Creating B2B Sales Potential via Digital Customer Journeys

Marietta:
Welcome to Velti’s webinar broadcasted from Amsterdam, The Netherlands! Today’s webinar is a bit different because we are going to explore the B2B market together with our Velti Germany office. Did you know that leveraging digital customer journeys is a game-changer for B2B sales? Let’s check it out in today’s webinar:

We have divided the webinar into 4 parts.
First, I will tell you a bit more about Velti, who we are and what we do and I will introduce you to the challenges of B2B sales following by how to increase Sales Potential.
Then my colleague Eser Dinler our Head of Digital Transformation will join me here in the Studio and he will share his expertise on Digital Journeys in sales areas.
Last but not least. We are very excited to welcome Peyman Jazayeri as our special guest. He is the Head of Sales at Deutsche Telekom in Germany. With his extensive experience in B2B sales and digital customer journeys, we are honored to have him share his insights and expertise with us today.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to type them below and we will come back to it during the Webinar and otherwise after the Webinar in writing.

My name is Mariëtta Robbé Groskamp, Business Development Director Europe and let’s get started!

Velti was founded in the year 2000 and has more than 23 years of experience in the Mobile Marketing area. The main solutions that we offer can be classified into: CVM, Marketing Automation, Gamification, Loyalty, Permission Marketing and WebApps.
The Velti family is ever growing, currently we count more than 140 employees – 50% of which are software engineers ensuring that we are using the latest trends and technologies. The main offices of Velti are in Athens (where you also find the HQ and the development center), Dusseldorf and Dubai. And we have 5 additional sales offices in Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.

Our Velti office in Germany has a dedicated team with extensive expertise in B2B sales among our services.

Some Exciting news! Velti and T-Mobile Netherlands’ innovative loyalty program, PrePaid Surprise, has been nominated for not one but two awards at the 2023 International Loyalty Awards: ‘Best Long-Term Loyalty Initiative’ and ‘Best Use of Customer Analytics/Data.’ The loyalty program has achieved outstanding results in reducing churn rates and increasing ARPU metrics.

Congratulations to the great magenta team!

In the next slide you see an overview of Velti’s footprint which is something we are also very proud of.
Here is an overview of the main clients we are working with. More than 300 clients representing 70 countries, from Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.
Clients such as Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobiles, Vodafone, Etisalat, Henkel and many more.
If you would like to know more about a specific case study, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Today we will discuss How to create sales potential, and we will be sharing an insightful example from the market later on.
Many sales organizations often focus on the wrong prospects, resulting in wasted time and energy. But this issue can be avoided by utilizing the right data and information throughout the sales funnel. Today we will provide an overview for you on data-driven B2B sales and cover the key components such as: accurate data, powerful customer journeys, and ideal timing. But first let’s check out some statistics!

Marketing and sales departments often face challenges with poor data quality in their systems. According to research, 60% of marketers find their own data unreliable, while 40% believe that sales teams lack proper knowledge of their accounts. As a result, it’s no wonder that only 1% of B2B leads convert into customers. With such a low conversion rate, it’s clear that there’s a significant need for improvement in how businesses handle their sales processes.

Now, the level of digital maturity in sales is becoming increasingly important as the business world becomes more digitized. Let’s check out the different levels.
Level 1: Sales teams are still working with paper and print many documents.
Level 2 and 3: Have started, first processes are fully digital.
Level 4 and 5: Are the Innovative companies that work agile and have a digital-first strategy.
Unfortunately, many marketing and sales teams are still operating at lower levels. With the digital wave taking over, companies must act quickly to digitize and automate processes. That’s why it’s time to embrace a digital-first strategy and move towards levels 4 and 5, where innovation is part of the organization!

Now, before we will talk to my colleague Eser, let’s check out how to increase Sales Potential. In today’s world of endless entertainment options, it seems we may be slowly losing our ability to focus. Studies show that our attention span has significantly decreased in the last 15 years, leading some to suggest that even a goldfish has a longer attention span than many humans.

The carrier industry is facing significant challenges in acquiring and retaining customers due to:
Firstly, the carrier industry is becoming increasingly competitive, with new players entering the market and existing players expanding their services.
Then, Traditional sales methods, such as cold calling or direct mail, may not be as effective in engaging customers as they once were. Customers are now more likely to research products and services online before making a decision.
Moreover, Sales teams may be spending too much time on administration, such as data entry and tracking, which can reduce their productivity and effectiveness.
Last but not least, Carriers may struggle with customer churn, where customers switch to a different carrier or provider, due to poor customer experience or lack of engagement.

So why do traditional methods don’t work? That is because:
Traditional sales methods are often limited in reach and may not be able to reach a wide enough audience to generate enough leads or sales.
It is also seen as intrusive and annoying by potential customers. Cold calls and emails may be ignored.
It may not provide the same level of data insights. For example, it can be difficult to track customer behavior and preferences using traditional methods.
And lastly, traditional sales methods are involve time-consuming processes which reduce productivity.
Digital methods, such as edutainment solutions and digital journeys, can help address these challenges. Which provide a more engaging and efficient sales process, and a leveraging data insights to better understand the customer.

So, let’s explore Edutainment Marketing!!
Edutainment marketing is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: education-based marketing that is also entertaining. It combines education with entertainment to capture the attention of customers and prospects. This concept is not new, as you probably have seen it in shows like “Sesame Street”. As marketers, we must incorporate edutainment marketing into our strategy to not only educate but also entertain our audience. The idea that people will only watch 30-second videos is false and the idea that people do not read a long sales email is also false.

In the context of B2B sales, edutainment can be used to help carriers educate and engage customers about their products and services in a fun and memorable way.
Edutainment solutions can take many different forms, such as interactive videos, games, quizzes, animations, and simulations. These solutions can be delivered through a variety of channels, such as websites, social media, email, or mobile apps. The goal of edutainment is to provide an enjoyable and interactive learning experience that keeps customers engaged and interested in a carrier’s products and services.

As marketers, we need to make sure we are not only educating but also entertaining so that we can hold the attention of our customers and prospects.
Research suggests that a ratio of 75% entertainment to 25% education is optimal for maintaining attention! So, why not add a little more entertainment to your content and make it unforgettable?

That’s why we at Vleti have built an edutainment concept for the B2B clients to:
Drive traffic by: Applying features that will increase visits in the portal, Generate more data and leads and also very important: Use relevant content so leads are less likely to abandon the portal.
Then we have conversion, where we Turn leads into prospects but also Collect personal data for sales teams and don’t forget to have a CLEAR call to action. Too many choices can confuse the decision-making process.
Nurturing requires making use of collected data to connect with leads, Carry the conversation forward and offering content that is tailored to the prospect’s interests. The goal is to incubate the prospect into sales maturity.
And of course sales, Which prospects are Likely ready to buy? Provide demos and educate them and then Transform the prospect into a customer. And often forgotten: Bring referrals which can lead to continued growth.
Now you will wonder. So what the main objectives? Let’s dive into them!

As you can see they vary a lot from: Increase Visits to the Portal, Increase Awareness on 5G, Cross-Sell services, and don’t forget Permission Marketing, Improve Customer Experience and lastly Gather Customer Data and preferences.
Let’s check out the solution. Velti’s solution is a cross-channel engagement program that is integrated into the website. It includes a storyline to sell to B2B customers, a 360-degree customer profile view, an onboarding experience, and follow-up process to reactivate inactive customers, but also including a rewards program to differentiate the brand from competitors. The program also collects data to tailor content and deliver relevant promotions to enhance the customer experience.

The program includes: the design and integration with existing channels such as websites. We will also delve into the onboarding process involving registering for the program (for free) and to use its benefits. Then the exciting part accomplish the missions and get rewarded! Finally, email campaign templates for effective communication with program participants.

Then we have the level badges that allow customers to upgrade their level and gain additional benefits. And I love this part the “Surprise and Delight,” which involves offering games and surprise bonuses from time to time to enhance the customer’s loyalty experience. Following by sweepstakes featuring premium prizes which can be offered every month to program participants. And lastly, program management, including daily reporting and optimization, adding new missions, configuring rewards, and managing draws, among other things.

Edutainment can be used for many customer stages such as:
ACQUISITION & ONBOARDING:
ENGAGE & GROW:
And WIN BACK:

The Acquisition and onboarding journey should be accessible, flexible, and repeatable.Let’s check out THE ONBOARDING process! Which is extremely important! A study, found that companies that invested in improving their onboarding experience especially the first 90 days, saw a 26% increase in customer retention rates and a 50% reduction in churn. To stimulate registration and gather valuable customer information, we use website banners and SMS/ E-mail campaigns based on the current database and customer consent. During registration, customers will be asked to provide relevant information and select their industry type, such as Retail, Finance, Healthcare. After creating an account, the customer will receive a personalized program based on their industry type for customized interaction and communication.

Let’s explore the second stage!
ENGAGE & GROW: Increase motivation and level of engagement with edutainment experience and tactics.
Let’s explore the program page together and see how we designed an effective onboarding process for new customers!!
The program page offers various sections for customer interaction, including a list of missions that can be completed. Customers can get informed on the latest news in this case IoT. They can also be part of the current draw and see also entries collected. We advise splitting the registration process in steps to avoid long processes. Ask for consent only as a first step, jump later for more detailed customer data (like special missions to complete the profile). Data collecting will enable you to understand the needs and motivations of your prospect and be able to customize your services better. This data can be used to target the audience with the right message to the right customer. Here is an overview of the various missions for customers to engage with, which will be refreshed frequently. These missions may include quizzes and surveys to generate more customer data, but also revealing packages that fit the customer needs and asking for their ratings. Voting missions to determine customer preferences, then there are video tutorials for product education. The program may also include casual games related to IoL to make the program more entertaining for the customers. By incorporating such engaging tactics, the program aims to make the messages more memorable and easy to digest, and to incentivize customers to interact with the program.

Then the last stage which is the… WIN BACK: Reactivate inactive customers by encouraging the next action and delight them! We revive inactive customers who haven’t used the program for 3 or more months by implementing win-back campaigns through creative and personalized emails, which motivate them to re-engage. We also conduct satisfaction survey to gather feedback on why customers have become inactive and of course to prevent them for happening in the future.
But… Did you know that the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%, while the probability of selling to a new prospect is only 5-20%.
Now you see the importance for such a customer journey.

It’s my pleasure to introduce my colleague Eser, who will guide us through the world of the Customer Journeys. Eser go ahead and take it away!

Eser:
Thank you, Marietta, it´s a pleasure to be here you.

My name is Eser Dinler, I´m the Head of Digital Transformation at Velti. We now step in to our part “Digital Journeys to help Sales Teams “. And I will saw you some insights, how such digital journeys can help sales teams.

But first let me say something about the difference between of our edutainment program and our customer journeys which can be part of the whole program.
This is explained simply! Our edutainment program includes many different campaigns and journeys. The journeys presented now can be part of the program, but can also be separately. Let´s step in!

In the context of digital journeys to support sales teams, I want to show how we do this in theory. It is primarily about supporting sales teams in their daily work. It’s about how we can make more leads available so that sales teams can focus on selling.
But what does that exactly mean? What do we do exactly? Let’s start with the definition first.

What is it: Digital journeys are a series of online interactions that guide customers through the sales process. They involve using digital channels, such as direct communication, social media and websites, to engage and educate customers at each stage of the sales cycle.
Examples: Digital journeys can be tailored to each customer’s needs and preferences, providing a personalized and seamless sales experience that builds trust and loyalty.

Let´s have a look at this graph! In the context of B2B sales, digital journeys can be used to help sales teams overcome sales challenges by providing a more efficient and effective way to engage with customers and move them through the sales funnel. And of course, Digital journeys can take many different forms as I said before but here an reminder, such as direct marketing campaigns, social media advertising, landing pages and webinars. They can be used to provide information, answer questions, and address concerns at each stage of the sales process.

So what do we do as a Velti Company? The whole thing is, that the sales team or the contact person will be supported in his sales-related goals by using such digital journeys:
We build a Multi-level customer interaction in each phase of the customer journey.
Offers/solutions for pre-analyzed customer target groups so we build clusters.
We simplified the entry into the customer dialog for the sales department, because the dialog campaigns give them a hook to initiate contact.
With such journeys we build impulses for the customer to contact his contact person.
There is more interaction between the sales team and the customer.
And that increases the customer’s willingness to buy.
And of course more awareness of products/solutions.

Of course, all this presupposes that we receive the right customer data and know the assignment between the customer and the sales contact.
This is crucial, because every dialog communication must be personalized to the respective sales contact. We know that is important to the sales team. Sales teams need to know that their contacts are always keyed to them. We see ourselves here like in football as a provider of crosses, who supports the striker with crosses so that striker only has to score the goal. We stay in the background and provide support via digital touchpoints.

Now, let´s have a look at the process. The most important thing is to define the journey and steps together, to inspire the sales team and, of course, to get the data that is relevant for us. We don’t have to start big either, we mostly test out individual regions.
The process or the set-up is very crucial here. Every project goes through the same process and for a specific use case a customer journey describes the predefined or recommended sequence of contact touch points and interactions with the target customer of course. Each customer decision within a customer journey always follows a specific way as you can see here:
Started with the Set-Up
Before the start of a Customer Journey, a detailed set-up phase takes place with training and briefing of the internal interfaces and stakeholders.
Impulse
Start of the customer journey in the direction of the customer and first trigger communication on a specific topic with a personalized CTA to the sales department
Information
After an initial impulse communication has taken place, further information is provided in the coming weeks via digital communication
Preparation
Before the customer journey is completed, a pre-purchase conversation takes place in the best-case scenario and if all goes well, If a customer journey is successful, it ends with the customer’s purchase decision. We always try to alternate between dialog communication with a personalized CTA to the sales representative and the interaction by the sales representative. The switch enables us to be in constant dialog for a specific solution.

So our goal is very clear:
We build lasting, fun and valuable relationships with customers.
We generate relevant data and insights and design customized campaigns.
We actively manage the customer dialogue throughout the lifecycle to increase revenue and profitability.

Here is an Example, of a typical journey in theory.
Multi-stage Journey that happens from a mix of personalized dialog communication and sales involvement.
We start with an info campaign, then the sales person has a hook to call the customer and talk with him about the solution.
Then it can continue with an invitation to a webinar or tutorial. Here in the case there is a recording of a webinar and we use that.
After that, the sales employee has another reason to call, for example, to clarify open questions about the webinar.
Until finally the reminder contact and the final call.
This is just an example and we will agree very carefully here whether it can be fewer or more steps. The important thing is that we build many touchpoints together in a short time. In the B2B context, we always say that a journey should be completed within 8-12 weeks. By then, the customer should be well informed and the purchase preparation or purchase decision should have been made.

Now we’ve had a lot of theory and a lot of qualitative statements. We would like to back this up with KPIs from a real project.
So, let’s have a look at the KPIs for such journeys vs. Reference groups which is the similar target group but w/o the contact strategy, as I mentioned before.
In a pilot with customers, we built a journey from the mix of direct dialog communication and the non-pilot group did not receive any communication. As you can see, the pilot group performed 36% better. And the reasons are already clear, because we created an impulse for the customer to contact his contact person or sales person. There is more interaction between sales and the customer. This Increases the customer’s willingness to buy products in need of explanation are explained.

At the end I will show you one example of such a journey for sales teams for our client Deutsche Telekom in the B2B sector. This is high-level and represents only a small part of the entire journey with digital touchpoints, which is here an e-mail journey with dedicated landing pages and webinars.
A multichannel communication in three steps in this case.
Wave 1: Information about the product, in this context 5G Campus solution, and believe me, the product really needs explaining
Wave 2: Invitation to a webinar explaining the product
Wave 3: Reminder Communication
As I mentioned before, always with the CTA to the responsible sales contact.
And our interview partner Peyman Jazayeri tells our dear colleague Marietta exactly how this project went at Deutsche Telekom. Marietta are you ready to take over?

Marietta:
Eser, thank you for taking the time to share your expertise with us.

And with this, we are already approaching the last part of the webinar. It is my pleasure to introduce our special guest for today, Peyman Jazayeri. Peyman is the Head of 5G Corporate Customers Germany at Telekom Deutschland, where he leads the 5G strategy and initiatives for corporate customers. With over a decade of experience in sales and business development, Peyman has a track record of acquiring new clients and managing global accounts.

Peyman holds a Master of Science in Information Management, where he focused on sales, customer relationship management, and business software management. He also completed a Professional Studies Program at the University of California in San Diego.
Peyman is multilingual and fluent in English, French, German, Dutch, and Farsi. With his extensive knowledge and experience in sales, business development, and leadership, speaking to Peyman is a great opportunity that adds significant value to this discussion. Please join me in welcoming Peyman to the webinar.

Hey Payman welcome to the webinar! It’s a pleasure for having you here with us today!

Peyman:
Thank you for having me!

Marietta:
Let’s check out the first question. Can you name some campaigns that are successful for sales teams?

Peyman:
Yes, very much like to. So, we started with Velti a couple of months ago, before Christmas and we have a very we had a very successful campaign in one of our mid-segment areas customer areas. And what we did was we started with a small POC and took it from there, and interestingly and also this is what we expected from this project, is to have some of leads that are coming in for our customers. But also, on other spillover effects from customers who attended our webinars but also came to our events Etc. Which would actually at the end of the day, not only measurable in leads but also in other factors so that’s why we were quite successful with the campaign.

Marietta:
Can you share some insights about some challenges you have faced?

Peyman:
Yes, I absolutely can. So, one of the main challenges that we saw, was an organization acceptance. So, basically a lot of the customers that we have, are dealt with in different areas and departments of our company and this is the highest good that we have in our company, that’s our customers, that’s our customer data and how we approach those customers. So as you can imagine, we were very sensitive about how do we come about approaching our customers and how do we get a good experience, not only for the customers, but also for the people and our staff employees in the company that work with our customers. Another challenge that we saw and we faced, was in our area we are not we are dealing with big corporate customers we have long save cycles and also in terms to see the result of such a campaign it needs a bit more of time and a bit more of effort. So that those were the key significant challenges that we saw in this campaign.

Marietta:
Nice yeah, I think lots of customers can definitely relate to that. So, can you perhaps share a little bit more on the future for the B2B? how do you see that?

Peyman:
Yes, thank you very much for the question. So one of the scarce resources that we have, as obviously in any other area is human resources, are people at the right spot at the right time. This is in sales; this is one of the scarce resources that we have. And in order to scale a product and our customer approach, the question that arises and the challenge that arises in the future is, how are we able to elaborate and scale on approaching customer, when we have a new Innovative product? And this is something that acting can be can be dealt with future B2B marketing digital stories or Journeys. And another challenge that we see and I think this is going to become more and more important in the future is, what is the setup of the buying organization that we are dealing with? So, today we have in a managing positions and in the decision positions we have people who are digital immigrants. In future and this is something we’re already seeing, we will have people who are digital Natives and they will be the one who make the decision who have the budget. So and they go to different places than before the decision makers do today. So, basically in order to reach those managers, we have to go there where they are and this could be in a digital place and what we have to do is, we have to touch have a touch point with them, by being digital, by having Journeys, by being there where they are. And this is a challenge I see for the future and I think that it’s going to be key in terms of being successful launching new products, which can be digital or not.

Marietta:
Very interesting. Yeah, thanks for sharing! So, diversification is expanding a business offerings or entering new markets to reduce the risk of relying on a simple product services or markets. So, does the ongoing diversification, how does that affect your Market?

Peyman:
So, I think that the diversification that we are seeing right now on the market and we will also continue seeing in future, holds a lot of challenges for companies’ big companies as ours. Because we have to be able to change fast to adapt to the requirements of those diversification diverse guys’ customers and people who are purchasing our products or services. And I think in the long term the only advantage that we have, in accessing our customers and also long-term unique selling positions that we might have on the market is not our product and not our services, but at the end of the day is how quickly can we change and how quickly can we adapt to this navigation diversification on the market. And this is something you can copy services, you can copy products, but what you cannot do is, you cannot copy your organization’s setup and the dynamic of how fast they can change to meet new requirements of the customers.

Marietta:
Great, that’s actually a very good one! Yeah so, what are your learnings from the customer Journey?

Peyman:
Well, I would say one of the or let me share two learnings with you. So if the first learning I definitely would like to pass on to others who would like to do this kind of Journey is, try to prepare, try to take time in advance, because this is key and what we are we tend to say, is heart training easy fight. So, the more you train and the better your journey is build up and better talk through in comparison what the situation on your market and your customer is demanding, the better and the smoother it’s going to go and the and what you cannot afford is to have a mistake in your journey, while you are dealing with customers. So, that’s something I would strongly recommend. And the other thing I would recommend is, when you’re doing this journey it’s very-very important to have all the stakeholders, who are part of engaging with customers as product management, as sales but also people from marketing etc to bring them on board early, because they all have different views and angles. And what you can’t, what you don’t want to have is, you don’t want to be middle of your journey and try to change your journey, because that’s something which is going to delay a lot of this process. And as we heard earlier from Esser, one of the key topics here is, you have to be done in a certain amount of time, because you want to have quick response and you want to have quick touch points and answers from your customer. So, these are the two-three key learnings that we had from our journey, which I would like to pass on to people who are going about having a journey for their own customers.

Marietta:
Now yeah, thank you so much absolutely I agree on that. So, I also want to thank you for the interview, it was a great pleasure to have you here with us today. Thank you!

Peyman:
Thank you for having me. It was a good time. Thank you!

Marietta:
And with this, our webinar already comes to an end.
With the challenges that carriers face in the industry, it’s more important than ever to embrace digital-first strategies and engage customers in new and exciting ways. By incorporating edutainment solutions, such as interactive videos, games and quizzes, carriers can create an enjoyable and interactive learning experience that keeps customers engaged and interested in their products and services.

Edutainment marketing combines education and entertainment to capture the attention of customers and prospects, providing an enjoyable and interactive learning experience that keeps them engaged and interested in a business’s products and services. The example from our client, Deutsche Telekom showcased that this approach increases customer engagement, improve retention rates, and generate more leads and sales.

Thank you for joining us today!

Would you like to increase customer engagement, improve retention rates, and generate more leads and sales with an innovative approach like edutainment marketing?
It would be my pleasure to meet you in person or virtually to explore how Velti can assist you with an engaging edutainment marketing strategy! Just drop me an email at: demo@velti.com or feel free to send a private message on LinkedIn!

I’m looking forward to hearing from you! 

See you on our next webinar or perhaps in person 😉
For now: have a great day and goodbye.