“Communication is key for any global business.” – Dame Anita Roddick, businesswoman, activist, and Founder of The Body Shop.
In the digital age, it’s no surprise that the desire for instant communication is on the rise. Gone are the days of waiting and buffering — information is at our fingertips, and questions answered with the click of a button or a thumb scroll.
Automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML) capabilities are growing every day, and expecting immediacy has become second-nature — and it’s not exclusive to consumers. According to Salesforce, business buyers increasingly want an ‘Amazon-like’ experience; and 67% said they would switch vendors to receive a consumer-style experience.
B2B technology and SaaS marketers: it’s time to embrace real-time response culture.
Why we need high-speed responses
Be honest. How long does it currently take your team to respond to a lead? According to Drift, only 7% achieve an average lead response time of five minutes or less. While five minutes might seem quick, consider the B2B buyer journey and what else could be achieved in that time. At the top of the funnel, your potential buyers are conducting research. And lots of it. You’re one of hundreds, thousands even, of potential vendors. As many as 96% of first-time website visitors aren’t there to make a purchase, according to Marketo. So, if they do make an inquiry, you need to respond immediately and accurately before they leave your site.
And if they don’t make an inquiry — like most website visitors won’t — you need to be able to identify the visitor to reach out while they’re still engaged.
B2B buyers in the digital age
Your communications strategy for 2021 and beyond should cater to the needs of the modern-day buyer. With a central focus on real-time engagement, made easy through automation, long gone are the days of “we’ll respond in 48 hours”. If you’re not talking to web visitors and prospects within the first few seconds, your competitors will be.
By simply capturing your web visitors, and through intelligent automation, re-routing their details into an email workflow, CRM alert or directly to a stakeholder in your business, you can engage and follow up in real-time; in seconds, in fact. And many are already doing just that.
It’s time to assess your current lead response time. If it’s not hyper-fast, it’s not fast enough for digital buyers.
Deliver a ‘better than expected’ customer experience
According to Gallop, 68% of B2B customers are lost because of indifference or perceived apathy. Not because of a poor product, a bad fit, or even a mistake made — but simply because they don’t feel like they matter to you.
For B2B tech and SaaS marketers, delivering exceptional experience is vital to winning, retaining, and maximizing client relationships. Technology uptake is on the rise, which means masses of data intel, larger lead pools, and an increase in valuable opportunities.
Using data intel to enhance the client and buyer journey is a must. Starting with your website, embrace innovative solutions to empower you to deliver customer excellence at every step and at scale.
Capture website visitors (even if they don’t inquire), let innovative technology identify whether they are lead, existing customer, or in play, and then automate and refine your follow up messages to suit – real-time engagement, at the right time, in the right tone.
With an advanced solution in place, a customer-first culture, and measured and applied marketing success, you’ll stand out above competitors; and ultimately achieve business growth.
Automation: helping deliver customer obsession from the outset
For marketers, creating a communications strategy that includes instant or real-time communication is just the beginning. Delivering relevant, timely content and communications that take your buyers on a journey is how and where marketing automation drives success.
Whether your visitor is a brand new lead, a lapsed customer returning to your site, or wherever they sit within your pipeline: effective nurture and intelligent automation are vital to conversion.
According to Omnisend, while automated messages accounted for less than 2% of all email sends in Q3 2020, they still drove more than a third of all conversions. The power of automation is crystal clear, and email automation is just the tip of the iceberg. Think automated responses, nurture campaigns, intelligent personalization, social media, content sharing — and so much more. Instant, consistent, and highly targeted real-time communications, destined for success.
Get discovered first with a seamless UX strategy
Before you devise a customer-first strategy for your SaaS business, you need to ensure your website is up to the challenge. To be able to respond quickly and provide an exceptional experience, you must first drive traffic to your site. Consider how easy it is to discover your business. Are you ranking for relevant keywords and sitting proudly at the top of Google? If so, that’s great!
If not, focus your efforts on earning that top spot. What about when a visitor lands on your site? Is the navigation intuitive? Is it clear what you do? As technology marketers, it’s our job to break-down industry jargon, deliver a delightful on-site experience, and communicate a message that’s instantly understandable to your website visitors.
Web Insights is a highly advanced website visitor automation solution that empowers technology and SaaS marketers to harness the power and potential of their website data. Using intelligent automation algorithms, the solution seamlessly routes website visitor intel across the business and integrates with any CRM system or marketing technology stack for nurture, while simultaneously identifying whether they are a lead, existing customer or lapsed customer.
The powerful solution integrates with all martech automation and CRM platforms, enabling B2B marketers to shorten sales cycles, create outstanding customer journeys, manage data, set up stakeholder alerts, and capitalize on every lead, every opportunity, and prospect – in real-time.
Close more business than ever before and drive results with Web Insights. Real-time engagement, and real-time success.
Meet the author
Rachel Dettmer
Content Marketing Manager
Rachel has over seven years of corporate and award-winning agency experience in marketing and content creation across multiple sectors.