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How Buyers Buy in 2015:
Psychology, Technology, and B2B, Oh My!
Ka#e Martell Co-­‐Founder, CMO, Cintell @Ka%eMartell Hi, I’m Katie Martell
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Co-Founder, CMO at Cintell
Career B2B marketer
Not a psychologist
[email protected]
@KatieMartell
linkedin.com/in/katiemartell
Understand your buyers. Be customer-centric.
Now in private beta: www.cintell.net
3 Agenda
The next 45 minutes of your day:
5 Psychological Shifts
in Today’s Buyer
Marketing to
Today’s B2B Buyer
What Makes Buyers Buy?
Today’s Buyer
Social Changes Emo%onal Changes Technological Changes 4 “People buy...
5 to elevate their emo#onal state, whether by removing a nega%ve, sa%sfying aspira%ons, or gaining a posi%ve. They are solving and improving both prac%cal and emo%onal problems and situa%ons. And even purely prac%cal purchases are strongly influenced by an emo#onal overlay of things like self-­‐iden%ty, belonging, obliga%on, or boredom.”
6 The pervasiveness
of technology:
7 The Average American
household has
internet connected
devices.
6
8 More than
of marriages
between
2005-2012
began online
1
3
Pew Research Center 9 In 2004, Youtube didn’t exist. Now
4,000,000,000
videos are viewed every day.
YouTube 10 2
3
of Americans own a smartphone
Pew Research Center 11 “The hunt for
happiness has
evolved.”
12 Psychological Shift #1
Innovation optimism
Companies that win today
excite consumers and satisfy
their craving for new
13 Brands that incorporate
technology and innovation are
viewed as smarter, cooler, and
more consumer-centric.
14 Heritage can be baggage
“Tried and true” is simply tired and old to today’s consumers
15 Psychological Shift #2
Consumer empowerment
Consumers know the influence
they have with brands, and it’s
permanently affected their
expectations with businesses.
16 1,000,000,000,000
conversations going on about brands in the US annually
-Keller Fay Group
17 Consumer empowerment
Consumers know the influence
they have with brands, and it’s
permanently affected their
expectations with businesses.
18 Psychological Shift #3
Faster Ways of Thinking
“Our sense of time, ability to focus,
and capacity for attention have
shifted gears.”
19 Our Malleable Minds
•  SCAN rather than read
•  Bombarded by constant interruptions
•  Crave stimulation
•  Easily distracted
•  Less tolerance for ambiguity
20 Continuous Partial Attention
We’re more anxious about keeping track
of all this information, and an expectation
that we will be available around the clock,
robbing us of focus.
21 It takes an average of 64 seconds
to recover your train of thought
after an email interruption.
-PsyBlog
More than 68% of adults
who own multiple devices
use 2+ screens to “graze”
unrelated content.
22 Mountains of information
Memorization and precision are less
essential – it’s easy to check facts and
spelling. We are trained to scan and
process mountains of information quickly.
23 Psychological Shift #4
Symbol power
Consumers do not make
decisions logically and
consciously
24 The power of symbols
Today, our interruption-driven,
overstimulated, distracted
consumers have less ability to
focus and let conscious brain
space make decisions.
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Red = excitement
White + Pink = Sincerity
Brown = competence and ruggedness
Purple = sophistication
26 Outperformed green by 21%
-Hubspot
27 “Organic”
23% more $$$
28 Our brains simplify numbers
We subconsciously latch on to the first
number in a price tag.
$299 = $200
29 Fusiform face area
How the brain processes
images of faces, tied
closely to emotion.
30 Psychological Shift #5
New ways of connecting
Buyers are more guarded, but
seek connection.
31 High-tech, low-touch
Consumers seek a sense
of connection and
belonging – something
they increasingly find
online and through brands.
32 Part 2: Marke#ng to Today’s B2B Buyer 33 34 The average B2B
buyer has completed
57% of the purchase
process before
engaging a vendor’s
sales team.
- CEB/Google
35 “The nature of marketing
has exploded from an
ancillary communications
function to the Grand
Central Station of
customer experience.”
36 37 By 2020 the B2B
ecommerce market will be
twice as large as the B2C
market — $6.7 trillion vs.
$3.2 trillion.
- Frost & Sullivan
38 39 • 
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Petroleum and petroleum products
Pharmaceuticals and druggist
sundries
Durable goods
Motor vehicles, parts and supplies
Electrical and electronic goods
Machinery, equipment and supplies
40 73% of B2B
buyers prefer a
website to a
salesperson.
41 Content marketing:
Everybody’s doing it.
42 Consumers are 5x
more dependent on
content than they
were 5 years ago.
- Nielsen
43 75% of B2B buyers rely
more on content to
research and make B2B
purchasing decisions than
a year ago
- DemandGen Report
44 Consumers engage with
11.4 pieces of content
prior to making a B2B
purchase.
- Forrester
45 Brands that simplify consumer
decision making and the purchase
process have customers who are are
86% more likely to purchase and are
115% more likely to recommend them.
-CEB
46 Stop making buyers jump over hurdles.
47 “No one will ever
complain that you’ve
made things too simple
to understand.”
-Ann Handley
The Full Buying Committee
Influencer Decision-­‐maker End-­‐user 48 49 Buying Scenarios
SiriusDecisions
50 Today, consumers are more
likely than ever to be swayed
by emotion rather than logic.
51 Selling to stressed
out buyers:
•  Prone to inertia
•  Rely more heavily
on trusted experts
•  Highly sensitive to
complexity
52 Emotion influences the
B2B buy even more than
logic and reason.
- CEB
Part 3: What Makes Buyers Buy?
54 PAIN
FEAR
GAIN
55 Buyers are 3X more
likely to move away
from pain than
move towards
potential gain.
- Tim Riesterer
56 Gain is a leap of faith
57 What’s In It For Me?
58 125% Increase
59 A
B
236% Increase
60 Suspicion + Doubt
61 “Thought leadership is all
about having the answers
to the biggest questions
on the minds of your
buyers, and providing your
unique perspective on
these hot topics.”
- Michael Brenner
62 Basic Human Needs:
#1 To grow.
#2 To contribute beyond ourselves.
63 Reciprocal altruism
64 Business = the antithesis of humanity?
Fewer than 3 in 10 Americans say that
corporate America’s reputation is positive.
65 Be Transparent
“People don’t buy what
you do, they buy why
you do it.”
- Simon Sinek
66 Deep down, buyers
want to be able to relax
their guard and buy
and love products
without vigilance.
Thank you!
[email protected]
@KatieMartell
linkedin.com/in/katiemartell
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