The B2B Decision Making Process – 3 Factors That Effect the Decision

A critical part of any B2B digital marketing strategy is understanding how to map your B2B customer’s decision making process. The B2B buying process is typically known for having multiple stages that must first clear company approvals, budgets, and strategic necessity placed on the product. By mapping your customers decision making process, you can market your product as being more relevant, valuable, and engaging.

3 Factors that Impact the B2B Decision:

1.Customer Psyche

In the B2C sector, many people allow emotional triggers to drive their decisions. While trust is arguable one of the most prolific emotional drives of any product or service, B2B buyers make decisions based on a different set of emotional criteria. Most notably, risk aversion. The B2B buyer is making a purchase that may put his/her career or reputation at stake. If the purchasing decision results in a negative outcome, the effects could have consequences for the person who took the risk, or the entire company. For this reason, trust is a major psychological factor for B2B buyers. The more detailed information you can offer at each stage of the buying cycle, the more trust your prospective buyers will develop in you.

2. Interest Nurturing

In B2B companies, the decision to purchase a product or service is almost always up to more than one person. There’s usually a set of guidelines and definitive criteria in place to measure whether or not a purchasing choice is in the best interest of the company. It is imperative to know what motivates your customers and to nurture their interest. For example, B2B websites usually have fewer visitors than B2C websites. However, the volume of each purchase as well as the lifetime value is usually greater. Compelling slogans and offline brochures may not be enough to establish value, therefore, B2B nurturing may require additional attention that offers more in depth specifics about the product or service.

3. User Experience

A positive user experience can be achieved by merging functional accessibility with a clear information architecture. User experience design can greatly impact the purchasing cycle of any digital marketing campaign and website. It is particularly important for B2B companies to convey information in a concise manner where the audience is able to clearly navigate to the information they want to see. Rather than focusing on a stunning visual appeal, B2B companies should prioritize an informative approach that emphasizes facts and in depth specifics about their product. A great User Experience Design can increase conversion rates as well as generate trust from both new and existing customers.

Developing an understanding of the customer decision process can help you make more informed choices about where to allocate resources. It is especially important because this process usually involves evaluating numerous proposals and possible alternatives before making a decision. The current state of B2B marketing calls for an understanding of underlying goal directed behaviors and choices.