Static vs. Interactive
Buyer’s Journey
Static Versus Interactive Content
Buyer’s Journey
“70% of the buyer’s journey is complete before a buyer reaches out to sales.”
~ Sirius Decisions
“Buyers control their journey through the buying cycle much more than today’s vendors control the selling cycle. In a recent survey, 74% of business buyers told Forrester they conduct more than half of their research online before making an offline purchase. This buyer dynamic changes the role of B2B marketing in a fundamental way.”
~ Lori Wizdo, Forrester
Let’s compare Bill’s journey through standard static content, versus interactive content...
STATIC JOURNEY
INTERACTIVE JOURNEY
STATIC
Let’s begin a typical buyer’s journey through static content…
An anonymous visitor clicks on a tweet and lands on an infographic. So far, that’s all we know.
VS INTERATIVE
Over here, let’s compare the static journey with a modern buyer’s experience through interactive content…
An anonymous visitor clicks on a tweet and engages with an interactive
infographic. We know each element he interacts with.
BOTH STATIC & INTERACTIVE JOURNEYS
In both versions of our journey, it’s likely that marketing has placed a cookie on the visitor for retargeting.
BOTH STATIC & INTERACTIVE JOURNEYS
Now the anonymous visitor is retargeted with ads that pick up where his affinity for the infographic left off. He clicks through one of the ads!
STATIC JOURNEY
INTERACTIVE JOURNEY
STATIC
He lands and (maybe/hopefully) downloads a white paper. He’s no longer anonymous as marketing now has his contact record.
VS INTERACTIVE
He lands and engages with an interactive white paper experience. We know every element he interacts with and what percentage he “consumed.” He’s still anonymous at this point.
INTERACTIVE JOURNEY
He loves the content in the interactive white paper and he decides he wants the PDF version as well.
INTERACTIVE JOURNEY
Now he converts from an anonymous visitor to “Bill.”
STATIC JOURNEY
INTERACTIVE JOURNEY
STATIC
In the static content journey, once he completes the form, Bill’s previous interactions are married to his contact information. We know he viewed the infographic and downloaded the white paper.
VS INTERACTIVE
In the interactive content journey, once he completes the form, Bill’s previous interactions are married to his contact information. We know which elements of both the interactive infographic and white paper he interacted with and even how much of the interactive white paper he consumed.
BOTH STATIC & INTERACTIVE JOURNEYS
In both journeys, Bill is added to a nurture campaign in the marketing automation system.
STATIC JOURNEY
INTERACTIVE JOURNEY
STATIC
Bill gets an email offering a static downloadable solution brief PDF.
VS INTERACTIVE
Bill gets an email offering a self-guided interactive needs assessment tool.
STATIC
Bill downloads the static solution brief PDF. That’s all we know.
VS INTERACTIVE
Over in the interactive journey, Bill completes the assessment! We know his personal responses to questions about his needs, pains and challenges.
STATIC
In Bill’s static buyers journey, marketing is capturing page views, emails clicked and downloads. These measurements are “pass/fail,” not providing insight or measurement beyond the views, clicks and downloads.
VS INTERACTIVE
In Bill’s interactive journey, marketing is able to capture Bill’s key behaviors and responses. These are rich insights that illuminate his interactions with the content and make the content itself far more measurable.
STATIC
Back to Bill… after he downloads the solution brief, he might share it with his boss (or, it might sit unopened in his computer downloads folder, forgotten in a matter of moments).
VS INTERACTIVE
In our interactive journey, Bill found the assessment to be very valuable, providing him with a score benchmarked against his peers, and personalized recommendations and best practices. He decides to share the assessment results with his boss.
STATIC
Bill receives the next generic nurture email in the drip program, a link to the product page.
VS INTERACTIVE
Marketing’s next nurture email to Bill is personalized based on his previous responses in the assessment.
STATIC
Bill clicks through and reads the product page.
VS INTERACTIVE
Bill clicks through and uses a solution builder tool. Behind the scenes, marketing continues to capture all his inputs and responses.
STATIC
Bill (maybe) sends a link of the product page to his colleagues.
VS INTERACTIVE
Bill shares the solution builder results with his colleagues.
STATIC
In our static journey, Bill bubbles up to the sales team. Sales can see that Bill has viewed some pages, clicked some emails and downloaded some documents. They reach out to learn about Bill and qualify him.
VS INTERACTIVE
In our interactive journey, Bill bubbles up to the sales team as an active lead. Sales can see Bill’s interactions with the white paper, assessment and solution builder, and can see he’s likely qualified based on his responses. Sales reaches out to contact Bill and begin the conversation, starting at his point of interest and current state.
STATIC
After their call, sales sends Bill some more product info and an ROI whitepaper.
VS INTERACTIVE
After their call, sales sends sends Bill an interactive ROI calculator.
STATIC
Sales waits a few days then reaches out to Bill to see if he read through the materials they sent.
VS INTERACTIVE
When Bill interacts with the ROI calculator, the data is captured and surfaced to sales. They can see that the ROI for Bill is pretty compelling.
STATIC
Sales is trying to reestablish communication with Bill. He’s gone dark. He’s been a bit too busy to do the math on the ROI and review the other PDFs, so he’s been avoiding sales.
VS INTERACTIVE
But over in the interactive journey, Bill already knows the ROI because of the interactive calculator. He’s engaged. Bill calls sales. He’s got buying questions.
INTERACTIVE JOURNEY
In the interactive journey, Bill & sales discuss getting started, using an implementation configurator together. Over in the static journey, sales is still trying to get back in touch with Bill.
INTERACTIVE JOURNEY
Bill got a lot of value from his meeting with sales and was able to learn more about the solution and implementation details. He shares the new information with his boss and colleagues.
INTERACTIVE JOURNEY
Bill is thinking and planning.
INTERACTIVE JOURNEY
Bill is talking with his boss about implementation details and program goals.
INTERACTIVE JOURNEY
Bill talking to procurement and doing legwork.
STATIC JOURNEY
INTERACTIVE JOURNEY
STATIC
Back in our static journey, sales finally gets Bill on the phone. He’s ready to (maybe) pick up back where they left off the conversation. Now, where were they???
VS INTERACTIVE
In our interactive journey, Bill had a great content experience. He had a relevant experience with sales. Bill gained team buy-in by demonstrating value through the assessment, solution builder, calculator and implementation planner. Bill is ready to buy!
INTERACTIVE JOURNEY
Bill says yes to sales!
INTERACTIVE JOURNEY
The interactive content experience:
- Supports the modern buyer's desire for self-discovery
- Engages the buyer with content that feels personalized, relevant and useful
- Helps sales start the conversation at the buyer's point of interest
- Provides rich insights and measurements for marketing
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