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Improving Sales Outreach based on Buyer Needs and Journey Experiences

Design Research, Customer Journey Mapping

Objectives

A major Product Management Software Company was looking to better understand the buyer journey process from the consumer perspective, and to identify the key decision-makers for procuring new product or software solutions in medium-to-large enterprise organizations, in effort to shape UX design and U.S. marketing and sales outreach initiatives based on customer needs.

 

The focus areas of research included the following:

  • Overall Evaluation Process of New Product or Software Solutions

  • Key Stages and Stakeholders

  • Pain Points and Challenges

  • Key Moments in the Buyer Journey

  • Identifying Personas and Key Factors

"The thing that stood above and beyond [in the software purchase process] was the overall experience of the conversations, like how invested they were in learning what we needed, not imposing what they were selling."

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Research Participant, Enterprise Procurement Executive

Project Meeting

Duration

3 Months​

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Role

Design Researcher

Client Management

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Project Team

Four cross-disciplinary project members

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Process

We interviewed 20 participants that characterized the five critical buyer personas who are the central decision-makers involved in the process of purchasing enterprise work management solutions, and have played a role in the selection and purchase of a new enterprise solution within the last eighteen months.

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Stakeholder and Qualitative Interviews

  • Stakeholder Interviews with VP, Marketing and Sales Leaders to understand research objectives and align on approaches

  • Qualitative Interviews with Senior-level purchasing decision-makers (e.g., VP of IT) of major enterprise organizations

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Participant Whiteboard and Card Sorting Exercises

  • Participant virtual whiteboard exercise to understand the their decision-making and purchasing process(es)

  • Participant ranking exercise to understand priorities in evaluating work management solutions

Learnings

Some of the findings from the research that were subsequently paired with recommendations included the following:

  • Evaluations for new tools or product solutions usually occur when an organization meets a spending threshold, and want to reduce cost or consolidate the number of tools they are using 

  • Vendors who already have a significant footprint within the organization are evaluated with priority

  • Organizations are looking for long-term product partners who will help them meet their unique challenges facing their businesses today and in the future

“I'm not buying [new software] for today, I'm buying the [software company's] roadmap.”

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Participant, VP

Results

​Results led to several new marketing and sales strategies that focused on selling department-specific use cases, and proactively identified and targeted key players at the critical early phases of new tool discovery.​​​

Deliverables

  • Executive Summary (10-page presentation) of key insights and recommendations for stakeholder share-out

  • Detailed Findings Report (65-page)

  • Buyer Journey Map based on customer perspective

    • Key stakeholders, stages, moments, pain points, and challenges in the buyer journey process from the customer’s perspective

    • Opportunities to meet customer needs with proactive approaches

  • Personas (Role-Based)

    • Key purchasing decision-makers and their vendor evaluation criteria paired with outreach suggestions

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