It's Been Emotional The role of emotion in B2B decision making It's Been Emotional The role of emotion in B2B decision making “Most of us think of ourselves as thinking creatures that feel, but we are actually feeling creatures that think” Dr Jill Bolte Taylor A show of hands Who thinks they make their business decisions based on cold, hard facts? Business value perceptions hardly vary between brands n = 3,000 / Source CEB & Motista Survey Only 14% see real difference between suppliers and value this enough to pay for it n = 9,000 / Source CEB 2009 Customer experience Survey So how do we make decisions? If not facts, then what? And how? You cannot control your brain... #DressGate and other oddities 1. Optical illusions 2. Selective attention Doctors cannot control their brains! The Elephant and the Rider Logic plays second fiddle Phineas Gage A medical (and psychological) marvel Iowa Gambling Task The interplay between emotions, risk and reward Risk aversion is on our motherboard Risk and reward in B2C vs B2B Burgers and promotions Personal value has twice the impact of business value on purchasing decisions n = 3,000 / Source: CEB & Motista Survey; CEB analysis The riskier the decision, the more we look for emotional connections n = 3,000 / Source: CeB/Motista Survey. 70% of people who see personal value will buy and pay a higher price vs 22% and 8.5% respectively for those who don't see personal value n = 3,000 / Source: CEB & Motista Survey Who's doing it? HP, Cisco, Xerox, Caterpillar, Microsoft, Google, IBM, Salesforce etc Focus on the experience Get people to trust you with their risk The path ahead • 90% of Forbes Global 500 execs say experience is the new B2B battleground • Forbes and Gartner found that experience will be the key differentiator in B2B for the foreseeable future • Forrester report a 6 times better CAGR for experience-focused businesses • Forrester report that improving experience is the top priority for 72% of businesses When you get it right Willis Towers Watson – longer read times and higher volumes of quality leads Cisco – 5x readership and 7x engagement levels Bloomberg – More sign-ups, valuable reader insights, better conversion rates Allianz GI – From nobody engaging to 5 minute read times "By putting our clients behaviour and preferences at the centre of what we’re doing, we are creating more of what clients want and less of what they don’t" *Tom Hughes, VP Marketing Allianz UK and Northern Europe* Engage the human being behind the role • Engage prospects emotionally • Build trust to overcome perceived risk • Think about the experience you provide first Thank you for listening If you're interested in finding out more: @TurtlNick nick@turtl.co
