With the buyer journey, you bring the entire customer journey into focus

The different stages of the buyer journey.

Actually, you can think of it this way: the buyer's journey is similar to the customer journey. With the customer journey, we focus on the phase that the visitors are in. Is it the visibility, interest or connection phase, and what message can we then best use to guide these individuals to the next stage of the journey?

With the buyer's journey, things are different. The stages mentioned above also apply here, but here we look more at the visitor's motivations. What is the visitor's underlying pain for which a solution is sought. And then when they finally choose a product or service, is this pain resolved? Or has something changed along the way that caused them to choose a different product or type of solution after all?

what does the buyer's journey look like?

Maybe this still sounds a little vague. That's why we'd like to give you an example. Imagine you are the owner of a start-up that has had an increase in applications over the past year. The problem is that you don't have anyone to handle these applications and so opportunities are left unfulfilled. Therefore, you are looking for a new employee. You have created a job profile and you are going to post a job opening. But where?

Using Google, search for the best platform to post a job. Search term: job posting. First hits? Indeed, monsterboard, the national job board, job search.com and what's that? "Looking for extra hands within your organization? We work on a freelance basis and take the work off your hands!" And so you end up with a company that actually offers exactly what you are looking for.

See what happened along the way? That's exactly what the buyer's journey is.

Problem: You need extra hands to pick up work.
The solution available for this is to hire an employee.
This can be done by posting a job vacancy on an online platform, among others.
But! During this search you found out, because a company advertises in the right place with the right message, that a less obvious solution is also possible.

don't miss opportunities

Not everyone responds to this buyer's journey in the right way. As we mentioned earlier, the reason someone chooses your product or service may be different from the reason they initially enter the market. Common for companies is that they advertise their USPs. Reasons for choosing the product or service for the company. But by doing so, you miss out on potential customers. Customers who may not yet be ready for these USPs, but are ready for the solution to their pain. That's why it's important to research what potential customers' motivations might be for coming into the market and respond precisely to them.

We keep talking about surveys, but how do you actually do that? We'll go into that in more detail now. How do you make sure the message in your ads matches the stage from the buyer's journey.

Run an analysis on this and you can draw an immediate conclusion. Based on this, you'll know exactly how to set up your ad. Most likely this will not even involve USPs. Pain points and solutions. That is what triggers! Those USPs will come later.

difference B2B and B2C

The buyer's journey and the questions in your survey, differ for B2B and B2C. Why. Chances are that in a business, not the owner of the business is the reason a business comes to your product or service. Are you a provider of mental health training in the workplace? Then chances are a company's HR manager or office manager will contact you about services. In contrast, B2C. Are you looking for new shoes? Then you are the one buying these shoes and most likely wearing them.

the buyer's journey in b2b

Let's give you a clear example of such a situation. We take coffee in the workplace. We dare say that every company in the Netherlands has an on-site coffee supply. But not at every company are the employees to speak about the quality of this coffee. Imagine that the employees within your organization do not like the coffee. Do you then report this to anyone? And to whom?

The person to whom you reported this will then start looking for a new coffee supply. Where it becomes interesting is to know what this person will be looking for. If it is the financial manager of a company, then the cost of the coffee facility will play an important role. But perhaps the office manager cares about the service of the coffee supply, or whether the coffee machine looks luxurious.

So adapt your message!

So depending on which person in the company makes the "decision," a different message in both ads and on social media or the website will trigger. So in this example, if you start using the great taste of your coffee in expressions, it won't do much good. This is important to employees, but they will not make the final decision.

If the coffee supplier's research shows that the decision is mostly made by office managers and they find service most important, then service is what should be used in the expressions!
This is exactly why the buyer's journey is so important.

beyond advertisements

We have mostly talked about the message in ads. Ads through search engines. But of course this goes much further. To trigger the target audience in the right ways you will need to spread the message through all channels. Think about Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and maybe you are active on other platforms as well! When you really know who your target audience is and which pain points are most common, you also know which message triggers the most. By focusing on this on your social media channels, you will attract the right people and bind them to your brand.

mastering this journey

We've given you a lot of information in this second part of our blog series. The buyer's journey has hopefully become a little clearer to you. With this information, you can get started. Start advertising with the right message. You respond to the target audience's pain points. That way you can be sure to trigger your potential new customers. Because be honest, don't we all want our problems solved?

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. We would be happy to explain in a personal conversation how you can optimize this buyer's journey within your organization!