Buyer Journey Mapping: 2023
Mapping the various stages, and touch points, along a customer's journey to a purchase decision allows organizations to better understand buyer needs, personalize content and influence the sales process.
How aligned is your organization’s sales enablement content with its mapped buyer journeys?
One minute insights:
Feedback from sales, marketing or customer success teams are the top data sources sales professionals report using to map their buyer journeys
Awareness (i.e., traffic generation content) is where most sales professionals focus their efforts
Customers interact with written content more than any other type
Case studies, or customer success stories, are the most commonly distributed pieces of content to potential buyers
Customer feedback loops are driving confidence in buyer journey map accuracy
Where do you primarily gather data for mapping the buyer journey? Select all that apply.
The top three (3) data sources used for mapping buyer journeys are feedback from sales, marketing, or CS teams (78%), customer interviews (63%) and CRM data (63%).
Unsure 0% | Other 0%
n = 100
Question: What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned in the process of buyer journey mapping or creating buyer enablement content?
I have learned to use feedback loops to my advantage to refine content strategy and ensure that we are adapting to changes in buyer behavior.
Buyers and sellers focusing most on awareness, with written content still king
36% of sales professionals report they primarily focus their buyer enablement on awareness content for traffic generation. 28% focus on consideration (i.e., lead generation) content.
On which stage (or similar stage at your organization) of the buying journey do you primarily focus your buyer enablement content efforts?
Note: May not add up to 100% due to rounding
Question: What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned in the process of buyer journey mapping or creating buyer enablement content?
It's hard and you have to keep up with it. Content is king and releasing new content to drive the journey isn't simple. The journey, on the one hand for us, is siloing toward LinkedIn, but LinkedIn is making [it] harder, not easier.
The most commonly selected type of content provided to potential buyers during their buying journeys are case studies or customer success stories (71%). 60% report providing product demos, and 55% provide product one-pagers.
Which types of content do you provide to potential buyers during their buying journey? Select all that apply.
Blogs or educations posts 41% | Whitepapers or ebooks 33% | Comparison guides 27% | Pain or waste calculators 21% | Podcasts 10% | Unsure 0%
n = 100
Sales professionals report that potential buyers engage most with awareness content (40%) among their buyer enablement content.
At which stage (or similar stage at your organization) do your potential buyers engage most with your buyer enablement content?
Question: What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned in the process of buyer journey mapping or creating buyer enablement content?
The most important lesson has been recognizing that not all buyers follow a linear, predictable journey. Oftentimes we make simplistic assumptions that customers go through set stages leading to a purchase.
Don't assume every vertical's buy[ing] process is the same. Understand the averages, but having the rep inquire and rediscover throughout the sales process is critical to ensure [the] process is aligned and we are in lock step.
Potential buyers engage most with written content (40%) during their buyer journey. 35% report that their most engaged with content is visual, such as videos or infographics.
What format of content do your potential buyers engage with most doing their buying journey?
n = 100
Note: May not add up to 100% due to rounding
Question: Is there anything else you would like to share about the buyer journey mapping at your organization?
Most customers are reactive, wanting me to solve the problem they have today - right content on the right day is critical.
Engagement metrics are central to judging the success of buyer journey mapping
When evaluating the success of buyer journey mapping, 69% of respondents cite engagement metrics (e.g., time on site, return rate, comments, downloads). Satisfaction metrics (e.g., referrals, NPS scores, etc.) are the least selected option (32%).
Which metrics are most important when evaluating the success of your buyer journey mapping? Select all that apply.
n = 100
Other 1%
Question: Is there anything else you would like to share about the buyer journey mapping at your organization?
Buyer journey mapping (and buyer enablement planning) becomes increasingly important as you move from sales-led to product-led, as it is necessarily a more standardized process which is less reliant on sales reps deciding on what communications are best for the prospect.
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Respondent Breakdown
Note: May not add up to 100% due to rounding.
Respondents: 100 sales professionals who are familiar with their organization’s buyer journey maps