The New Requirements for Building a Modern B2B Customer Experience

The New Requirements for
Building a Modern B2B
Customer Experience
August 28, 2019

Speakers
Eric Fullerton
Sr. Product Marketing Manager,
Acquia
Jessie Johnson
Research Director, Demand Marketing
Strategies, Sirius Decisions

AGENDA
– Introduction
– Challenges Facing Today’s Buyers
– The Personalization Imperative
– Focus on the Four: Strategy, Design, Delivery &
Return
– Crawl, Walk, Run
– Personalization Customer Success Stories
– B2B Personalization Best Practices

4 © 2018 SiriusDecisions. All Rights Reserved
@siriusdecisions
Executive Summary
• Key issues
• What you will walk away with
• B-to-B buyers have dramatically heightened expectations about their digital
interactions with the companies who seek their business
• To compete eﬀectively, B-to-B marketers need to upgrade their capabilities to
deliver “right time, right content, right channel”
• Creating highly customized, one-to-one interactions with prospects and
customers takes time and eﬀort. A strong digital foundation allows this to scale.
• An understanding of the essential elements of a B-to-B customer experience
• Best practices for personalization programs throughout the buyer’s journey
• Practical, actionable next steps to help your organization compete in the
experience economy

5

“From now on, leading-edge companies—whether they sell
to consumers or businesses—will ﬁnd that the next
competitive battleground lies in staging experiences.”
B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore,
Harvard Business Review

6

81% of Marketers say they expect to be competing
mostly or completely on the basis of CX

@siriusdecisions 7 © 2018 SiriusDecisions. All Rights Reserved
The Challenges Facing Buyers & Sellers
Lack of (or siloed) insights, irrelevant content and/or ineﬀective digital activation lead to
challenges for marketers and buyers.
Content (Visual and Messaging)
Account/Buying Group
Insights
Relevant Digital Buying
Experience

@siriusdecisions
The New Environment
New Buyer’s Journey
• Self-service
• Content-focused
• Digitally delivered
• Non-linear
Adopting technologies and approaches that can meet new and changing trends is
critical to program success
Companies must support four elements of the new buyer’s journey reality

The Connected Buying Experience
© 2019 SiriusDecisions. All Rights Reserved
Let’s Connect
Source: SiriusDecisions 2018 Global CMO Study
#1 priority to
implement in next
2 years
29%
Deliver informed and
connected experience

The Personalization
Imperative

@siriusdecisions
The ROI of Personalization
“Demand-gen strategy that includes persona-based personalization and
customization yields 2x the average sales pipeline.“
- SiriusDecisions
•Engages buyers earlier and more eﬀectively
•Focuses messaging, increases precision of targeting
•Creates shared understanding among marketing, sales, and product
•Improves sales productivity

@siriusdecisions
State of Personalization
Organizations are starting to view personalization as more than a buzzword, with investments
and importance increasing over the next 12 months.
Personalization Use
Source: SiriusDecisions 2017 Personalization Study
46%Sales 71% Marketing
Future Spend
49%plan on
increasing their
spend “greatly”
or “signiﬁcantly”
Activities
Pilot Program
• Social Media
Marketing
• Email
• Direct Mail
Full Program
• Web Site
• Online Advertising
• Landing Page

Strategy
Goals and Audiences

@siriusdecisions
Deﬁning Personalization Strategy
A set of program elements is required to deliver on the promise of the four R’s, with
each element being integral to eﬀective personalization.
Right Strategy
Goal Setting
Audience
Segmentation
Right Design
Content Strategy
Data Usage
Right Delivery
Delivery Mechanism
Mix
Rules
Timing
Right Return
Measurement and
Reporting
The right goals and
audiences for a
personalization
approach
The right types and
amounts of content
and data needed to
reach your audience
The right ways and
the right times to
deliver a
personalized
experience
The right metrics to
understand the
performance of
personalization
within a program

@siriusdecisions
Strategy: Targeted Audience Segmentation
Personalization is often thought of at the individual, one-to-one level, but it can also occur at
broader levels until suﬃcient individual contact data is collected.
Market
Account
Buying Center
Market: Multiple companies cluster
around a common market segment
attribute such as industry, geography,
or company size
Account: The buying entity – where
the contractual relationship exists
Buying Center: A function or
department that the buyer persona is
associated with
Buying Group: A collection of
personas involved in the solution
buying process
B-to-B Buyer Audience Echelons
Persona
Persona: An individual, typically
characterized by job role
Buying Group

16 ©2018 Acquia Inc. — Confidential and Proprietary
CRAWL
Lower effort, fast results
These are what you
can start with immediately
(from a content AND data
standpoint). They are low
effort, with varying impact
and fast results.
WALK
Requires more content &
data but higher impact
These require additional
content and more data for
further defined segments. They
are medium to high effort, with
corresponding impact.
RUN
More time & complexity,
highest impact potential
These require additional
content, more personalization
rules, and more data for further
defined segments. They are
high effort, with
high impact -- over an extended
period of time.
A 3 Step Approach to Personalization Success

Geolocation
Marketing
Campaigns
Visit Frequency
Browsing Behavior Pages Viewed Known Information
Device/System
Completed Events
CRM Integration
Cross-Channel
Behavior
Combination of
Above
CRAWLWALKRUN

Design
Content and Data

@siriusdecisions
The SiriusDecisions Persona Framework
•
To drive website messaging, content and campaigns, organizations should align
around a common understanding of target buyers and their needs.
Functional Attributes
Job Role Common Titles
Position on
Organizational Chart
Buying Center Firmographics
Emotive Attributes
Initiatives Challenges Buyer Need Lexicon
Decision Process Attributes
Buyer Role Engagement Level Decision Drivers
Behavioral Attributes
Content Asset Types Interaction Types Watering Holes

@siriusdecisions
1. Loosening of the
Status Quo
Vendor
Selection
Phase
Solution
Phase
Education
Phase 2. Committing to
Change
3. Exploring Possible
Solutions
4. Committing to a
Solution
5. Justifying the
Decision
6. Making the
Selection
PERSONA
INFORM: Connect the persona with the
business issue
TRIGGER: Pinpoint the idea or concept
that will persuade persona to take action
BENEFIT: Explain how solution can meet
the persona’s need or solve a problem
DIFFERENTIATE: Illustrate how your
solution is unique from other alternatives
BUSINESS CASE: Offer investment
rationale for persona’s decision criteria
CONFIRM: Reinforce the vendor choice
via peer testimonials
Thought
Leadership
Solution
Category
Value Story
Solution
Differentiation
Financial
Justification
Decision
Validation
Business Issue
(Organization Value Proposition)
Value Statements Content Type
Using Personas to Map and Create Messaging

@siriusdecisions
Data Must-Haves for Personalization
Must-Have
• Contact Information
• Permissions
• Account Name
• Industry
• Country
• Job Role
• Products Sold
• Buying Center Goal
• Target Product/Solution
Should-Have
• Contact Engagement History
• Job Title
• Buying Cycle Stage
• Buying Group
• Buying Group Role
• Opportunities in Pipeline by Sales Stage
Nice-to-Have
• Relationship Status
• Net Promoter Score
• Competitive Environment

@siriusdecisions
Sourcing the Data
Unify internal intelligence with data acquired from vendors to form a complete picture of the
targeted accounts, their actions and anticipated next steps.
Proﬁle Data
Activity Data
Derived Data
Marketing and Sales
Platforms
Organization Platforms
• Marketing automation platforms (MAP),
sales force automation (SFA) systems
• Web content management
• Contact data management
• Billing
• Customer care
• Contracts
• Event management
• Social listening
• Sales asset management
• Order entry
• Product portal
• Internet of things platforms
• Intent monitoring
• Predictive analytics
• Enterprise data warehouses,
data marts
• Business intelligence visualizations

Delivery
Rules and Timing

@siriusdecisions
Delivery: Determining Mechanism Mix
To identify the right technology implementation, personalization channel needs must be based
on audience consumption behavior.
Sales Led
Sales-led delivery of
content created for
multiple personas or
segments
Discovery
Availability of multiple
versions of content for
self-discovery
(i.e. resource center)
Single Channel
Delivery of
personalized
experience through a
single channel or tactic
Multi-Channel
Delivery of a
personalized
experience across two
or more channels

@siriusdecisions
Personalizing the Mix
Direct Mail
• Create interactive
touchpoints outside
of digital that are
still measurable by
using PURLs
○ Engages members
of the buying group
at key conversion
points with material
items that drive
traffic to
personalized pages
Email
• Trigger
personalized emails
in real time based
on buyer behavior
○ Maximizing
right-time
messaging keeps
brand top-of-mind
and drives
prospects to the
next-best
interaction
Display Ads
• Target specific
segments with
relevant ads that tie
to specific content
on your site
○ Drives prospects to
your site with focus
and purpose
Website Content
• Personalize
homepage content
to greet/
acknowledge
familiar prospects
as they land on your
site
○ Creates an
immediate
connection from the
moment prospects
start to engage

@siriusdecisions
Delivery: Usage of Rules and Timing
Rules and timing must be considered carefully during planning, as they will determine the
overall execution of any personalization program.
Vs.
Rules
Manual
A pre-programmed set of speciﬁc responses
uses data to indicate target audience action
Programmatic
A machine algorithm determines
response/next action based on a set of
programmed parameters
Timing
Planned interval
Pre-planned ﬂights in one or more channels
over time
Real-time
Delivery of content immediately upon
a target’s action

Return
Performance Metrics

Return: Metrics and Measurement
The SiriusDecisions Metrics Spectrum characterizes marketing metrics in classes that
together provide a comprehensive picture of personalization program measurement.
Counts of actions taken
•Clicks
•Visits
•Bounce rates
Activity
Quantifies the direct
results of actions
•Inquiries
•MQLs
•SQLs
Output
Describes effects against
business goals
•Revenue
•Market share
•Profit
Impact
Preparedness
to perform
•Database size/reach
•Content audit
•Segmentation
Readiness
Class Measure Description

©2017 Acquia Inc. — Confidential and Proprietary©2016 Acquia Inc. — Confidential and Proprietary©2017 Acquia Inc. — Confidential and Proprietary
Collecting data to to build user segments based
on visitors’ size of business
Identifies visitor URL, browsing behavior & Drupal
taxonomy to map visitors to unique product offering.
Creating and tagging content by funnel stage
to segment visitors by stage of funnel they are
in to personalize content
The Result:
Right content to right customer
Shortens B2B sales cycle
Builds more highly qualified leads
Segmenting by Size and Buying Stage HR B2B Software Provider
Revenue: $3 Billion

Integrating Acquia Lift with their Google Analytics instance
for single view of site and profile analytics.
Tracking users segments, personalizations and goals.
Segmenting and tracking site data based on PPI
campaigns and interest in specific insurance types
The Result:
Ability to have an overall visitor profile
Promote USPs for visitors based on their browsing
behavior to increase quotes
Better data on their customers
Acquia Lift & Google Analytics =
Next Level Insights
European Insurance Company
Revenue: $2.5 billion Euro

Pulling data on company name and browsing behavior
from DemandBase into Acquia Proﬁle Manager
Those visitors see a personalized welcome
message, as well as tailored content and CTA’s
Over 200 personalizations running on site
The Result:
Uniﬁed data for 360 customer view
Increased engagement metrics on personalized CTA’s
Leverage Account Based Marketing
Data for Personalization
Cloud-based analytics provider
Sold in 2015 for $600 million

Goal: Empower Marketing team to take control of website
and look at website’s role in marketing ecosystem
Built new site in Drupal 8 leveraging Acquia Lift to
personalize Workfront’s marketing eﬀorts across platforms
The Result:
21% increase in MQLs from targeted audiences
24% increase in content consumed per visit
30% increase in time on site
32% drop in bounce rate
73% decrease in site load time
Replatforming with Personalization
Top of Mind

B-to-B Personalization Best
Practices
Building a Solid Foundation

@siriusdecisions
SiriusDecisions Personalization Deployment Model
The completed SiriusDecisions Personalization Deployment Model allows organizations to
determine a path forward and identify any gaps that must be addressed.
Strategy
Increase audience
engagement and
journey velocity
Three ABM
audiences
Design
Rich content
destination providing
personalized journey
Explicit and implicit
data
Delivery
Multi-channel
Programmatic
Real-time content
delivery
Return
Engagement
metrics:
consumption time,
MQLs
Goal Setting
Audience
Segmentation
Content Strategy
Data Usage
Delivery Mechanism
Mix
Rules
Timing
Measurement and
Reporting

@siriusdecisions
Personalization Best Practices
Build deeper and more eﬀective programs by combining industry best practices (the four R’s)
with what you learn about your target audience through personalization.
• Choose based on best
leverage opportunity,
including existing data,
sales play priority and
content breadth/depth
Right Strategy
• Leverage data and test
channel preferences
• Mix inbound/ outbound
• Rationalize
technologies across
multiple channels
Right Delivery
➕
• Must meet audience
interaction and
personalization channel
requirements
• Proven content
• Eﬃciency via
primary/derivative asset
approach
Right Design
➕
• Study interactions over
time
• Target content
consumption data and
email opens/clicks
• Look beyond activity,
output to impact
Right Return
➕

Personalization Capabilities
Content, Technology, Measurement

@siriusdecisions
Web Conversion Optimization: Drivers and the State of the Web
The constant evolution of technology and increase in data availability have raised
the users’ expectations of what a good website provides.
WCO
Data Availability
Increased access to internal
and third-party data enables
and requires increased
personalization and targeting
from Web sites
Evolving Technology
The rapid change in WCM
and supporting technology
continuously shifts the
baseline of what good
websites can provide
User Expectations
The evolving technology and
availability of data have raised
the expectations for the user’s
experience

ACTION ITEMS
- Ensure organizational buy-in, including interlock between
teams
- Complete the SiriusDecisions Personalization Deployment
Model to ensure key elements are understood
- Focus on the four R’s: strategy, design, delivery and return
- Understand how personalization is being deployed and how
buyer interactions are impacted
- Work with marketing to identify target audiences and relevant
content based on journey mapping

UP NEXT:
Don’t miss part 2 & 3 of our 3-part webinar series:
PART 2:
The New Requirements for Personalizing Your Modern B2B
Customer Experience | September 10, 2019 @ 10:00AM ET
PART 3:
The New Requirements for Optimizing Your B2B Customer
Experience | September 19, 2019 @ 10:00AM ET

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