In B2B, there’s one signal that matters. Not your CTR. Not your MQL count. Not even your pipeline size. Just one thing – would your customer recommend you without being asked?
If it’s no, the rest of the metrics don’t matter. You’ll have issues with retention and repeat business. Recommendation is the real signal of B2B marketing success.
In credibility-led markets, a recommendation is more than a pat on the back. It’s proof that you delivered, made life easier and were decent to work with while doing it. It is the indicator that they would be happy to do it again and would encourage others to do so too.
For marketers targeting small-volume niche audiences with a specialist product, it is more vital than anywhere else. Your total addressable market size means you must focus on it. There are not enough customers in the market to ignore it.
It’s about more than your product or service. It is about your people, your process and your communications. It is about the whole experience, which is exactly on the basis your customer judges you.
When you hit that standard, your customer loyalty lifts, new business appears as your clients turn into an army of advocates listening on your behalf, and your team are clear on what is expected, improving job satisfaction. Just wish it were easy.
In B2B for specialist products, it is never just about the product
In most niche markets, the thing you sell is just the starting point, but buying units evaluates you on more than the features and benefits it provides. What really gets judged? How do your people behave, and what are they like to interact with? It is the quality and consistency of your communications. In a world where so many B2B decisions are guided by the fear of getting it wrong, how do they make customers feel?
Some call it chemistry, using lines like “people buy people”. Others call it “trust signals”. It is more than that; it is a brand experience. Every single person your customer interacts with, from sales, delivery, finance, through to your support team, is your brand at that moment of interaction. What they do and how they do it is what is remembered. Not the promises on a website or in an RFP. It is about being good in the eyes of your customers, everywhere.
Why do so few B2B brands focus on being good enough to recommend?
Quite simply, it is hard. Consistency is what earns the right to be recommended. And you have to keep working at it. That’s why so few do it well. Unless you operate in a monopoly, and being specified as the manufacturer of choice for specific use cases can make it feel like this, your customers will have a choice.
To be recommended, you need to ask in the right way and listen
We’ve discovered that this standard is deeply personal, meaning metrics such as NPS and CSAT provide useful comparison headline stats, but the only way to understand customer perceptions is to ask them. If you ask them directly as a brand, expect different answers if you use a trusted intermediary to conduct interviews regularly. The participation rates alone will provide the first signal. Watch out for feedback from the same faces. You know the ones.
Living the challenge
At Velo, we’ve built the business on recommendations. This means that most of our new clients come through referrals. We don’t take that lightly. It’s both a compliment and a responsibility. Our program of customer feedback provides vital insight into marketing priorities, how we’re doing and where we can improve. It powers our internal culture to stay close to our client teams as an extension of their team and always delivering value in everything that we do.
And we publish what is said. We have nothing to hide. There is nothing more powerful than the words of those who have been before you, whether that be clients or staff via Glassdoor. It drives performance, through accountability, everywhere. Is it comfortable? Not always.
Is it worth it? Absolutely. After all, you cannot argue with the data.
Recommendation tells you more as a marketer
It is the ultimate reality check. Discover whether your promises survive contact with reality consistently. Learn if your team feel empowered to do the right thing in the moments of truth. Find out if you really do deliver value that customers appreciate. Most of all, understand whether a client would stick their neck out for you – unprompted, unpaid, unashamed. Get it right, it is a catalyst. Much more powerful than a metric.