Personalization has long been the domain of B2C. But as the marketing prowess of B2B catches up, personalization and behavioral targeting are becoming conversion tools necessary for growing business-to-business sales online. With powerful conversion features like customizing a customer’s landing page to their relevant interests and can suggesting products or promotions based on their browsing or purchase history, personalization matters.
The potential benefits are huge. These marketing features greatly enhance the user experience and encourage customer loyalty, as well as potentially shortening the sale cycle. There are several ways to use these strategies, each at different steps of the customer’s buying process.
SEARCH QUERIES
The search query that brought a customer to your site is the first piece of information you’ll learn about them. While it may seem rather basic, it’s actually extraordinarily helpful to marketers. If a customer searches for a certain product you offer, you’ll be able to personalize their landing page to directly promote that product. Knowing what brought a particular customer to your site will help you offer them exactly what they need at the perfect time. As a bonus, if the customer finds what they’re looking for and remains on your site, your SEO gets a boost. Look for an eCommerce platform with auto-suggest and advanced search functions – as well as one that lets you filter and layer navigation parameters with an integration or natively.
ON-SITE ACTIVITY
Once the customer is on your site, a personalized eCommerce system can track which pages the buyer visits and how long they stay on these pages. This will give you a clearer idea of what they’re after. There are behavioral marketing products available that will update your site in real-time, showing more personalized content for each user the further they progress through your site’s structure. Intuitive software can determine what features they look for (i.e. cost-effective, lifetime guarantees, free shipping, etc.) and suggest products that suit their profile.
TARGETED ADS
Should the customer leave your site, there are ways to retarget their attention to your brand and keep your company front of mind. Have you ever seen a Facebook ad for something you’d just searched for? This is retargeting. B2B companies can use this to populate web pages with your advertisement, and even offer promotions or discounts to those who have visited your page.
EMAIL CAMPAIGNS
If a customer subscribes to your newsletter or has purchased from you in the past, you can use everything you know about them to send highly personalized emails. If they’ve displayed interested in a certain product, you can email promotions or seasonal discounts. For current or past customers, you can modify your email campaigns specifically for their company or their contract.
These new and exciting techniques will help B2B marketers generate customer-specific marketing plans, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty. If business buyers are immediately supplied with the information or product they’re looking for, they’re also more likely to follow through with the purchase, dramatically shortening the purchase cycle. There are a variety of software platforms available that automate these strategies, so find one that matches your company’s needs and watch your customer conversions skyrocket.
