Marketers have long been under pressure to generate more leads. However, this goal has been misguided, encouraging an inefficient and ineffective spray and pray approach that frustrates customers and drives suboptimal results.

Today, we’re operating in a trust economy where lead generation is dead and customers and prospects are conducting research on their own. In fact, about two-thirds (66%) of global software buyers say salespeople are not involved in the research phase of their purchasing process, according to research from software marketplace G2.

This landscape – where the B2B buying journey mirrors consumer shopping – requires a new approach. It’s all about enabling customers to embrace the self-service channels they prefer to engage with on their own time and to connect with their peers for real feedback.

When I joined GoodUnited to lead Marketing, I made it an immediate priority to implement best practices that cater to this shift. In a short period of time, we’ve already experienced major wins: in just three months we drove business value with 22% faster time to close and a 13% larger deal size compared to our prior average deals.

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Despite shifting from the B2B enterprise space to the nonprofit sector, I realized the same rules apply. We are still in a trust economy regardless of the industry. These are the three key best practices I’ve followed to achieve these results and that I recommend for others to win in the trust economy:

1. Lean into self-serve channels, helping buyers find you as well as information and reviews on your products. Because buyers are conducting research on their own, cater to this behavior and make it easier for them by providing the resources they’re seeking. This includes being listed on review sites like G2 that they’re already visiting and including information on your products, pricing, and customer case studies. As an added bonus, this will also help boost your organic search results when software buyers are searching for certain types of solutions. When you’re featured in a specific category (in our case, conversational marketing), you’re creating new opportunities to be found, as buyers are often looking beyond your website for trusted sources.

In addition to creating a profile for your company on review sites and other sources, solicit customer reviews so future buyers can read real feedback from other users. Keep in mind that 84% of software buyers say they rely on review sites when conducting research for products and services they’re interested in. This is why I’m a proponent of running review campaigns and investing in customer advocacy. For us, it’s all about quality of reviews over quantity. A steady drumbeat is still important of course, so that recent reviews are available for reference.

2. Leverage customer reviews across content and channels throughout the entire customer journey. Once you gather positive customer reviews, maximize that feedback through marketing campaigns, including organic social media, paid media, ebooks, sales kits, and more. One review can fuel an entire marketing campaign and every touchpoint with a customer or prospect is an opportunity to infuse review insights. In an era of “do more with less,” repurposing existing content like this is a no-brainer and an effective approach.

3. Tap buyer intent data signals to understand your target audience’s buying patterns and engage at the optimal time. Reviews are helpful to understanding customer feedback, but that doesn’t tell you exactly when they are in-market and ready to buy. According to the 95/5 rule, it’s believed that 5% of your ideal customer profile (ICP) is in-market at any given time. However, in today’s environment, I believe it’s closer to 1%, at least that’s what we’ve observed at GoodUnited.

To simply know who that 1% is – never mind engaging with them in an effective manner – can feel like finding a needle in a haystack. This is where buyer intent data comes in. When leveraging this on review sites, you can glean insights on buying patterns, including who is researching your product, your competitors, or your category. This data can then also inform outreach – knowing when and where to focus. Reps can spend the most time on accounts demonstrating “in-market” activity. With real-time automations, reps can engage at the right time.

Now, rather than focusing on the number of leads generated, we’re being thoughtful about our outreach. This new approach allows us to strategically warm up leads, pepper content through the website, email communications, LinkedIn, and other channels, and help Customer Success identify customer champions.

Technology, customer reviews, data, and automations all play a role in this strategy, but it’s about having the right strategy in place that has been instrumental in the success we’ve experienced to date. Beyond using reviews and buyer intent data to know what’s working, they’re also used to tell us what’s not working. Where do we have negative sentiment? Why are high intent signals slowing down? These insights are equally as important because it allows us to dig in and resolve any issues that exist.

By leaning into customers’ preferences and behavior, we’re building trust, which ultimately leads to deals closed faster and overall value for the business. As consumer shopping habits continue to inform B2B buying, it’s clear that not only is the trust economy here to stay, but it will set the standard for how companies engage with customers in the years to come.

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