Create a user-friendly website : Make the company website easy to navigate, with clear calls-to-action and well-organized product pages. Use visuals, such as images and videos, to showcase the products and their features.
• Create engaging and informative content : Use a variety of content formats, such as blog posts, videos, and infographics, to provide valuable information about the products and their features.
• Make use of social media : Use social media to engage with potential customers, share content and updates, and build brand awareness.

5. Centralize information exchange with the stakeholders

• Providing self-service options can help ensure buyers acquire the information they seek quickly and easily
• Enabling easy access to key lead and customer-related data can help your sales and marketing teams work more consistently.

If you have questions or need help regarding B2B buying journey, feel free to reach out:

External Links

• 1. “Busting the five biggest B2B e-commerce myths.” McKinsey , 26 January 2022, https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/busting-the-five-biggest-b2b-e-commerce-myths. Accessed 13 January 2023.
• 2. “The B2B Buying Journey | Sales Insights.” Gartner , https://www.gartner.com/en/sales/insights/b2b-buying-journey. Accessed 13 January 2023.
• 3. “Win More B2B Sales Deals.” Gartner , https://www.gartner.com/en/confirmation/publications/win-more-b2b-sales-deals. Accessed 13 January 2023.
• 4. Supra note 2.
• 5. Supra note 2.
• 6. “B2B E-Commerce.” Statista , https://www.statista.com/markets/413/topic/458/b2b-e-commerce/#statistic1. Accessed 13 January 2023.
• 7. Supra note 2.
• 8. “CEB Digital B2B Survey.” CEBglobal , https://www.cebglobal.com/content/dam/cebglobal/us/EN/best-practices-decision-support/marketing-communications/pdfs/mlc-infographic-b2b-digital-journey.pdf. Accessed 13 January 2023.

Throughout his career, Cem served as a tech consultant, tech buyer and tech entrepreneur. He advised enterprises on their technology decisions at McKinsey & Company and Altman Solon for more than a decade. He also published a McKinsey report on digitalization.

He led technology strategy and procurement of a telco while reporting to the CEO. He has also led commercial growth of deep tech company Hypatos that reached a 7 digit annual recurring revenue and a 9 digit valuation from 0 within 2 years. Cem's work in Hypatos was covered by leading technology publications like TechCrunch and Business Insider.

Cem regularly speaks at international technology conferences. He graduated from Bogazici University as a computer engineer and holds an MBA from Columbia Business School.

AIMultiple.com Traffic Analytics, Ranking & Audience , Similarweb. Why Microsoft, IBM, and Google Are Ramping up Efforts on AI Ethics , Business Insider. Microsoft invests $1 billion in OpenAI to pursue artificial intelligence that’s smarter than we are , Washington Post. Data management barriers to AI success , Deloitte. Empowering AI Leadership: AI C-Suite Toolkit , World Economic Forum. Science, Research and Innovation Performance of the EU , European Commission. Public-sector digitization: The trillion-dollar challenge , McKinsey & Company. Hypatos gets $11.8M for a deep learning approach to document processing , TechCrunch. We got an exclusive look at the pitch deck AI startup Hypatos used to raise $11 million , Business Insider.

To stay up-to-date on B2B tech & accelerate your enterprise:

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B2B Buyer’s Journey: A Comprehensive Guide For Sellers

Times have changed for B2B salespeople.

Not too long ago, buyers used to do light research on a solution before reaching out to a sales rep for more detailed information. These interactions helped educate buyers about the product. But they also gave salespeople all the power when it came to controlling the buyer's journey.

These days, however, the buyer's journey is in the hands of the buyer. Pricing, product features, case studies—these sales assets (and many more) are typically all available online. And buyers now move through 70% of the buyer's journey  on their own , not at the urging of a sales rep.

So, how do you navigate this new B2B selling landscape? And how do you determine what your own buyer's journey is for your ideal customers?

That's exactly what this guide examines. Inside, we'll be defining the buyer's journey, explaining how it's changed over the years (and what that means for you), and detailing what you need to consider when redefining your buyer's journey.

What Is the Buyer's Journey?

As a quick refresher, let's outline exactly what a buyer journey is. Also known as a customer journey or purchase cycle, a buyer's journey is essentially how your buyers go from being unaware of their problem to deciding to purchase your solution.

As you know, buyers don't wake up one day and make purchase decisions on a whim (especially true in the B2B world). Instead, buyers need to first recognize they have a problem, learn more about it, and research the best solutions before deciding on a solution.

The length of a buyer's journey tends to depend on the level of risk involved.

For pricier solutions, the buyer's journey is longer. Buyers need to do more research to justify their purchase. And they'll need more convincing to jump onboard.

For less expensive solutions, the opposite is true. With less at stake, buyers feel more comfortable making quick decisions.

As a buyer progresses through different stages of the customer journey, they'll have different concerns that need addressing before moving to the next stage. And it's  your  job as a successful sales rep to meet those needs every step of the way.

For example if your buyer is already at the consideration stage because they've consumed someone elses inbound marketing efforts then their buying process is nearly complete and it's going to be difficult to win business from them.

Alternatively, if you're prospecting a slightly different buyer persona and they're still in the research and decision process then you've still got a chance to solve a pain point or two and influence their purchase process.

Breaking Down the Buyer's Journey Stages

So, what are the buyer's journey stages? First, let's take a closer look.

• No Awareness  – This stage is when the buyer doesn't even know they have a problem. That can mean they're entirely unaware of it in the first place,  or  (more likely) they don't understand that a current inefficiency can actually be fixed.
• Awareness   stage – This is when the buyer acknowledges the problem exists and seeks out more information about it. A buyer in this stage will respond to content types that examine their problem and shed light on why this problem exists in the first place.
• Exploring Solutions  – Now that your buyer fully understands the problem they're dealing with, they're going to start researching solutions. What types of solutions are out there on the market? And which type will fix  their  problem?
• Comparing Vendors  – This is when buyers get into the nitty-gritty. After determining the solution type, it's time to drill down into how the vendors stack up against one another. Which has the most valuable features? How do they compare on price? And what services will align best with their business?
• Purchase Decision  – The final stage of the B2B buyer's journey is making a purchase decision. This stage is when buyers have settled on a solution but still need a bit of a push over the edge. They need reinforcement that they're doing the right thing. And they need reassurance that this solution is right for them.

Then Vs. Now – What's Changed in the B2B Buyer's Journey?

While the stages of the B2B buyer's journey haven't changed, the sales rep's role in that journey certainly has. And that's all thanks to an increasingly digitalized sales cycle.

According to HubSpot, a whopping 77% of purchasers won't talk to a salesperson until they've done their own research. And that was in  2015 . These days, the numbers are even higher.

Decision-makers are relying on their research to learn more about their problems and possible solutions than ever before.  They're leaning into marketing automation and search engine results pages to educate them rather than calls with sales reps.

As a result, sales reps like you need to understand the difference between the old buyer journey and the new buyer journey and then tailor your sales process accordingly.

The Old Buyer Journey

In the old days, the sales rep would shoulder most of the burden to ushering potential buyers through the active research process and customer journey.

As you can see from the traditional buyer's journey above, educational materials would only play a role in informing buyers about the problem and touching on the solutions.

But after that, sales reps would hop in to:

• Build rapport
• Outline potential solutions
• Differentiate their product from competitors
• Close the sale

From the third stage on, buyers would get most of their information and educational materials from the reps, not from their own research. This, of course, put a lot of control in the hands of the reps and this is why a hard sales pitch became common place.

Reps could assess where the buyers were in their journey and feed them materials that they needed to move on to the next phase.

These materials might include:

• How-To Guides
• Relevant content
• White Papers
• Product Spec Sheets
• Case Studies
• Demo Videos
• Product Comparison Guides
• Free Samples

The New Buyer Journey

Where the traditional buyer's journey allowed for maximum control, the  modern  buyer's journey is much more hands-off for sales reps like you.

Rather than coming to  you  for educational materials, buyers now expect to access much of that information independently. And that's even more true today in a post-COVID era.

A 2020 McKinsey  study , for example, found that 70-80% of B2B decision-makers prefer remote human interactions or digital self-service models vs. “traditional” in-person models. Just 20% of buyers said they hope to return to in-person sales. And that's even in industries where field sales have dominated, like pharmaceuticals and medical products.

Buyers now expect to access the content they need to move through the first four stages of a customer journey by themselves. They want to learn about their problems, possible solutions, and various vendors on their own first. Then and only then are they willing to get on the phone with a salesperson.

You'll also notice the modern buyer's journey is longer than the traditional journey. Whereas educating buyers and closing a complex sale could happen in the span of just a few days before, most buyers are now taking longer to get to that “yes” decision.

What This Shift Means for You

So, what does all this mean for you as a B2B salesperson? Well, there are a few key takeaways here.

A) Prepare for a Longer Sales Cycle

Turning a prospect into a confirmed buyer takes longer than ever.  Demand Gen Report  found about 58% of buyers report their decision-making process is becoming longer year over year.

Part of that is due to more readily available competition. With so many products ripe for the picking in the digital world, B2B buyers have many options to choose from. Of course, some of those options won't be right for the job. But even still, simply weeding through all the not-right products out there takes time.

On top of that, B2B deals are becoming increasingly complex. On average, it takes input from 6 to 10 decision-makers to settle on a solution, according to  Gartner . That means there are bound to be more emails, product demos, sales calls, and nurturing cycles than most B2B salespeople were used to even a decade ago.

Here's how you can adapt to a longer sales cycle:

• Avoid pushy sales tactics and adopt an educational attitude.
• Develop a solid sales cadence to keep prospects engaged over time.
• Work on building out educational and valuable content for every stage of the buyer journey.
• Keep detailed accounts of what content your buyers have engaged with so you understand when to step in.
• Focus on customer lifetime value where possible with your buyer personas. It's far easier to close one target audience more than once than it is to close fresh prospects over and over.

B) Focus on Strategic Content

In the world of B2B sales, the salesperson with the best content is king.

These days, buyers are interacting with content more than ever before. And they're doing it on their own too. Research from  FocusVision  found that B2B buyers now consume at least 13 pieces of content before making a buying decision.

That's why it's so important for you as a sales rep to make the shift to creating valuable, customer-focused content for every stage of the buyer's cycle. On the one hand, it reinforces you as a thought leader.

Selling expert Victor Antonio said the same thing when Salesman.org  interviewed him :

“The majority of executives don't want to talk to a salesperson, they simply don't. They want to do the whole customer journey by themselves. And then, when I'm ready, I'll reach out to you. Well, how do I reach out? Well, this is the guy that's got content, he seems to know what he's talking about. I'm going to go call Will, see what's happening over there.”

Great content, then, builds trust. And it funnels more buyers into your pipeline.

Beyond that, great content also caters to your buyers' desire to move through the cycle at their own pace. You're meeting them where they want to be rather than forcing them into a journey they don't want to participate in. And  that  is how you appeal to buyers today.

C) Adopt an “Education First, Salesmanship Second” Mindset

The modern B2B buyer's journey is no longer linear. Instead, decision-makers will flow from Awareness to Exploring Solutions to Comparing Vendors and back to Awareness again, all in a single cycle. What's more, they may dip their toes in each stage at the same time.

Rather than a straightforward path, then,  Gartner  suggests a B2B buyer journey may look closer to this:

Throughout such a complicated journey, individual salesmanship is likely to be lost in the shuffle of information.

What takes its place in importance is your ability to provide educational materials every step of the way. And the more focused you are on delivering  value  rather than simply talking your way into a sale, the better your numbers will be.

D) Equip Yourself With Alignment Tools

You've already seen how the modern buyer's cycle is  heavily  dependent on delivering quality, educational content.

In the old world, you would know exactly what content your buyer is consuming because, well, you showed it to them in the first place. But with so much research and engagement happening before you even speak to a lead, you need to know exactly what your buyers have interacted with beforehand. That's where your CRM tool comes in.

With the right CRM (customer relationship management) tool, you'll have a complete record of which content leads have already consumed and where they may be at on the buyer's journey.

Mapping Your Buyer's Journey

The purpose of changing up your buyer's journey is to create a sales cycle that more buyers respond to positively. And for most B2B businesses, that means shifting  away  from a product-focused approach and  towards  a buyer-focused model.

Jeff Koser of Zebrafi put it best in a recent interview with Salesman.org:

“[Buyers] don't care about your product, they care about themselves. And they have to. It's their job. That's why there's such a fundamental difference between the buying journey that a prospect wants to go down versus a sales cycle that most salespeople try to conduct. And by shifting to pain, business issues, and value, you're actually making more of the shift to the buyer's journey that they want to participate in.”

To figure out how your own customers are moving through the buyer's journey, you need to take into account the following factors:

• Which step you're meeting them at
• Where they've been
• What pain points they're experiencing
• What their next step will be
• How you get them to that next step

1) Which Step Do You Meet Them? 

Where are you currently reaching out to buyers? Again, if it's in the earlier stages, you should consider shifting that to later in the sales cycle.

Generally speaking, you will likely want to steer clear of direct interactions until late in the Comparing Vendors Stage/Purchase Stage.

True, there was a time when you could swoop in during the solution exploration stage. But today, ushering buyers through this part of the customer journey is better left to educational content.

It is worth noting, of course, that every industry is going to be different. And your unique buyers may respond better to earlier outreach.

But the key here is to test alternative contact points and measure the varying effectiveness. Don't rely on old models to tell you when you should push for a call and when you should step back and let the buyer take the lead.

2) Where Have They Been? 

You'll also need to consider the context for how they're moving through your buyer's journey.

Which stages have they been through already? Have they shown strong engagement with materials from those previous stages?

A robust CRM will be helpful here as it'll let you see what content from which stages buyers have consumed so far.

3) What Pain Are They In? 

Next up is determining the pain points buyers are likely experiencing.

In general, there will be specific pain points associated with particular stages in the buyer's journey.

To give you an idea of where to start, buyers may experience the following pain points in these stages:

No Awareness

• I know my business can be run more efficiently, but I don't know-how.
• Can we generate more revenue?
• Is it possible to attract more qualified talent?
• There is a gap in our processes that I need to understand better.
• We are missing out on earning potential; let's figure out why.
• There is a problem in our business, we need to give it a name and define it.

Exploring Solutions

• We don't know which solution types will solve our problem.
• We don't know which solution types apply to our business model.
• We don't know which solution types are available in our industry.

Comparing Vendors

• Which product offers the features we need to make this a successful solution?
• Which product offers  additional  features that increase their business value?

Purchase Decision

• I'm concerned this isn't the right decision and needs reinforcement.

4) What Is Their Next Step? 

Next, you'll need to define where you want the buyer to go next.

This can be as simple as naming the next stage of the buyer's journey. For instance, if you determine the optimal place to interact with buyers is in the Comparing Vendors Stage, the next step would be ushering them into the Purchase Decision Stage.

5) How Do You Get Them To The Next Stage?

For most stages of the buyer's journey, the answer here will be  valuable content .

Content should be the backbone of your buyer journey. And content (not pushy salesmanship) should be the driving force of what moves a buyer from one stage to the next.

But what content type works best for each stage?

Below are just a few examples of the best content types for each stage of the buyer's journey.

No Awareness & Awareness Stages:

• Social media posts
• Educational webinars

Exploring Solutions Stage:

• How-to video
• Whitepapers
• Ebooks and in-depth guides

Comparing Vendors Stage:

• Product comparison guide
• Product spec guides
• Case studies
• Reviews and testimonials

Purchase Stage:

• Sales calls
• Consultation offer

Creating Your Journey Statement

A journey statement is essentially the combination of all the information you learned when defining your buyer's journey. It should help you define:

• When you're meeting buyers
• What stages of the buyer journey they've been through
• What pains they're currently experiencing
• What are their next steps
• How you help move them to that next step

It should look something like this:

I help ( buyers at the optimal engagement stage ), who have ( which stages they've been through ), solve ( main pain points at that stage ) and move towards ( next stage ) by ( how you move them ). 

I help buyers at the Purchase Decision stage, who have made their way up through the Comparing Vendors stage, justify their decision to buy our product and move towards a purchase by showing them what it's like to work with us using live demos and more.

Your journey statement (when well-defined) will help you better understand your role as a sales rep and let you engage buyers at the optimal point in the buyer's journey.

Wrapping Up

The buyer's journey isn't the same as it used to be. Buyers have more control over their progression. B2B salespeople need a more sophisticated content strategy. And a more modern cycle requires reps to shift from a product-focused approach to one focusing on providing value instead.

And while acclimating to this new B2B sales landscape may take some adjustment, you can do so successfully if you put in the work and focus on customer success more than anything.

As Wistia VP of Sales and Customer Success, Peter von Burchard, put it in  our interview :

“Customer success is really understanding the journey that the customer is on, and the problem that you're solving as a solution and finding a way to align yourself as a company with getting those customers to achieve that end. And I think it's really about aligning the business and the solution with the goals of the customer and helping execute on that.”

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How to Make a Buyer Journey Map for Your Brand (Infographic)

A buyer journey map helps brands stand in the shoes of their customers. Following their steps, they head north on Awareness Street toward Consideration Road, turn left and continue for 0.5 miles until Decision Stage is on their right.

Of course, there are quite a few more steps involved than that. Customer journey mapping helps make sense of all the interactions buyers have with a company before and after making a purchase. 

The result points companies in the right direction to optimize customer experiences, meet expectations and boost conversions.

We’ll walk you through the basics so you can lead the way in mapping out your buyer journeys.

What is a Buyer Journey Map?

A buyer journey map is a visual representation of a customer’s experience with a company. This includes being introduced to the brand, making a purchase and every customer touchpoint that happens in between.

Even your ideal customer can go through a lengthy buying process that includes multiple opportunities for engagement. To name a few: social media posts, emails, website landing pages, ads, sales one-pagers, support team calls and so on.

Keep in mind that some elements of the customer journey may be beyond your marketing control, such as online reviews or word-of-mouth awareness. Any touchpoint is an interaction that can influence someone’s opinion of your company, product or service.

By detailing what buyers need and want at each stage of their customer experience, buyer journey mapping will push you to consider all possible touchpoints. From there, you’ll develop a deeper understanding of what motivates or inhibits decisions during the buying process.

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X Marks the Spot: A Treasure Trove of Buyer Insights

While it would be nice if a customer’s buying process was a straightforward path, there are several steps — and stops — involved that make it a complicated journey. More often, the path is disjointed, cyclical or repetitive. It’s also heavily influenced by changing trends, news cycles and evolving customer needs.

Buyer journey mapping helps businesses make sense of what actually happens before customers make a purchase. This intimate understanding will help you predict customer actions and pinpoint the touchpoints that drive buyers toward the goal of completing a purchase — as well as barriers that could make them turn the other way.

The golden nuggets of insights you’ll gain from buyer journey maps include:

• Bird’s-eye view of how customers engage with your company.
• Buyer emotions and feelings during each stage of their journey.
• Gaps or pain points in your current customer experience.
• Differences between buyer personas.
• Moments that turn leads into loyal customers.

Armed with these insights, you’ll be able to create a structured process that ensures you’re taking advantage of all conversion opportunities along the buyer journey. This will help you:

• Enhance your customer experiences.
• Create touchpoints that speak directly to customer pain points.
• Implement more effective inbound marketing strategies.
• Align team members on customer-centric approaches.
• Boost conversion rates.
• Improve customer retention.

The most effective marketing and sales teams have a strong understanding of the audiences they’re reaching. Buyer journey maps are one of the best tools for getting you there.

6 Steps to Build Your Own Buyer Journey Maps

Before you start, we recommend preparing some key elements to get the most out of a customer journey map.

• Key perspectives: Make sure you bring in stakeholders from multiple departments to address the questions you’ll need to answer and ensure seamless transitions during buyer journeys. Case in point: The hand-off from marketing to sales can make or break a deal.
• Buyer personas: These descriptions of people in your target audience should include details about demographic information, lifestyle, needs and desires. You’ll need this customer data to map out your customer perspectives on paper.
• Buying process: Identify the buying stages or phases that are most relevant for your company. A common flow is from awareness to consideration and then the decision stage.
• Touchpoints: Consider the various ways customers interact with your brand before they buy. You’ll need this list handy when filling out your buyer journey maps.
• Destination: You can map out the buying process for specific products or services, and even include stages beyond the purchase that focus on delighting and retaining the customer. It helps to have a clear idea of how granular you want to get before your dive into mapping.

When you’re ready, follow these steps to map your customer journeys:

1. Set Your Sights On Clear Objectives

Think about what you want your buyer journey map to tell you and why. Which customer experience should it analyze? Who is the map about? Do you want to find out what motivates customers to buy from your company — or identify areas of improvement to boost conversions?

Defining your objectives will give your maps a clear focus and ensure they’re connected to your larger business goals.

2. Get To Know Your Customers On a Personal (and Data-Driven) Level

You’ll need a good understanding of who your customers are before you can visualize their buying process. Both quantitative and qualitative data work here — as long as you narrow your analysis to information that’s relevant to the experience you want to cover in your buyer journey map.

Gather data from the usual suspects, including Google Analytics and your social media accounts. This will help you connect data points like a high-performing landing page or social post to the stage when they encourage users to take an action.

If time allows or gaps in your customer data call for more research, consider sending out surveys or conducting user testing to get feedback from real customers. Helpful questions could include:

• How did you hear about our company?
• What attracted you to our product or service?
• Did you experience any problems when shopping online?
• How long did you spend on our website before you made a purchase?
• Have you interacted directly with anyone on our team? If so, did you communicate with them before or after your purchase?

Your colleagues will also be helpful at this stage. Gather feedback from team members in customer-facing roles who can provide unique perspectives on specific stages of the buyer journey. For example, what are the most common questions your sales team hears from prospects? 

Customer service chat logs, emails and online reviews offer even more sources of useful information about your audience.

From an empathetic perspective, spend some time thinking like a potential customer to identify some of the emotions and feelings they’re experiencing as they move through the buying process. What questions do they have? What are the happy moments versus the pain points? Will they run into any technology or lifestyle barriers?

All of this data will help you create buyer personas that reflect your prospective customers.

3. Choose Your Buyer Persona(s)

Remember that your map requires focused direction to be effective. There’s only room for one buyer persona on a map, so don’t distract from your goals by grouping too many experiences.

If you’re just dipping your toes into buyer journey mapping, start with your most common buyer persona and focus on their initial engagements with your company. Otherwise, you can target a few buyer personas by creating multiple maps. 

4. Match Touchpoints to Actions and Stages

Now it’s time to list out all of the ways your customers can interact with your company. Consider both the digital user journey and physical customer touchpoints.

Your list might include:

• Social channels
• Organic and paid advertising
• Digital marketing campaign
• Online surveys
• Printed marketing materials
• Business cards
• Brick-and-mortar store locations
• Product packaging
• Third-party review sites or mentions

Once you have an exhaustive list, consider the touchpoints that are most likely to encourage action or inspire a feeling. Using your customer data, pair them up accordingly so you start to paint a picture of where the touchpoints fit along the buyer journey.

Don’t forget the roadblocks along the way as well. What might cause a prospect to stop in their tracks or deter them from taking an action? Your map should reflect these obstacles so you know where the opportunities to prevent them exist.

At each stage, you’ll want to consider questions like:

• What is the customer thinking or feeling?
• What is the customer’s action?
• What does the customer want to know or solve?
• What is the touchpoint with our company?
• How can we make the customer move forward to the next stage?

Be sure to always focus on the customer. Your map should be an honest portrayal of a customer’s experience through their eyes rather than from your company’s perspective.

5. Map It All Out

Organize all of your thoughts into a spreadsheet or other visualization that captures your buyer journey. Start by breaking the journey into stages and then plug in your customer actions, emotions, touchpoints and any other elements you want to highlight.

If you’re feeling lost, don’t worry! The examples below will be your guides.

6. Take Your Journey Map For a Test Run

When your buyer journey map is finished, take it for a spin to start analyzing the results. 

If you notice an area where a pain point might cause a prospect to abandon their journey, you can start brainstorming ways to combat that negative experience. On the flip side, you’ll also be able to identify when your customer personas are happiest and ensure you’re reaching prospects with the right touchpoints.

Moving Forward With Your Buyer Journey Maps

Your buyer journey maps should evolve to reflect changes in your customers and marketing strategy . Think of them as living, breathing resources that need some attention on a monthly or quarterly basis to check for any updates — and ideally spark new inspiration!

Buyer Journey Map Examples

Because a buyer journey map is a visual tool, you’re free to format it however you’d like. A simple Excel spreadsheet can do the trick, though many brands choose to utilize icons, flow charts, color coding and other design elements to visualize their customer journeys.

Your final result might look something like the following examples.

B2B Buyer Journey Map Example

This buyer journey map prioritizes mapping out the goals and touchpoints that accompany each stage. Because many B2B companies offer products or services that require more than a one-time purchase, the map goes beyond the initial buying decision. 

These elements make it a useful guide for identifying when various types of content can be most effective and ensuring they’re created with the right objectives in mind.

Retail Buyer Journey Map Example

Along with communicating the specific steps in the process of shopping for a new car, this journey map includes the buyer persona it relates to and a high-level narrative from the customer’s perspective. These added touches are tangible ways to really put yourself in the shoes of Eric, the emotional car buyer.

Omnichannel Buyer Journey Map Example

This detailed map takes a different visual approach that allows for a comparison between touchpoints. It also indicates varying emotions throughout the process, indicating that there are phases on the home remodeling journey that are especially challenging — and therefore an opportunity for touchpoints that ease those pain points.

Once you map out your buyer journeys, it’s time to create, publish and promote the content that will keep your prospects moving from touchpoint to touchpoint. Subscribe to The Content Marketer for weekly insights that will help you master all those elements of the process as well. 

Stevie Snow

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Stevie Snow is a writer at Brafton. Yes, she is named after Stevie Nicks. She’s a believer in "to life, to life, l’chaim!" because life is what brings us the Obamas, a really smooth vodka tonic and that moment on the dance floor when your favorite banger plays.

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What Makes B2B Buyer Journey Different from B2C and How to map It

• October 30, 2023

The B2B buyer journey is not a linear path but a dynamic process influenced by various stakeholders and complex decision-making. To succeed in this arena, it’s essential to grasp how potential clients arrive at the decision to invest in your products or services. In this blog, we’ll delve into the intricacies of the B2B buyer journey, exploring the unique challenges and opportunities it presents. Let us take a look at the differences. 

Difference between the B2B buyer journey and the B2C buyer journey

Mapping and optimizing the b2b buyer journey.

It is a crucial aspect of successful marketing and sales in the business-to-business (B2B) space. It’s often non-linear, meaning that potential customers don’t follow a strict, predefined path when making a purchase decision. To effectively engage and convert these potential customers, businesses need to create a map of this journey, understand it, and continually optimize it. Here’s a breakdown of the key points in the provided text:

• What makes your offering valuable to the prospect?

There are multiple reasons why a prospect may find your B2B offering useful; Understanding the reasons can help us segment the prospects further and develop more targeted content. There may be various motivations behind a prospect’s newfound interest in your offering such as: 

• They may be looking for a solution to a pressing issue, 
• They may be looking at a future arrangement or an expansion plan
• They may be desiring to change their existing supplier

The intentions can be quite many. By segmenting your leads based on their specific intent, you can create tailored buyer journeys that address their unique needs. This segmentation helps you provide more relevant and personalized content and interactions, increasing the chances of conversion.

2. How did the customer land on your page?

It’s interesting to note that your content is not always the first point of contact for a prospect who reaches your offering page – it could also be a search initiated by them and a subsequent landing on your content. Potential B2B buyers often use search engines to seek information and solutions. By understanding the search queries and topics that lead them to your content, you can align your content strategy with their informational needs. This ensures that your top-of-funnel content (the initial touchpoints in the buyer journey) is well-matched to their queries, effectively guiding them toward your products or services.

3. Make use of data analytics to track conversions

Data plays a crucial role in understanding and optimizing the B2B buyer journey. By monitoring how customers find your content, engage with it, and progress through the various stages of the journey, you can gain valuable insights. You can identify what’s working well and what isn’t, allowing you to refine your strategies. Additionally, tracking conversions helps you pinpoint where potential customers might drop off in their journey, enabling you to address these gaps with additional content or sales efforts to improve conversion rates.

4. Adapt and grow

The B2B buyer journey is not static; it’s a dynamic and evolving process. What works for one customer at a given time may not be effective for another customer in the future. By staying adaptable and responsive, you can refine your buyer journey based on real-time data and insights. This ongoing adaptation ensures that you continue to meet the evolving needs of each individual customer, increasing your chances of conversion and customer satisfaction.

In summary, mapping and optimizing the B2B buyer journey involves understanding the diverse motives of potential customers, tailoring your content to their specific needs, using data to track their progress, and continuously adapting your strategies to remain relevant and effective. This customer-centric approach is essential for successfully guiding potential buyers through their journey to making a purchase decision in the B2B space.

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Mapping the B2B Customer Journey: Key Stages and Touchpoints

The B2B customer journey serves as a compass for businesses navigating the complex realm of buyer interactions and decision-making. Understanding the intricacies of this journey is crucial for organisations looking to build lasting partnerships and drive exceptional business outcomes. 

A customer journey map helps B2B operators re-imagine their customer journey and deliver more personalised experiences. It presents a great opportunity to reinforce brand awareness and drive customer satisfaction.

This article explores B2B customer journey mapping, unravelling its key stages and touchpoints that pave the way to fruitful business relationships. 

Table of Contents

How B2B and B2C customer journeys are different

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The B2B customer journey refers to the process that business-to-business (B2B) customers go through, from problem identification to post-purchase. 

The process encompasses the entire lifecycle of a B2B buyer’s interactions with a company or brand. This includes their research, evaluation, purchase, ongoing relationship with the business and experiences along the way.

Consider a small business needing a scalable CRM (customer relationship management) solution, for example. There are many steps that it goes through before committing to a purchase. Even after the purchase, there are still post-purchase steps to cover, such as setting up the CRM system and providing after-sales services. That’s all part of the customer journey.

The B2B customer journey is characterised by multiple touchpoints across various channels. It is influenced by several factors, including industry-specific needs, organisational dynamics, and the involvement of decision-makers. Ultimately, the lasting impression of this journey is what defines the overall customer experience

Businesses and individual consumers approach the buying process quite differently. Understanding these differences is crucial for companies to tailor their strategies effectively to meet their customers’ unique expectations.

Some key aspects in which B2B and B2C (business to customer) journeys differ include: 

• Target audience — As a B2B operator, you rarely buy or sell to one person. More likely, you’ll transact with businesses, organisations, or a diverse group of individuals composed of stakeholders, senior management, and end-users
• Complexity —  B2B customer journeys tend to be more complex and involve longer sales cycles compared to B2C journeys. For example, B2B purchases typically involve higher stakes and larger investments, so there are often multiple decision-makers and longer negotiation processes.
• Decision-making factors — B2B customer journeys prioritise factors such as ROI, efficiency, scalability, and alignment with organisational goals. On the other hand, B2C journeys are frequently influenced by emotions, lifestyle preferences, and individual satisfaction.
• Relationship duration — B2B customer journeys typically involve longer-term relationships compared to B2C. This often necessitates continued engagement and support beyond the initial purchase. With B2B transactions, you look at ongoing partnerships, term contracts, or retainer arrangements.
• Personalisation approach — B2B journeys often emphasise customisation to meet the specific requirements of the purchasing organisation or target market segment. B2C customer journeys, on the other hand, may prioritise personalisation based on individualised experiences.
• Communication channels — B2B customer journeys typically involve multiple touchpoints across various channels, including direct sales interactions, professional networks, and industry-specific publications. B2C customer journeys rely heavily on digital channels such as websites, social media platforms, and online marketplaces.

What is the B2B customer journey map?

Simply put, the B2B customer journey map is a framework for capturing the customer experience. This visual representation illustrates customers’ pain points and their internal perception of the company throughout the business relationship. 

Source: apizee.com

These insights help the business identify areas to optimise to design and deliver more positive customer experiences.  

Mapping the B2B customer journey requires a business to step into the customer’s shoes to see how its processes impact its purchase decisions.

The customer journey map is a blueprint for the journey the customer takes. This means it should be comprehensive enough to cover all the important touchpoints — from initial awareness to post-sale.

Depending on the type of business relationship, customer journey maps should also cover the cessation of the relationship with the company. How a business handles this stage can be crucial to minimising churn and encouraging future relationships. 

Generally speaking, effective customer journey maps should include the following:

• A detailed flowchart of the customer journey showing the various interactions between the customer and the company
• Clearly outlined customer pain points or issues that may get in the way of a positive customer experience
• Identified areas where the company can take action to improve overall customer satisfaction 
• Details about what departments or people are responsible for moving the customer relationship forward at each touchpoint 
• Well-defined linkages between touchpoints
• The company’s performance at each touchpoint

Mapping the B2B customer journey gives businesses a powerful way to understand and cater to their customers effectively. 

Here are the key reasons to design a B2B customer journey map:

• Enhanced customer understanding —  A customer journey map provides valuable insights into the needs, motivations, pain points, and behaviours of your B2B customers. It helps you better understand their challenges, preferences, and decision-making processes.
• Strategic decision-making — A customer journey map helps businesses make data-driven decisions about their marketing, sales, and customer service strategies. It allows them to identify areas of improvement, optimise touchpoints, and align resources better to serve customers at each stage of their journey.
• Personalised experiences — A customer journey map enables a company to deliver tailored experiences to its B2B customers. This ultimately fosters stronger relationships and dramatically improves customer satisfaction.
• Alignment across teams — A customer journey map is a common reference point for different teams within an organisation. Marketing, sales, customer service, product development, and other departments can become more aligned and collaborative. This ensures consistent, cohesive customer experience across all touchpoints.
• Continuous improvement — Mapping the B2B customer journey is an iterative strategic process. It provides a framework for ongoing evaluation and optimisation of the customer experience to drive better business outcomes.

Key Stages of the B2B customer journey

The B2B customer journey typically consists of the following stages:

In this stage, the B2B vendor aims to raise awareness about what their business offers. The B2B customer, on the other hand,  becomes aware of a need or problem they want to address. For example, the company might be planning to attend an industry event in another state. So one of the first things they’ll need to sort out is the transportation for their staff. 

Now they’re aware of the need, so they start researching potential solutions and exploring available options.

As the name implies, this is where the customer “considers” their options. In the consideration stage, the B2B customer narrows their choices and evaluates different vendors or providers. 

Here, they delve deeper into the features and benefits of each option. They may compare the prices offered by the shortlisted vendors and consider payment options, flexibility, and customisation. At the end of the day, it’s about arriving at an informed decision about who they will purchase from.

Having narrowed down their options, it’s time for the B2B customer to decide what B2B vendor to contact to initiate the buying process. 

This is a pivotal moment in the B2B buyer journey. For one, it represents a successful conversion for the vendor, and is a sign that their lead nurturing methods are sound.

After the decision is made, the customer moves into the implementation stage. This involves the buying process, onboarding, and installation/configuration. 

Depending on the product or service being provided, this stage may also include special training for specific staff within the B2B customer’s organisation. Once everything is properly set up, the customer integrates the chosen solution into their existing business processes.

With the solution fully implemented, the customer enters the support and relationship management stage. For instance, they might require ongoing technical support or they might be assigned an account manager to handle post-purchase concerns and requests.

This is the B2C equivalent of customer loyalty. In this stage, the B2B customer evaluates their experience with the vendor and decides whether to continue the relationship. Additionally, there may be opportunities for upselling or expanding the scope of services provided to the customer.

It’s important to note that the B2B buyer journey is not strictly linear. This means it’s not uncommon for buyers to move back and forth between stages based on their specific needs and circumstances.

Touchpoints in B2B customer journey mapping

The customer journey mapping process includes several critical touchpoints that occur before, during, and after a sale. Touchpoints are the various customer interactions or moments of engagement with a company throughout the customer journey. 

Each one provides an opportunity for the company to leave an impression on the customer and ultimately impact their decision-making process. That’s why optimising touchpoints to deliver a consistent and personalised experience is essential in building strong relationships and fostering customer loyalty.

Source: salespanel.io

These touchpoints can occur through various channels, both online and offline, and are crucial in shaping customer experiences. 

Customer touchpoints can occur at different stages of the buying journey. Here are some examples:

• Industry events and conferences — These events are great for learning about new trends, technologies, and potential solutions.
• Online research — Conducting searches on search engines and exploring industry publications and social media communities are great ways to facilitate customer interactions.
• Word-of-mouth referrals — Seeking recommendations and feedback from colleagues, industry contacts, or trusted sources make for great customer touchpoints.
• Company website and landing pages — Visiting the company’s website and landing pages to explore detailed information about potential solutions.
• Product demonstrations or webinars — Participating in live or recorded demonstrations and webinars to gain insights into the functionality and benefits of the offerings.
• Case studies and success stories — Reviewing real-world examples and success stories that highlight how the product or service has helped other businesses.
• Consultations — Engaging in meetings or consultations with sales reps to discuss requirements and solutions.
• Proposal and pricing discussions —  Collaborating with the B2B vendor on contract terms and negotiating proposals that align with the B2B customer’s requirements.
• Reference checks — Seeking references from existing customers to validate the company’s reputation and track record.
• Vendor presentations or pitches — Attending presentations or pitches by vendors to assess their expertise and how well they understand the business’s challenges.
• Onboarding and training sessions — Participating in onboarding sessions and training programs to learn how to use the solution effectively.
• Technical support and guidance — Seeking technical support and advice during the implementation stage to resolve any issues that arise.
• Documentation and user manuals — Accessing comprehensive documentation, user manuals, and resources to support the implementation process and user adoption.
• Dedicated account managers or customer success representatives — A designated point of contact is great for nurturing current customers. 
• Helpdesk or support ticket systems — Utilising helpdesk or support ticket systems to log and track support requests, ensuring timely resolutions. This is a key part of modern B2B customer expectations and is a leading factor in increasing customer retention.
• Surveys and feedback mechanisms — Providing feedback through surveys or related mechanisms to help the vendor improve their offerings and sales process.
• Contract renewal discussions — Engaging in discussions with the B2B vendor regarding contract renewal terms and potential adjustments based on changing business needs.
• Cross-selling and upselling opportunities — Exploring opportunities to expand the relationship by considering additional vendor offerings.

Mapping the B2B buyer journey

Customer journey mapping requires a thoughtful approach to design truly innovative experiences tailored to the B2B context. 

It’s important to look for common pitfalls that typically accompany a journey mapping exercise. 

Some businesses make the mistake of overgeneralising the buyer’s journey. This results in them creating a one-size-fits-all customer journey map that doesn’t account for the unique needs of different customer segments. 

Another common mistake is focusing primarily on the sales stages and neglecting other key touchpoints of the buyer journey. This makes it difficult to capture the nuances of the buying experience truly.

The ideal customer journey map takes into account all the key stages of the journey with the view to achieving repeat business. It must also contain all the major elements necessary to improve customer touchpoints.

Check out the B2B customer journey map template below for an idea of the mapping process. 

Source: slideteam.net

Here are some techniques you can use to map the B2B customer journey:

Start by developing detailed user personas that represent your target B2B customers. The most effective way to create personas is first to identify the pain points, motivations, and decision-making criteria of various customer segments. 

This helps you understand their needs and tailor the customer journey map accordingly.

Engaging in one-on-one interviews with existing customers is a surefire way to gather insights about their experiences and interactions with your company.  You can also collect customer feedback data through the usual tools — customer satisfaction surveys, feedback forms, focus groups, etc. This helps identify areas of improvement and shape the customer journey map.

Leverage data analytics tools to analyse customer behaviour, engagement metrics , conversion rates, and customer journey progression. This data provides a quantitative understanding of the customer journey and helps identify bottlenecks or areas of improvement.

Involving your sales and customer service teams in the B2B customer journey mapping process is important. They have valuable insights into customer interactions and can provide detailed accounts of the pain points at each journey stage. 

Additionally, this collaboration can help buoy your marketing efforts and drive quicker outcomes.

Conduct workshops involving cross-functional teams from all relevant departments. Encourage brainstorming and collaboration to gain different perspectives.

Study the customer journeys of your competitors in the B2B space. Identify areas where they excel or fall short and use that knowledge to differentiate your own customer journey mapping. 

Keep in mind that the B2B customer journey is not static, so regularly review your customer journey map. There will always be new customer insights, market trends, and changing customer expectations to incorporate down the line. This ensures your customer journey map remains accurate and relevant.

Mapping the B2B customer journey is an essential practice for businesses seeking to understand and optimise their interactions with customers. By comprehensively mapping the key stages and touchpoints, businesses can gain valuable insights into customer behaviour, preferences, and pain points. 

Understanding the B2B customer journey enables companies to align their efforts to deliver a seamless and satisfying experience at every touchpoint. Ultimately, an effective B2B customer journey map serves as a roadmap for success, guiding businesses towards delivering exceptional experiences.

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The Pocket Guide to the 2024 B2B Buyer’s Journey

Last updated on Dec 1, 2023 | Ryan Tan Jit Ming

To understand the B2B buyer’s journey is to understand the process a potential customer goes through when making a purchase decision. It shouldn’t be surprising, then, that this ability to put yourself in your customer’s shoes is key to success.

However, the B2B buyer’s journey has been evolved over the past years. Every stage has been streamlined and, contrary to popular belief, it hasn’t become any less complicated . With the shifting sands of technology, buyers are now more inscrutable, conducting their own research online, defining their solution strategy, and shortlisting potential vendors before ever reaching out to a salesperson.  

On one hand, while this shift will lead to confusion for the unprepared, opportunities are rife for the ready. Read on to better equip yourself with the necessary know-how and take charge of these changing times. 

What Are The Three Stages of The Buyer’s Journey?

Overall, the path of the buyer’s journey hasn’t changed much structurally. You’ll still find the same three stages that map out how a buyer treads along their purchasing journey:

The first stage is all about the unknowing buyer realizing that they’re affected by a problem. This is when they notice and understand their problem through guidance and educational materials as opposed to searching for an immediate solution. 

You could think of it as analogous to someone experiencing an illness. What they’re looking for after noticing their symptoms is information (often via the internet as a first step) to recognize and define their illness. Forms of content B2B buyers often consult here include blog posts, informational articles, videos, and infographics. 

Consideration

Knowing that they’re plagued with a problem, the next logical step is to find a potential solution. Buyers in this stage are actively on the lookout for a way to resolve their issues. They’re no longer googling their symptoms online; they’re now looking for a specific treatment for their illness. 

Content for the consideration stage should be more focused and targeted. Buyers should be given information that will help them define the right solution strategy and, ultimately, the type of product or service that will be most appropriate. As you’ll need to communicate the merits of your solution, whitepapers, e-books, and even case studies all play a crucial role at this point. 

By now, potential buyers would have considerably narrowed down solutions to a manageable list where comparisons will be made. They’ve decided to opt for treatment and are now considering which specific hospital to go to. This is the final push where buyers will decide once and for all whether to purchase a solution or not.

During the decision stage of the buyer’s journey, marketers should focus on understanding their competition , solidifying their unique selling position , and following up with any active leads. Content marketing here should include demos to showcase the best of your solution, case studies to provide social proof , and free consultations to directly liaise with the leads. 

How Has the Journey Evolved and What New Challenges Do Businesses Face?

While the journey as seen above still retains its core structure, recent events have stressed the importance of anticipating and adapting to newfound trends. Here are some key changes to note:

Self-guided Research

Information asymmetry just isn’t as asymmetrical anymore. With the power of the internet and search engines, the informational playing field has leveled the ground between buyer and seller. This means that potential customers are more likely to scrutinize and form opinions before you even get the chance to directly persuade. 

B2B businesses can adapt to this challenge by doubling down on their content marketing efforts. Why? Simply because the B2B buyer journey statistics show that over 50% of B2B buyers now use content when vetting businesses . That said, it’s important to ensure that content remains primarily educational as opposed to salesy. Further, focusing on curating thought leadership content has also proven to be effective in creating a more trustworthy relationship. 

The Shift Online

With the migration from physical offices to online platforms, don’t be astonished to learn that most purchases, start to finish, are now made entirely online . For the foreseeable future, this new reality seems to be something that’s here to stay as a long-term fixture, with only 20% of B2B buyers expressing a preference for in-person sales .

There is an opportunity here for businesses to stand out. Over 60% of buyers complain that their vendors did not have proper digital channels for this shift, finding existing channels inefficient. In addition, research by Gartner found that close to 33% of CMOs believe that a smooth customer experience is a priority due to the digitization of the buyer’s journey. 

Businesses should also optimize their websites to provide the best experience possible for buyers. Adapting it for mobile users, focusing on a user’s experience, and ensuring their site is secure are sure ways to be noticed. 

New Content Trends and Preferences

Tastes change according to what goes on in the world, and the B2B space is no exception. In light of this, understanding what your audience prefers to engage with is key to resonating with them. 

One trend to note is the rise of the case study. Blending the best of your solution together with a real customer dealing with real problems, they demonstrate the capabilities of your solution while indirectly recommending it to others. Videos in the form of explainers and guides have also seen a surge with over 70% of B2B marketers now incorporating them into their campaigns. 

And in terms of direct customer interactions, the shift online has sparked renewed interest in live and video communications in closing deals with leads. This is in stark contrast to in-person sales which have been rapidly declining. 

What Must Today’s Marketers Do to Meet Buyers at Each Stage of the Journey?

All this change can seem intimidating to the B2B marketer, especially as nothing is set in stone. That said, preparation is key to success, so here’s how you can be better prepared for each stage of the new buyer’s journey. 

Be Aware 

Awareness is a two-way street. It isn’t enough to simply create brand awareness. Marketers have to be equally aware of what buyers are thinking and going through. Ideally, you should:

• Ensure that your buyer’s persona is periodically updated. It should be the guiding north star that orients all sales and marketing campaigns. 
• Take advantage of social media channels when raising brand awareness. 
• Target the right groups and understand that B2B customers often come as a flock .
• Conduct a content audit on past campaigns to see where you were successful and to identify areas for improvement. 

Support Considerations

In this age of the consumer armed with internet-found knowledge, concealing key information is detrimental to success. Marketers must aim to support the buyer on their journey regardless of whether they convert.

• Curate high-quality, credible, and useful content such as whitepapers and e-books.
• Focus on curating thought leadership content to establish credibility.
• Consider implementing virtual or hybrid events to interact with potential customers. 
• Update your website to provide as smooth a browsing experience as possible.
• Ensure that your website and digital content are optimized for Google’s ranking .

Enable Decisions

The decision stage is where push comes to shove for the marketer. A good strategy understands both the uniqueness of your product and your competitors. 

• Understand the flipside (i.e., the objection ) of your solution and why buyers may choose another option.
• Clearly establish why your solution is ideal and draw comparisons with other competitors. 
• Train your sales team to bring out the best in their product when interacting with leads.

Your First Step

The B2B buyer’s journey is a complex process that doesn’t seem to be getting any simpler. It may seem intimidating to adapt, but seminal opportunities are ripe for the picking for the prepared. 

At Brighttail, we leverage our extensive expertise to provide our clients with the latest and most up-to-date insights and strategies. To ensure your finger is kept on the pulse of these changing times, get in touch with us today! 

Ryan Tan Jit Ming

Ryan is a writer who’s dabbled in a little bit of everything. He enjoys learning about new topics and sharing his knowledge with others, something he strives to achieve in his writing.

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Rethinking the stages of the B2B buyer journey using custom research

The traditional B2B buyer journey is changing because buyers are accessing quality digital information at each stage of their purchasing decision. Buying behaviors have changed and you’ve got less time with buyers to influence their decisions. 

You need to rethink marketing and sales strategies to adapt successfully. Clients aren’t going to jump straight into your marketing funnel and slide straight down to a purchase with the sales team. 

The new B2B buyer journey is non-linear, adding to the existing complexities of most B2B purchases. Anyone or anything that makes the process easier immediately puts themselves at an advantage. 

NewtonX customer segmentation research gives you that competitive edge. Deep insights into your buyer personas gives you the opportunity not just to make the B2B buyer journey wearing their shoes – but to create the landscape they navigate. 

What is the B2B buyer journey?

Using custom insights to construct B2B buyer journey maps helps you understand your clients’ mindset at the different stages of their path to purchase. 

The stages of your B2B buyers’ journey are specific to your industry and organization. These are the typical stages that apply to most buyer journeys and how high quality B2B market research informs each stage. 

Make sure that you’re top of mind by determining who your client is, how you meet their needs and where you can find them. This custom research ensures that your clients understand your service or product and you can close the sale more quickly.

Consideration

After initial contact with the sales team and interest is piqued, you need to flesh out the buyer personas of each of the decision-makers involved. In-depth B2B buyer persona research means you can address the priorities of each team member and understand how they interact with each other. 

Creating a B2B buyer journey map for each buyer persona means that you’ll know what each decision-maker needs at each stage of the process. By making sure everyone has all the information they need at the right time you avoid any stalling and keep the decision on track. 

Purchase and delivery

Nurturing a long-term relationship starts with how you deliver and onboard your new clients after contracts are signed. Reliable research gives you a gauge on the strength of your first impression and how you can exceed client expectations . 

Support and retention 

Retaining existing clients is cheaper than finding new ones, so you need to know how to keep renewals coming in. Regularly monitoring customer experiences and loyalty keeps you ahead of the competition. 

Growth and expansion

Satisfied clients are more open to cross-selling or up-selling, and can become great advocates for your company. Brand tracking research and regular client health checks gives you reliable data to strengthen your brand, build your reputation and encourage word-of-mouth referrals.

It’s important to bear in mind that these aren’t sequential stepping stones. The new B2B buyer journey consists of several twists and turns that sees them revisiting and adjusting course at various points. NewtonX insights help you position your business perfectly within this decision making landscape. 

What is the difference between the B2B buyer journey and the B2C buyer journey

When it comes to understanding consumer behavior, the B2B (Business-to-Business) and B2C (Business-to-Consumer) buying journeys are inherently different. While both involve a series of steps that guide potential customers toward making a purchase, the factors influencing their decision-making process diverge significantly. Let’s explore some of the key distinctions between these two buying journeys:

Decision-Making Complexity

• B2B Buying Journey: B2B transactions often involve multiple decision-makers, including procurement teams, executives, and stakeholders. The purchasing process is more complex, with a focus on long-term business partnerships and the evaluation of practical benefits, ROI, and potential risks.
• B2C Buying Journey: B2C purchases are typically made by individual consumers based on personal preferences, emotions, and immediate needs. The decision-making process is often more straightforward, driven by factors like price, brand perception, and emotional appeal.

Purchase Volume and Frequency

• B2B Buying Journey: B2B transactions usually involve larger purchase volumes and occur less frequently. Companies invest in products or services that have a significant impact on their operations and long-term success, necessitating a careful evaluation of various options.
• B2C Buying Journey: B2C purchases generally involve smaller volumes and occur more frequently. Consumers buy products or services for personal use or gratification, with individual preferences and immediate needs guiding their choices.

Relationship Building

• B2B Buying Journey: Building strong relationships is a crucial aspect of the B2B buying journey. Decision-makers prioritize vendor reputation, customer service, and long-term support, as they seek to form partnerships with reliable and trusted suppliers.
• B2C Buying Journey: While customer relationships are essential in B2C transactions, they often revolve around individual experiences and satisfaction. Brands focus on capturing consumer loyalty through targeted marketing, exceptional customer service, and personalized experiences.

Information Sources

• B2B Buying Journey: B2B buyers rely heavily on in-depth research, case studies, whitepapers, and peer recommendations to make informed decisions. Custom research and data-driven insights play a pivotal role in understanding market trends and the performance of potential vendors.
• B2C Buying Journey: B2C consumers often seek information from various sources, including social media, online reviews, and advertisements. Emotional appeal and brand storytelling significantly influence their perceptions and purchasing behavior.

Sales Cycle Length

• B2B Buying Journey: The B2B sales cycle can be more extended and require nurturing and relationship-building over time. Vendors may need to engage in several touchpoints and provide tailored solutions to address specific business needs.
• B2C Buying Journey: The B2C sales cycle is generally shorter, as consumers’ purchase decisions are often driven by immediate desires or needs. Brands leverage limited-time offers and promotions to encourage swift purchases.

The importance of the B2B buyers’ journey

The B2B buyer journey holds immense significance for businesses seeking growth, success, and sustainable relationships with their clients. Understanding buyer behavior is crucial as it provides valuable insights into how potential customers research, evaluate, and make purchase decisions. By comprehending these behaviors, businesses can tailor their marketing strategies and offerings to meet specific needs, ultimately optimizing their efforts and investments.

Moreover, prioritizing the buyer journey allows businesses to adopt a customer-centric approach, building meaningful connections with individual buyer personas and addressing their pain points. This customer-centric approach fosters loyalty and long-term relationships, enhancing overall customer satisfaction.

Efficiency in resource allocation is another key benefit of understanding the B2B buyer journey. By aligning marketing resources with the stages of the buyer journey, businesses can ensure that their marketing campaigns and content resonate with buyers at every touchpoint, leading to higher conversion rates.

The B2B buyer journey also plays a pivotal role in enhancing the customer experience. By facilitating smooth interactions between businesses and their clients at each stage, friction is reduced, leading to improved customer satisfaction.

Challenges facing the B2B buyers’ journey

Navigating the B2B buyer journey poses several significant challenges that businesses must overcome to succeed in the competitive market. One of the primary obstacles is the complexity of the B2B sales process, characterized by longer sales cycles and involving multiple decision-makers. Understanding the buying behavior of various stakeholders and aligning their needs can be challenging. Additionally, the sheer volume of information available to buyers in the digital age can create information overload, making it essential for businesses to cut through the noise and deliver relevant, valuable content.

Another challenge is the need for effective differentiation and communication. With a wide range of products and services available in the market, businesses must find unique ways to position themselves and communicate their value proposition effectively. Addressing the diverse needs and pain points of different buyer segments requires tailored messaging and personalized experiences.

Financial constraints and resistance to change can further complicate the buyer journey. B2B purchases often involve significant financial investments, and businesses may be cautious when making decisions. Convincing buyers to switch from existing solutions or adopt new ones can be met with resistance, necessitating a strategic approach to address objections and demonstrate clear benefits.

Post-purchase support and customer satisfaction play a crucial role in the B2B buyer journey. Businesses need to focus not only on closing deals but also on building lasting relationships with customers. Providing excellent customer support and service after the sale can lead to repeat business, referrals, and increased loyalty.

The digital transformation of the business landscape has changed how B2B buyers conduct research and make purchasing decisions. Companies must adapt to the shift towards online interactions and provide seamless, user-friendly experiences across various digital touchpoints.

How to optimize the B2B buyers’ journey for success

To achieve success in the B2B buyer journey, businesses need to optimize their strategies and align them with the unique preferences and needs of potential clients. The following are key approaches to enhance the B2B buying experience:

Personalized Content and Messaging

• Tailor the content: Understand the diverse needs and pain points of different buyer personas within an organization. Craft content that addresses their specific challenges and provides valuable solutions.
• Use account-based marketing: Adopt an account-based marketing (ABM) approach to focus on individual high-value accounts. Deliver personalized messages and offerings to build stronger relationships and improve engagement

Streamlined Purchase Process

• Simplify the buying process: Eliminate unnecessary steps and complexities from the purchasing journey. Provide clear and easy-to-understand information, pricing, and payment options to enhance customer satisfaction.
• Implement self-service options: Offer self-service portals and tools that enable buyers to access information, make inquiries, and place orders at their convenience.

Foster Trust & Credibility

• Showcase customer testimonials: Share success stories and testimonials from satisfied clients to instill confidence in potential buyers. Highlighting positive experiences builds trust in your brand.
• Offer transparent pricing and terms: Be upfront about pricing, contracts, and terms to establish trust and avoid any ambiguity that may deter potential customers.

Enhanced Customer Support

• Provide exceptional support: Offer responsive and knowledgeable customer support teams that can address inquiries promptly. Proactive support helps build trust and loyalty in the long run.
• Utilize chatbots and AI: Implement chatbots and artificial intelligence-driven solutions to offer instant assistance and personalized recommendations to buyers.

Data-Driven Decision-Making

• Leverage market research: Conduct in-depth market research to gain insights into customer preferences, industry trends, and competitors’ strategies. NewtonX’s custom research solutions can provide valuable data to inform your business decisions.
• Analyze buyer behavior: Utilize data analytics to track and analyze buyer behavior throughout the journey. Identify key touchpoints, pain points, and opportunities for improvement.

Cultivate Long-Term Relationships

• Focus on post-purchase engagement: Engage with customers even after the purchase is made. Nurture relationships by offering valuable resources, providing ongoing support, and anticipating their future needs.
• Cross-selling and upselling: Identify opportunities to cross-sell or upsell relevant products or services based on customers’ past purchases and preferences.

What influences affect your B2B buyers’ journey?

New B2B buying journeys are affected by a myriad of different information sources. Your buyers have an internet’s worth of choice. They’ll be getting their pre-purchase information from:

• Online research: multiple websites, social media platforms and forums
• Advice from colleagues in similar roles in the same industry
• Conferences and events: speakers and written materials
• Professional publications by industry organizations and bodies
• Discussions with adjacent channel partners 

These multiple sources are consulted continuously through the various stages of the B2B buyer journey. If you’re not there with the information your clients are looking for, your competitors will be. The chance for connection and direction towards your offering is lost.

Be the ultimate B2B journey guide

The features you add to your clients’ landscape give you the opportunity to optimize every possible touchpoint on their B2B buyers’ journey. NewtonX custom research is based on insights from your current and potential clients. You’ll know what help they need, where they’re looking to find it, and how they prefer to receive that information. Your marketing and sales strategies will align to have all the right signposts – and hubs of knowledge – within your clients’ decision-making landscape exactly when they need it. 

You need reliable insights on three key areas to generate your new B2B buyer journey map.

1. Get to know your B2B buying team

You need to know every member of your buying team. Each decision maker has their own priorities, concerns and challenges about this purchase. Understanding their starting position, preferred sources of information and hurdles to overcome during the buying journey. Deeper understanding of each buyer persona, based on customer segmentation research, gives you a competitive advantage on many levels.

2. Draw the journey map

There isn’t an ‘as the crow flies’, clear route from top of funnel content, to sales, ending with purchase and reordering. The pipeline of warm leads being passed to sales teams is disrupted. The new buyer journey involves much more back and forth between the two. The linear path to purchase is more of a zig zag, with assorted diversions and re-routing. 

Your custom insights tell you where to best place signposts for your clients for whatever they need at each stage of their journey. They will see you continuously helping at every twist and turn. 

Creating your buyer journey map from powerful data means that you’re there as their guide over obstacles, around gaps in knowledge and through to the perfect destination – your product or service. 

3. Find out what direction they’re coming from

The custom findings that define your buyer personas help you understand their individual motivations. This is their starting point in the decision-making landscape and how you know the direction they’re traveling to you from. 

By specifically addressing how your product or service meets each of their needs, you can track their buyer journey and remove information obstacles before they even reach them. For example, the end user of your product is likely to want to compare it with similar products on the market. So you provide this information in an article published on their preferred platform. A signpost that makes the decision easier and leads them smoothly on towards the next stage of their buyer journey.

B2B buyers’ journey example

Consider a manufacturing company, XYZ Engineering, which produces industrial machinery. Their target market includes construction companies and manufacturers looking to upgrade their equipment. At the research stage, potential buyers in the construction and manufacturing industries begin their buyer journey by researching industrial machinery suppliers. They use search engines, industry forums, and recommendations from peers to identify reputable suppliers.

As potential buyers gather information, XYZ Engineering provides valuable content such as product specifications, comparison guides, and case studies showcasing successful installations of their machinery. They utilize email marketing and social media to share this content and engage with their target audience.

Interested prospects reach out to XYZ Engineering for more information or to schedule meetings at the engagement stage. The sales team conducts personalized consultations to understand the specific requirements of the construction or manufacturing company. They offer tailored solutions to address the buyers’ needs effectively.

During the evaluation stage, buyers compare XYZ Engineering’s offerings with those of their competitors. The sales team ensures transparent communication, providing detailed quotes and clarifying any technical aspects. XYZ Engineering also offers factory visits and demonstrations to allow potential buyers to see their machinery in action.

As the buyer’s interest solidifies, negotiations regarding pricing, delivery timelines, and warranty terms take place at the negotiation and decision stage. XYZ Engineering works closely with the buyer to address any concerns and find mutually beneficial solutions. They emphasize the reliability and after-sales support offered with their machinery.

After the purchase, XYZ Engineering remains committed to the success of their customers at the post-purchase support stage. They provide comprehensive training for the machinery operators and offer ongoing technical support to ensure smooth operations. XYZ Engineering maintains a long-term relationship with the buyer, fostering customer loyalty and potential repeat business.

NewtonX’s custom research capabilities can help companies like TechX Solutions and XYZ Engineering gain deeper insights into their target markets, understand buyer preferences, and optimize their B2B buyer journeys. With NewtonX as a research partner, businesses can identify areas for improvement, refine their strategies, and achieve greater success in their B2B sales efforts.

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B2B Buyer's Journey, 4 Stages to Know

84%¹ of B2B companies admit that their sales process took longer than expected. Why? Most companies neglect to model their buyer’s journey to inform their strategy. If you want to better predict the outcome of your sales cycle and optimize your conversion rate, you need to understand your customers' journey.

Morvan Carrier

Acquisition Strategist & Co-Founder

The importance of the B2B buyer’s journey

What is the customer’s journey and why is it essential to optimize it for b to b.

The buyer's journey refers to all the stages through which a customer passes throughout his or her relationship with a supplier.

You are experts in your field, to you, it’s obvious that your solution is the best one. It’s a no-brainer your target market should buy from you, as soon as possible, and start reaping the benefits from a collaboration with your company.

Unfortunately, this rarely happens, in reality, most companies underestimate the number of stages prospects go through before they end up purchasing.

All of these stages of the buyer constitute the B2B Buyer’s Journey.

There are as many Buyer’s Journeys as there are Buyers, which makes it that much harder to comprehend, but also that much more valuable when properly modeled.

Rather than telling you about the B2B Buyer’s Journey, how about I show you?

Once upon a time, there was a Buyer named Ulysses, and he went on a quest to find the best solution to defeat the enemy of his company. Watch his Buyer’s Odyssey:

Did that story help you get a better understanding of the B2B Client’s Journey?

You are probably familiar with most of these chapters (Discovery, Evaluation & Decision) and might dismiss the value of modeling this journey. Yet, you should never lose sight of how important it is to walk a mile in the shoes of your prospects to understand their pain points and better serve them.

They go through Awareness, Consideration, and Decision stages, and so should you from their perspective. We detail everything you need to know about these phases later in this article.

You must remember that every point of contact with your current and potential customers presents an opportunity to create positive experiences that generate trust. It is this trust that convinces prospects to become customers, and customers to become ambassadors.

When we consider the mechanics of B to B decision making, we understand how important it is to optimize the customer journey. The longer the customer journey, the lower the rate of transformation into a customer. Most buyer’s journeys are longer than they should be because of misunderstandings and lack of alignment both internally and between the buyer and the seller. This is why it is up to you to make your Buyer’s Journey as seamless and efficient as possible.

Understanding and mapping the customer’s journey will allow you to understand where you are succeeding and where you are struggling with your prospects. You will understand the questions your customers ask and it will enable you to create the right types of content to answer them.

What are the prerequisites to properly define the path of your customers?

Put yourself in the shoes of the buyer, he or she has very different priorities and expectations than you do during his/her long journey towards making a purchasing decision. It is your duty to adapt your structure and your content to meet the needs of your potential customers.

It's important to have an empathic approach and a good understanding of your prospects' issues. You must profoundly understand your prospects: what are their needs, motivations, fears, hopes, and beliefs? What are their problems and pain points? That understanding is what allows you to properly calibrate the content and experiences you offer them.

But how can you achieve that level of understanding?

There are proven methods: The Buyer Personas and the Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) method.

Modeling your Buyer Personas is an essential prerequisite to defining the customer journey because each journey is different for each persona. This is precisely the goal of modeling your Buyer Personas: identifying and getting a better understanding of the different types of prospects you want to sell to. For more information on how to model Buyer Personas to transcend your commercial strategy, you should read our article: Personas, why and how to set them up?

Once you have defined your personas, you need to understand their underlying motivations and the challenges they face in relation to what your offer. The best tool for this is the Jobs To Be Done Method. It will allow you to take into account all aspects of your clients' motivation. Lucky for you we also wrote an article to help you master the Jobs To Be Done framework: Jobs-to-be-done, the 3 dimensions of customer motivation

How the B2B Buyer's Journey will help your company

Design a relevant and effective growth strategy.

Taking into account the customer journey and understanding prospects is the keystone of a successful growth strategy. Once you’ve mastered the key stages of your Buyer’s Journey, when you associate your prospect’s perspective, it becomes much easier to determine which channels to be present on and which content to offer at each step of the journey. Not only will it help you convert your prospects, but overall customer satisfaction will also increase.

Align your sales and marketing teams

Understanding the stages of a customer's buying journey and aligning with prospects' expectations at each stage allows your marketing and sales teams to visualize where the prospect is in the buying process. This allows them to take the best path to close more deals by leveraging relevant content to move the prospect along the path with your company until they are converted into a customer.

Value-added content for your prospects

Understanding the Buyer’s Journey allows the creation of content adapted to the maturity of the prospects.

Every good content marketer knows how important it is to fit in with your reader’s expectations. For example, you are not going to send the same content to a "cold" prospect on your prospecting list, to an incoming lead who has contacted you via your website.

In one scenario you have to generate curiosity about your solution and the problem you are solving, in the other, you have to convince of the effectiveness of your solution and your ability to satisfy your customers.

Creating content adapted to all the objections, concerns and frequently asked questions of your prospects allows your sales teams to always be one step ahead. At each of their interactions with prospects (prospecting campaign, discovery meetings, creation of the offer, negotiation of the contract, etc...) they have what they need to guide the prospect to the next stage of his journey such as sales scripts, case studies, customer testimonials, interactive content, one-pagers, etc...

What are the main stages of the B-to-B Buyer's Journey?

The notion of customer journey may seem vague. Every customer has a unique buying journey. It is, therefore, necessary, when you map the customer journey, that you adapt it to your target. That’s why we can’t stress enough the value you’ll get from modeling Buyer Personas and their Jobs-to-be-done .

Stage 1 of the Buyer’s Journey: The Discovery Stage

From stranger to visitor: your prospect doesn't know you yet.

The Buyer’s Journey begins when the prospect becomes aware of a problem and is motivated to find a solution. That's how 70% of the Buyer's Journey happens before sales teams get involved. We call it the Discovery Stage because this is when he uncovers that need and discovers solutions.

You have to be here for your prospect from the very beginning of his journey. The sooner you reach your prospect, the stronger your relationship. Within this Discovery and the client searches for answers and enters the awareness stage as he gets more knowledgeable on the topic.

This is when you should attract your target by helping him understand the issue and how it can be solved.

Example: You are a software solution that allows you to efficiently deploy account-based marketing . Most of your prospects may not even be familiar with this method. To attract them, you need to position yourself on concepts that are close to their questions at this stage. For example "How to generate opportunities with large companies".

This is where Search Engine Optimization is valuable. By ranking well on specific keywords and writing good blog posts you will be able to attract prospects.

From visitor to lead: The prospect has discovered you and becomes aware of his problem.

Once the prospect is drawn into this process, he becomes a visitor. You've aroused his curiosity in some way. This could have been done through the natural referencing of your content (inbound marketing) or through outbound actions such as prospecting, advertising, a trade show, etc. (Outbound marketing).

You must now educate him, convince him of the importance of his problem and the benefits of dealing with it. This is where educating the prospect, with appropriate content, comes into play. The prospect essentially seeks to define his problem and understand what he has to gain by treating it.

It is crucial to create content that will persuade your prospect, push them into action. So you need to create the desire to act by showing them what they have to gain. At the end of this phase, you will have convinced him that he must initiate an evaluation process to find the best solution to his problem.

Example: Let's take the account-based marketing solution again. The idea at this stage is to show him that account-based marketing can generate many opportunities and with a much better transformation rate for his company. He will then decide to initiate a purchase phase to deploy account-based marketing in his company.

Stage 2 of the Buyer’s Journey: The Evaluation Phase

From lead to opportunity: the lead specifies his project and gets closer to a purchasing decision..

Now the prospect knows he has to act, but he doesn't know the different solutions to his problem.

Depending on the origin of his achievement in stage 1, the prospect will have more or less indications about possible solutions to his problem. However, whatever his level of knowledge, he will want to explore the issue and understand the options available to him.

He will research and analyze information on the products and services offered to solve his problem. Yours of course if you have managed to capture it in the discovery phase, but also other solutions. Today, 67% of the customer journey is digital, we no longer rely solely on the word of a sales representative, each buyer will investigate his problem to make an informed opinion on the subject.

By familiarizing himself with potential solutions, he not only refines his understanding but more importantly, he projects himself into the future with one or more of these solutions. The objective is to convince him that you are one of the most suitable solutions to his problem.

During this consideration phase, it is key to keep a good relationship with your potential buyer and not to become complacent. Do not lose touch or you will lose the sale. Remember that you are not the only supplier in the world and that you are being thoroughly compared during this consideration stage.

From Opportunity to Decision Maker: you are "in"

Once converted, the prospect is convinced that the product or service you offer can help them. It becomes an opportunity for your company and finally enters the sales process that you all know. There are two scenarios at this stage.

Scenario n°1: Your opportunity is coming from the awareness stage

You have content and actions throughout the whole process and your prospect knows you thanks to the first phases. That's very good, you are on the right track but do not become complacent, keep beating the iron while it's hot and do everything possible to transform this conversion into customer acquisition.

Scenario n°2: Your opportunity is starting at the evaluation stage

You have not been present in the previous phases of the buyer's journey. His journey with you starts here, so more than half of the journey took place without you. The Buyer may already have made his mind and it will be challenging to change it.

In both scenarios, you must adapt your solution so that your potential customer can adopt it. Make it as simple as possible to choose you, facilitate the buying process, and optimize the buyer's experience! You need to demonstrate your keen understanding of their needs and they need to feel that you are right for them.

Stage 3 of the Customer's Journey: The Decision Stage

From decision-maker to client: closing the deal.

This is the moment that every salesperson dreads... The buyer compares solutions and quotes. You've done your best, you've educated the customer well, their problem is clear, and the solutions are clear.

This is where you reap what you have sown in the previous stages. If it is your company that has guided the prospect along the way you have already won. You are the expert who has educated him, you have convinced him at each stage of his journey and you have adapted your offer to his particular context. We often talk about closing techniques , but the reality is that closing is in most cases decided upstream.

Stage 4 of the Client's Journey: The Loyalty Stage

From client to ambassador.

The prospect has chosen you, he is now your customer.

The prospect trusted you and decided to sign with you. He is committed to you, you must now accompany him and meet his expectations.

Yes, the customer journey continues after the purchase, otherwise, we would just call it a prospect journey.

It's up to you to enchant them to become your most fervent champion and recommend your services to their network.

Always keep your customer's perspective in mind, optimize the user experience, exceed their expectations and you can count on them as your brand ambassadors.

Conclusion: why you should model your Buyers's Journey

This article is generic by design, but it is intended to give you the keys to initiate the work of mapping the customer journey.

Couple this work to the realization of Buyer Personas and the description of their Jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) . Together, these three elements will help you to fully understand your customers.

There are multiple ways to leverage the actionable insights you’ll get from modeling your Buyer’s Journey. If you do it right it will transcend your business, from the inbound marketing strategy to the sales process and the implementation of marketing automation.

¹ Challenger inc

What a B2B Buyers Journey Look Like

Table Of Contents

Why do you need a buyer’s journey map, benefits of a buyer’s journey map, who should be involved in creating the buyer’s journey map, is the buyer’s journey linear, ideal customer profile & buyer persona, buyer journey content mapping, what is a buyer journey.

The Buyer Journey is the buying process that a buyer takes from experiencing a problem they need to solve, to completing the purchase of the solution to the problem.

If you were to ask a friend who just watched a movie, how it went. You would likely hear the highlights of what they saw. They will never give you the minute-by-minute action.

Just as a person shares highlights of a movie, buyers have highlights in their purchasing story.

If you can understand them and map them out better than your competitors you will be well on your way to getting more customers.

Once you understand the Buyer Journey, you will be able to effectively create its cousin, the Buyer’s Journey Map.

What is a b2b buyers journey map?

The Buyer’s Journey Map is a visual representation of the general buying journey stages a buyer goes through when making the decisions on their needs, best fit solution, vendor and price and completing their purchase.

The Buyer’s Journey Map is a key marketing asset used over and over to turn strangers into customers. 

It’s an unfortunate truth that a buyer will start their purchase journey without consulting vendors first. Gartner notes that about 77% of buyers start their journey on their own. 

This could put vendors at a disadvantage as the Customer’s Buying Journey is more of a zig-zag than a straight line. There are several stages a buyer will go through along the way. Each stage will usually require different stakeholders and information will be needed along the way. 

In order to “leapfrog” the customer and take control of the buying experience, the vendor needs to understand the buying experience better than the customer.

The Buyer’s Journey Map is the tool that allows you to visualize the customer buying experience and understand it better than they do. It will help you understand the exact information your buyer is looking for so you can create the content they need to move forward.

• Profound insight 

For many of us, it’s common to think of ourselves and our company first. The Buyer Journey is a tool that allows us to shift to the customer first. With this shift, we can gain profound insight and understanding of the struggles your ICP is experiencing. We can see the size, importance, and priority of buyer struggles.

• Understand stakeholders 

In most business-to-business purchases, there are more than one decision-makers within the organization and the Buyer’s Journey Map illustrates these key players. Each buyer represents needs that are part of the final purchase criteria. These stakeholders join at various stages of the purchase cycle and influence the purchase decisions. 

• Modularity  

The Buyer’s Journey Map helps break down the customer’s perspective of the purchase process. And, gives you an opportunity to optimize at each stage or step.

• Benefits sales 

With a well-thought-out Buyer’s Journey Map, you will have the visibility and confidence to know exactly how to guide your prospects through their buying journey and they will profoundly appreciate the much-needed guidance.

Additionally, marketing will dovetail smoothly into sales. This allows the company to shorten its sales cycle and efficiently utilize its time.

• Appears autonomous

When a buyer is on the Buyer’s Journey Map it provides him or her with the illusion of control. Each step is choreographed and modeled from similar companies’ experiences. This makes their purchase appear to be on their own unique journey.  

• Tangible and visual

Because it’s visual, it can be used to hold meetings and consult with other employees in your company. And the team will have a blueprint to share as they onboard new team members in marketing, sales, and customer service.

• Simplifies content creation

Finally, the Buyer Journey is the map to creating and implementing content for ideal clients. With a well-designed Customer Buying Journey, you will only create content that is valuable and results in a sale.  

In fact, it’s our firm belief that this process is so important that it must be performed before creating your content, videos, worksheets, etc. 

When you don’t do this, it leaves the opportunity to second-guess everything including what is valuable to your ICP.

When we create a Buyer’s Journey Map plan on involving the following people:

• Current customers that fit the Ideal Customer Profile
• Sales Leaders and Sales Representatives
• Customer Service
• Product teams 
• Other key stakeholders

No, it is not but it helps understand the stages, what buyers are struggling with, the content and guidance you should provide and a path that helps make it “easy” for the buyer, a general buyer’s journey. The buyer will jump back and forth between stages and content in the buyer journey and that is fine.

Most often a buyer is triggered to look for a solution to a problem they experience but not sure what the solution to the problem is. So they start researching either the problem or solution options, they may reach out to a current vendor or someone in their network. As they are not experienced in buying this service or product, they don’t know yet, what the path looks like. Providing a clear buyer’s journey, is how you can help them make buying easy and become the trusted advisor.

How to create a Buyer’s Journey Map?

When you are ready to create your Buyer’s Journey Map the process is straightforward. It should not take more than three weeks to complete. 

First, you interview your ideal clients. In these interviews, you will discover what their buying journey was like. You’ll use their experience to create the structure of the Buyer’s Journey Map. When interviewing clients, we have an excellent resource here (link to lead magnet) with example questions and content.

Second, you’ll create a list of content or a Content Map to show you what pieces of content to create for each stage of the buyers journey:

• Problem Identification
• Solution Exploration
• Requirements Building
• Supplier Selection
• Validation / justification

Finally, you’ll take that information and create the actual Buyer’s Journey Map.

Relevant articles

6 Important B2B Email Nurture Flows to guide your buyer through their buyers journey

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There's a world where B2B buyers ditch the traditional approach to engaging with vendors. Rather than go through the sales process, they craft informed buying decisions by taking advantage of self-service portals and other digital commerce tools.

It's really tough to imagine that reality right now. But thanks to a wave of tech-savvy buyers and the lingering impact of the pandemic, it's rapidly becoming reality.

Fully 90% of B2B leaders say the demand for digital B2B buying experiences has increased, according to recent research from Lucidworks and Google Cloud . Translation: time spent with sales reps is less important now.

The winds of change are a-blowin', and B2B companies must adapt or risk getting swept away.

That digital revolution harbors immense opportunity for those who embrace cross-functional alignment and unwavering customer-centricity. With the right steps, agile teams can seamlessly collaborate across Marketing, Sales, and IT to build buyer-centric experiences.

Here's how to get started.

Recognize How the B2B Buyer Persona Has Evolved

It's been some time since buyers passively participated in the sales process. Today's B2B buyers are research powerhouses who seek decision-making autonomy.

Driven by a younger generation that's comfortable navigating online landscapes, they crave self-service tools, comprehensive information, and the freedom to explore at their own pace.

Unfortunately, the current B2B digital landscape doesn't quite meet expectations. Our recent research revealed that only 24% of respondents were "very satisfied" with their company's digital buying experiences.

That gap between expectation and reality presents a golden opportunity for improvement. The report identified priority areas of improvement to bridge the gap:

• Limited search functionality. having to rely on poor-quality or limited search functionality is like trying to access resources at a library with an outdated catalog. Your buyers are going to struggle with finding relevant products efficiently, and they'll waste time with clunky interfaces, inaccurate results, and lack of filters for specific needs.
• Lack of personalization. Today's reality is that everyone expects a touch of "me-time." Why would B2B buyers be any different? When faced with generic content and recommendations, they feel they are ignored and their individual needs overlooked. Lack of personalization creates a disconnect and disengagement.
• Inconsistent product information. Imagine the confusion B2B buyers face because of inconsistent product information. From incomplete specs to missing details and conflicting data, faulty product info breeds frustration and distrust, making it extremely difficult to make informed decision-making.

Those pain points aren't just minor annoyances. They're roadblocks to conversion and satisfaction. By addressing them directly, you'll win over buyer hearts and unlock the true potential of your B2B digital experiences.

Four Tips for Addressing B2B Buyer Pain Points

1. sharpen your search.

Don't wait for buyers to struggle their way through your search bar. By implementing AI-powered search functionalities, you can start to understand buyer intent and deliver relevant product suggestions even before they type.

That process can be finetuned by analyzing historical searches and browsing behavior, ensuring laser-focus and immediate answers.

Advanced filters for precise selection based on various criteria, such as price, technical specs, and compatibility, are also excellent ways to improve the buyer experience.

Finally, let them search using natural language they understand—not rigid product codes—and further build trust by integrating search results with valuable user ratings and reviews.

2. Win with content

Because content comes in many, many forms, the best way to think about it is from the buyer-experience standpoint.

Start by investing in rich product descriptions with high-quality images, detailed specifications, and clearly communicated benefits. Take it to the next step by optimizing those descriptions with relevant keywords for effortless search discovery.

You can also consider developing engaging video content that showcases product features, demonstrations, and real customer testimonials.

Articles and guides that address buyer pain points and offer valuable information about your products and industry can also be helpful.

Finally, recommend relevant content that speaks directly to each buyer's specific interests and needs.

3. Future-proof with self-service

Self-service is all about customer empowerment. Designing a user-friendly portal actually empowers buyers to track orders, manage accounts, and access support resources independently.

You can also offer real-time order tracking for complete transparency and reduced anxiety, something that will go a long way with B2B buyers.

Secure online payments with diverse options and trusted payment gateways, combined with chatbot assistance for basic inquiries, frees up human customer service teams for more complex issues.

4. Go mobile

It shouldn't come as a surprise that we live in a mobile-first world—and people are constantly on-the-go. So, neglecting a user-friendly mobile app is like ignoring half your potential customers. It's a wise decision to develop a dedicated app with intuitive navigation and cross-device functionality.

Go a step further by offering offline functionality for key features, such as product browsing and order tracking. Catering to situations with limited internet access could make or break relationships in the B2B manufacturing and distribution space.

The Customer Is Still King or Queen

Focus on user needs, personalize the experience, and strive to make the buying journey as frictionless and delightful as possible.

Seriously, take a step back and try to imagine the experience from their point of view. By doing so, you'll conquer your B2B buyer pain points and unlock a new era of customer satisfaction and loyalty.

The B2B revolution isn't just about technology. It's about people. At the heart of it all lies the customer, the royalty of your B2B kingdom.

Actively listen to customers' needs, prioritize their feedback, and build genuine relationships.

By fostering a culture of cross-functional collaboration and unwavering customer-centricity, you'll not merely survive the digital revolution but emerge as a leader in the ever-evolving B2B landscape.

More Resources on the Evolution of B2B Buying

The New Customer Journey: How to Reach B2B Buyers

• Here They Come! B2B Marketing in a Gen Z World

How B2B Marketers Can Align With the Self-Directed Buyer Journey

B2B Commerce Needs a 21st-Century Upgrade

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brian Land is VP of sale engineering at search solutions provider Lucidworks .

LinkedIn: Brian Land

Customer Experience Articles

You may like these other MarketingProfs articles related to Customer Experience:

• The Selling Styles B2B Buyers Prefer Most
• Personalization: The Secret Weapon B2B Companies Are Not Using
• How B2B Marketers Can Create Human-Like Interactions in a Digital World | Marketing Smarts Live Show
• Creating Compelling Experiences With Data + AI for B2B Consumers: Salesforce's Neha Shah & Ruth Bolster
• The Psychology of Persuasion: Understanding Customer Behavior in Marketing

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