How to Use Customer Behavior Data to Make the Buying Journey Better

Our company looked at over 50 closed deals as part of a two-year study of how content was used in four different businesses. The end result? We were unable to connect eight times out of ten. That is, we only saw a link between engaging with material and the buyer’s journey in 20% of the deals that were closed and won.

Marketing tried their best to match the right content to the right stage of the buyer’s journey, but the results showed that they were mostly wrong. But marketers don’t have to worry about everything being bad.

Here are five reasons why we don’t see the link between material and the buyer’s journey.

As part of our research, we also got information from sales and marketing tools and talked to sales reps about deals they had won. What did we learn?

1. Integration and being seen.

We can’t see how information affects decisions to buy for a lot of reasons. One big reason is that it doesn’t work with sales tools like Gong and Outreach. This shows that there is still a gap between marketing and sales training.

2. The hidden stash.

We learned that each sales person has their own favorite content, which was probably made by marketing and then changed by sales. In particular, we found that successful reps use three to four “go-to” pieces of information to move conversations forward. You need to find out what this is if you don’t already. A favorite case study is something we always found.

3. Customers do lie sometimes.

They mean not to, but it does happen. Understand the buyer’s journey through customer study. Keep in mind that what buyers say and what they do may not always match up.

Our study of how people act online reveals that they interact with material more because they want to than because they need to get information.

4. A buyer goes through at least two stages, but most likely a lot more.

From what sales people have said, each buyer’s journey is different. To keep things simple, remember the 95-5 rule: since only 5% of buyers are in the market, you need at least two different paths for buyers to take.

5. People who want to buy don’t trust your information, so they don’t read it.

Buyers might not believe your information if you work in a certain field. For example, buyers are hesitant when it comes to hacking. Our research shows that personal connections are where they get most of their knowledge. The use of vendor material is only 7/10, and its credibility is only 8/10.

The study’s conclusion is that the buyer’s journey is mostly a way to organize information. We already knew that there isn’t a single buyer trip that works for everyone. It’s not perfect, but it helps us figure out what tools and material to make.

What I learned

The big “aha!” moment came when the real buying process was mapped out. We didn’t find the “holy grail journey,” but we did figure out how to make it better by using both online and personality-based data on how people behave.

Figuring out who was buying what and when was the most important thing that I learned. For example, leaders showed up early in the process but then went away based on their personality type. Champion were there from the beginning to the end of the process. Skeptics often joined the conversation after it was already going on.

Now that we know this, we can make a more realistic buying trip. We can’t fully close the gap between marketing and sales, but we can make it a lot smaller.

The new buyer’s journey: how to use psychology and behavior data to build it

To begin, we need to change our attention from the content that fits the stage to the type of customer who is there. This is a key difference, and as we already said, it’s one reason why customer study isn’t always accurate.

Customers will usually give you a logical answer when you ask them what marketing asset is most useful at what point in the buying process. In this case, they might think that a case study is needed in the middle stage to understand or show the effect on the business.

Even though it makes sense, that’s not how buyers act or how they read or use material in real life. Case studies are good for champions because they help them picture themselves in the situation. To figure out how the answer will affect them or their team. For many, this item is the first step on their journey.

You will need to ask the sales team for help in figuring out who is there and when. Make a map of the real buyer trip in about a dozen closed deals. It should be in your CRM tool, and the sales rep should be able to explain to you at different places in the long sales process what each person in the buying group does.

Then, you’ll use AI tools to guess what kind of person they are. Now it’s time to find out what kind of information they like. To do that, you will need to get information from your marketing tools, like the person’s name, company, and what information, content, or event they interact with (ex. open, download, attend, etc.).

Make up their characters. You now have a link between stages and buyer interests. As a marketer, it will be even easier for you to find the best content for your prospects. Plus, you understand the sales process better than ever.

That should give you enough of a reason to start the process. While there is no perfect answer, there is a chance to get a lot closer to being right, even if it’s still wrong most of the time.