Customer Advocacy in the B2B sector Attitudes and approaches in 2015

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1 Attitudes and approaches in 2015 Insights from IT and business decision-makers into how they use and participate in customer references 1

2 Seizing the advocacy advantage Customer advocates are the greatest brand ambassadors, but in the corporate world, turning a customer into an advocate is much more complicated than putting a review option on your website. Inkpod s survey looks at why customer advocacy matters to IT and business decision-makers; what type of testimonials they want, and how to simplify engagement. Top five findings 1 The written case study is still the most popular format 2 Video is losing its appeal Time is the biggest constraint to customer participation Less is more, with readers favouring shorter case studies Decision-makers are accessing references from social media 2 2

3 Identifying the best formats Despite the rise of multi-media formats, 69% of respondents still believe a written case study is the best option for a customer testimonial. In fact, multi-media assets, such as interactive PDFs and videos, are proving less popular this year than in Best format for customer testimonials 2014 Best format for customer testimonials 2015 Webinar or live event page PDF Webinar or live event 7 4-page PDF 7 Video 24 % 25 Interactive PDF 4-page PDF 3 PPT summary slide Video % 7 Interactive PDF 1-page PDF 3 3

4 Creating a compelling case study IT and business decision-makers want well-written concise case studies. More than three-quarters of respondents said too many pages would stop them reading a case study, which fits with the finding that a one-page PDF is the favoured format for a customer testimonial. A lack of measurable results and too much marketing content could also put off around a third of readers. What would stop you from reading a case study? Too many pages Poor quality of writing Lack of measurable results Too much marketing puff Not enough images No interactive elements Uninspiring headline

5 Getting to the finishing line For customer advocacy assets to be used externally, they need to be approved internally. Advocates and marketers alike often under-estimate the scale of this requirement. Only 41% of IT and business decision-makers think their organisation s PR department need to approve a case study, while 12% believe only the person quoted needs to provide signoff. Corp comms/ PR department Manager of vendor relationship Who needs to approve a case study? Divisional/county director Legal team Don t know Person quoted in case study 5 5

6 A shrinking pool of advocates Finding willing advocates is getting harder. Constrained both by time and the corporate rulebook, 31% of people failed to provide a single supplier testimonial in the last 12 months compared with 7% in Just 9% are likely to do more than 10 testimonials this year compared with 20% in 2014, which means more suppliers are competing for fewer advocates. What are the barriers to participating in customer advocacy? How many advocacy activities do you participate in per year? Time involved Corporate policy Less than Between 5 and 10 Concerns about misuse of information Unable to provide measurable benefits Perceived vendor bias None Between 10 and 20 Over 20 Too much publicity

7 Understanding the advocacy drivers Companies can t buy advocates, they have to earn them. The majority of customers participate in advocacy activities to either reward supplier excellence or to strengthen supplier relationships. Only a quarter see customer advocacy as a way to negotiate a better deal and even fewer use it to help improve their own career prospects. Why do you agree to participate in advocacy activities? To reward supplier excellence To strengthen supplier relationships To negotiate a better deal on a contract To showcase success of a project/services to peers To improve career prospects 7 To improve brand perception and awareness

8 Maximising exposure for advocacy assets Company websites remain the best showcase for customer success, with 59% of respondents using them to access case studies. Social media sites are also playing a more important role, overtaking press articles as a source for customer references. How do you access customer references? Vendor websites 59 Articles in the press Direct requests to suppliers Social media Handouts from events and meetings

9 Driving new business Customer testimonials continue to be an essential tool for winning new business: more than 40% of respondents use case studies to identify or evaluate new suppliers. Customer advocacy assets are also becoming a growing source for market insights. In 2015, 40% of business and IT decision-makers report using them to learn about new technologies and business models, compared with 33% last year. To evaluate suppliers as part of a bid To track performance of peers and competitors To identify future suppliers To learn about new technologies and business models How do you use customer testimonials?

10 Maximising advocacy potential Even if customers are prevented from participating in external case studies, they can still act as influential advocates. Given a choice of other marketing and industry sources, such as white papers and analyst reports, respondents still selected a customer-based activity as the most important influencer in their decision-making. Apart from written case studies,what else do you use? Video testimonials by customers 21 ROI studies 28 Press releases 19 Reference site visits 48 Reference letter 17 Gartner Magic Quadrant 41 White papers 34 Briefing papers

11 About the survey Inkpod surveyed 60 IT and business-decision makers between March and June The survey was conducted online and at various events. The respondents were from a variety of job functions and business sectors. This is the second year of the survey. To read last year s results, Marketing & Corp comms Procurement Job function of respondents Other 16 % Sales IT 11 11

12 About Inkpod Inkpod is a creative agency specialising in customer testimonials, marketing collateral and corporate communications. Founded in 2006, Inkpod works with business-to-business clients around the globe helping them deliver sharper campaigns and smarter collateral. To read more about customer advocacy best practice, visit: Copyright 2015 Inkpod. All rights reserved. 12