Whether you’re a B2C or a B2B organization, the value of personalization has never been higher. Still, many B2Bs are failing to deliver experiences that go beyond a one-size-fits-all approach to make customers feel valued and known. 92% of marketers say prospects expect personalized experiences, yet only 27% of B2B customers say companies generally excel at meeting their standards for overall experience.
So how do you identify opportunities for B2B website personalization?
Identify your main website conversion goals.
Understand what measurables you’re trying to reach through your website. Your website’s main purpose should be to keep visitors engaged and encourage them to stay longer on your site and move toward conversion. Ask yourself – “Why do we need a website and what do we want to achieve from it?”
When defining goals and key performance indicators (KPIs), they should be SMART – specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Common quantifiable goals and KPIs for B2Bs may be request for quotes, average order value, clicks on specific links, and so on. If you’re not sure where to start, you can find inspiration for KPIs to track here: https://kpilibrary.com/
Identify your primary audiences for segmentation.
Alright, so your goals are defined. But before you can implement any personalized marketing, you need to decide who to target. Ask yourself – “Who are our most valued audiences?”. Focus on just one or two of your top segments, informed by your customer personas and ideal customer profile, and what differentiates them from the rest.
Remember, your selected audiences should benefit from and demonstrate an advantage to delivering a specific message or experience. The messaging and delivery of personalization should speak directly to the specific audience’s pain points and contexts and be able to support them as they make the decision to do business with you.
Identify opportunities on your website for personalization.
Your website is a key part of a visitor’s first impression. Based on their site experience, new visitors will decide to stay and learn more, or they’ll bounce and leave. Ask yourself – “What areas can we personalize to keep them around longer and persuade them to engage?”.
Consider areas of your website that offer an opportunity to customize content and can provide a unique experience for each target audience. For example, showing tailored messaging, calls to action, hero images, social proof, and other elements that directly speak to the needs of your different audiences. With web personalization, you can communicate these relevant value propositions on your visitor’s first visit and across the entire site.
Develop relevant messages for each target audience.
We’re getting closer. In order for personalization to be successful, you’ll need to create tailored messaging for each target audience.Ask yourself – “What type of content or message would my target audience resonate most with?”
Again, you’ll need to consider what goals you’re trying to accomplish and opportunities on your website to personalize messaging to get them closer to achieving those goals. You don’t need to start from scratch. Often, you already have relevant content such as white papers, case studies, blogs, and other content you can easily personalize or repurpose.
Implementing and scaling personalization.
A great place to start experimenting with web personalization is with your headlines and calls to action (CTAs) on your homepage or a landing page. Create custom messages and value propositions for each audience. Consider using the same terms your audience uses, show industry-related case studies, or provide social proof and quotes by experts in their similar role.
Tools like Optimizely can help you test and optimize content on your page or go as far as making different versions of a landing page with different texts and images. Remember to regularly measure and review analytics to see how your personalized efforts pay off. Continue to personalize each experience or use the final version of the landing page that performs the best!
Remember, personalization starts with knowing your audience.
You can’t rely on a one-size-fits-all approach to marketing. For effective and meaningful marketing personalization – you must have a real understanding of your customers and the ability to reach and persuade the audiences that count.
Website personalization is one of the most important future strategies for B2B marketing. Thankfully, it isn’t too difficult to get started, but you have to take the leap! Review analytics for common user flows, pages with high bounce rates, and landing pages with low conversion rates for inspiration for where to get started.
Armed with the right data, tools, and messaging, B2B companies can develop a holistic marketing and sales strategy that is fully personalized and connects with buyers on a deeper level. Remember, B2B buyers aren’t much different than B2C shoppers. They’re real people on the other end who want actionable solutions to their pain points and problems.
By tailoring your messaging and content to better resonate with each of your target audiences’ needs from end-to-end, you’ll drive more ideal prospects into your pipeline, win, and retain them – while continuing to optimize conversion where it matters rather than for the masses.