Another factor that makes B2B VOC challenging is pushing participants beyond the table stakes—better known as customer pre-requisites and minimum expectations. Regardless of industry, the table stakes are always the same: cost savings, greater efficiency, reduced risk, and improved compliance. These are logical responses, and they’ll usually come up top of mind. But though people tend to be more rational when making purchases decisions in a work context vs. a personal context, that doesn’t mean there are no emotions involved.

Evidence is mounting that one way to stand out from the crowd is to strike a different balance between rational vs. emotional in your positioning and marketing communications.

It turns out that even while making supposedly rational business purchase decisions, emotions still play a role. The B2B Institute in Europe conducted a very compelling study sponsored by LinkedIn. Pay particular attention to the section: Harness the Power of Emotion. Even in B2B, more emotional appeals are linked to better business performance.

For more context on the different kinds of value drivers, check out this 2018 Harvard Business Review research that identified 40 distinct value drivers among B2B buyers. The research categorized these value drivers into table stakes and beyond. This is required reading in our organization.

So, during qualitative research how do you overcome the obvious table stakes? Here are some pointers:

• Cost, compliance, risk, and efficiency will always come up. Accept it. However, what most interviewers fail to do is to exhaustively unpack what each means. For example, “cost” could mean acquisition cost, maintenance cost, sunk cost, and more. Knowing the exact definition and degree of each cost factor is essential.
• Look beyond the immediate. A requirement is to fully understand the decision ecosystem. Your product or solution may be a nuisance to one department but have tremendous positive (or negative) impact elsewhere.
• Make it clear to the participant that we MUST move beyond the table stakes. We often do this by introducing thought starter questions prior to the interview. An intra-interview visual aid can work wonders. We’ve extracted information from the HBR study and used that as a prompt.
• When defining your research objectives, make it known that table stakes are not enough. A highly skilled researcher can design the best engagement to get at the good stuff under the surface.

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Recent research, however, suggests that, when it comes to motivations around B2B purchasing, the mind is not so simple after all.   It may seem counter-intuitive, but the research proves that even in business purchase decisions, emotional motivators are extremely important.

The research identified 40 distinct kinds of value that B2B offerings provide customers, and these value drivers fall into a 5-layer pyramid. At the bottom of the pyramid are the table stakes (e.g. meeting minimum specifications, an acceptable price, and regulatory compliance) and functional values (e.g. product quality, expense reduction, or enabling the buyer’s topline growth).

At the top of pyramid are more personal types of value, such as reduced anxiety, fun and perks, reputational enhancement, career marketability, and growth and development.  Like it or not, these factors are increasingly important in differentiating your offerings. In other words, don’t forget about the emotional motivators.

The good news is that these underlying motivators can be identified in research, but not in a traditional format.  Through our own work with B2B customers, we’ve honed a process that allows us to uncover those emotional drivers. First, there must be a high level of trust between the interviewee and interviewer.  This is developed deliberately and using several touchpoints prior to the formal interview.  The format of the interview is typically one-on-one, and it is better when conducted after-hours, where there is more confidentiality.  Lastly, there is a science to asking questions and “peeling back the onion.”  Leave that to the trained moderators.

Want to learn more?  We strongly recommend The B2B Elements of Value.  First published by Harvard Business Review last year, it has been an invaluable framework in our research efforts.

As B2B offerings become ever-more commoditized, expand your learning to better understand how you can leverage these more subjective value drivers.  While the mind is not so simple, the process for getting at these insights is within your reach.

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