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INTERVIEW WITH

James McCormick

Vice President of Marketing

B2B Customer Acquisition: The role of human engagement in a world of digital-first enterprise marketing

Next generation digital measurement offers the ability to really understand the digital body language of prospects and customers.

Do metrics tell the full story for marketers?

Marketers are drawn towards hard metrics. Click-throughs and conversions are common measures of success, but this tells you what happens and now why its happening. Marketers also need to measure ‘between the clicks’ to understand the why. What exactly are they doing on your page before they click; and what is the quality of the creative they are digesting? This is where AI and the development of marketing technology has an exciting role to play. Next generation digital measurement offers the ability to not only understand the digital body language of prospects and customers, but also the parts of the creative experience that have the most impact. AI is already starting to understand where buyers are in their purchase journey, what their common frustrations and signals of intent outside of clicks or form submissions. Over time these learnings will become more sophisticated and enter a loop of continual improvement. So although we are only in the first phase of being able to deliver automated yet empathetic engagement, the platforms to move forward will be with us sooner than we might think.

Understanding a customer journey is beneficial, there’s no doubt about it.

Is understanding a customer journey the key to success for marketers?

Understanding a customer journey is beneficial, there’s no doubt about it. But in recent years, marketers seem to have placed this understanding on a pedestal and become distracted by it. For me, understanding customer intent in the moment it happens is hugely valuable for marketers who want to improve the impact of their work. This is easily done when you can see somebody face-to-face. At a cricket match with the sun beating down on the crowd, a vendor might offer an ice cream to a family looking to cool down. But for a group of adults, with red faces from spending too much time in the sun, that same vendor may offer them a round of cold beers. The vendor understands the context and motivations of the two different purchasers, allowing them to personalise their offering and increase the chances of a successful outcome. In a B2B environment, a successful vendor is one who has a thorough understanding of all the decision makers involved in making a purchase. With this understanding they can serve each decision maker content that is highly relevant and valuable to their particular needs, in the moment that it is most appropriate to do so.

It can be easy to avoid talking about anything external that as a seller, we think could create doubt in a buyer’s mind. But when approached correctly, talking with customers about what is going on in the world and their concerns around it shows empathy - a key pillar of building trust.

JAMES McCORMICK

Vice President of Marketing CREATIVEX

What key focuses should marketers have in 2023?

One key focus for marketers in 2023 should be their use of personalisation. Marketers have recognised the importance of personalisation for sometime now and this has no doubt helped to make the content they serve more engaging. The next step for personalisation that we will see this year is the automation of personalisation, typically based on intent signals. Websites are a great example for this. On most websites a pop-up will trigger after a set period of time, say 30 seconds. It doesn’t take into consideration whether the visitor is having a successful or unsuccessful experience, it simply serves the pop-up. But the latest marketing technology allows us to be far smarter with the use of pop-ups. If a visitor has spent some time reading a particular part of your website, then the pop-up served can relate directly to that. SImilarly, if it looks like a visitor is struggling to find what they are looking for, then instead of a pop-up the website can open up an automated chat dialogue to guide the visitor.

Alongside personalisation, marketers also need to focus on experience quality and relevancy. A large part of being relevant is understanding the world around your customers. A very real example of this is the current economic uncertainty. There is no getting away from the fact that at best, 2023 is going to be a rocky year financially for many people and businesses. It can be easy to avoid talking about anything external that as a seller, we think could create doubt in a buyer’s mind. But when approached correctly, talking with customers about what is going on in the world and their concerns around it shows empathy - a key pillar of building trust. If you’re able to understand their concerns and potential problems that external factors can cause, then you will be in a powerful position to sell your offering. Successfully demonstrate the value of your offering and how it can overcome problems even during uncertain times, and it becomes very hard for a prospect to say ‘no’!