Buying group stages

Transcript

In this video, we will explain the concept of a buying group stage in Adobe Journey Optimizer B2B Edition.

Buying group stages represent the different phases that the buying group goes through in the decision-making process.

They are designed to track the progress of buying groups in converting opportunities into customers and identify the next best actions for buying group members.

This feature enables you to create multiple buying group lifecycle stages within a single stage model and specify the transition rules. By setting up these rules, you will have complete control over how a buying group can move from one stage to another. Stage transitions can then be automated within a journey, combining these functionalities into one powerful flow. To launch Journey Optimizer B2B Edition from your Adobe Experience Cloud homepage, click the Journey Optimizer B2B Edition icon and the application will display the Adobe Journey Optimizer B2B Edition homepage.

Click Buying Groups. Navigate to the Stages tab. This screens enables you to create the buying group stages model. View the existing model access and edit the draft model. Please note that only one model is supported, so it is important to work with your marketing and sales teams to plan the optimal model for your organization before you create and publish it. Click the Create Model button.

Enter a name and a description for your model and confirm by clicking the Create button.

In the upper left corner of this page, you can see the name and the status of your model.

When you create the buying group stage model, it is automatically in draft status and cannot be deleted or renamed. It remains in this status as you define the stages and configure the transition flow between the stages. When the model is in live status, it cannot be modified. To add stages to the model, click the Edit Stages button. Here you can add the name and description for your first stage.

You can add up to 10 stages by clicking the Add Stage button. For each stage that you add, you will have the same inputs. The Delete option will not be available when there is a single stage defined in the model. The stages do not have to be added in a specific order, but it does determine how the stages are listed in the model details page. If you designated the entry stage and the flow between stages when you define the transition rules, once you are done editing the stages, you can confirm it by clicking the Save button. After you save the stages, you will be returned to the model workspace. Here you will see the defined stages with basic info. The Allow Transit to column is empty, which indicates transition rules for the model stages are not yet defined. We will now specify the transition rules by clicking the Edit Stage Rules button. This opens the Edit Stage Rules dialog, where you define the logic for the flow. Transition rules determine how a buying group can move from one stage to another. For example, it can move from an entry stage to a middle stage and from a middle stage to various other stages. An entry stage is an initial stage where a blank group can enter from a blank stage, and the destination stages are classified as success or failure stages. As you set the options, there are some built-in guardrails and messaging to help you avoid making logic errors in the flow. You can click Cancel to close the dialog and return to the stage stub page without any changes. In the Select Stage section, you can set up the starting and ending stages for the flow. Entry Point Stage is set to the first stage in the model by default and is required. In this field, you can designate one or more entry stages for the buying group opportunity.

A Success Stage indicates that the buying group opportunity is considered a successful deal. Only one success stage is required and allowed. This is the final stage, which means that the buying groups cannot transit from the success stage to other ones. On the other hand, failure stage is optional and multi-select. A buying group that reaches this stage is considered a failed deal. Failure stages will not appear in the buying group stage chart on the dashboard, and it is not required to define transition rules for failure stages. For each non-destination stage, you can define one or more stages that come next in the flow, which we call a transition. You can add a stage by selecting it from the drop-down menu and remove it by clicking the X button next to the stage name. All non-destination stages must have at least one allowed transit to stage selected. Otherwise the model logic is not valid and accounts can get stuck to this stage with no way to progress to success or failure. Once we are done with our non-destination stages we can move on to the final ones. Purchasing stage in our example is the Success or Final stage, which means that the buying groups cannot transit once they reach this stage. The drop-down menu is unavailable. It is not required to define transaction rules for failure stages, but you can optionally specify a transition from a failure stage. For example, you might designate a stage named No Response as a failure stage, but also designate a stage named Resurgence as a possible transition to identify cases where a dormant account is reactivated. Let’s click save to come back to our stages model details page. The stages are listed in a table with the allowed transitions in three properties and destination. Stage name column contains the name and the description for the stage that can be opened by clicking the info icon. Allow transit to column lists the stages that are valid for a move to action within the model. Entry point stage indicates if the stage is valid as an entry point stage, yes or no. Destination stage column indicates if the stage is designated as destination stage, success or failure. As long as the buying group stages model remains in a draft state, you can edit the stages and transition rules. To view the model, click the model name that will open the model details. To change the stages within the model, click the edit stages button. In the edit stages dialog, you can add new stages or change the name and the description for existing stages. When you are satisfied with your changes, click save. You can also click cancel to close the dialog and return to the model details page without any changes. While the buying group stages model is in a draft state, we can edit the transition rules by clicking on the button that will open the edit stage rules dialog. Here we can change the flow options as needed. When you’re satisfied with the transition rules that are defined, click save. You can also click cancel to close the dialog and return to the model details page without any changes. If there are no validation errors, the model can be published. When it is published, it changes to a live state and can be used to progress by group stages and account journeys. Click the publish button. Please note that after the model is published, it cannot be updated or deleted. If you are sure that you want to publish your model, confirm it by clicking the publish button in the dialog. With the return to model details page, the model is now in live status. In your account journeys, you can include actions to transition accounts to a specified stage and add stage transitions as the events that determine how accounts move through the journey. You can also use stages to define different paths for the journey audience. Once the buying group stages model is in a live status, we need to do one more thing before we can start using it in a journey and that is to add the model to the solution interest where you want to track buying group progression. In your buying groups page, open the solution interest tab. For each existing solution interest where you want to associate the buying group stages model, you need to open the solution interest details and add the model. You can do this by clicking the solution interest name or by clicking the additional options button and edit. In the buying group stage model section of the page, you can select the stage model to use the buying group stage progression. In the drop down menu, you can select your publish stage model. The stage model can also be added when creating the new solution interests. Once you are done with editing the solution interest, click save. You can use your buying group stages with several account journey components. We will start with the split paths node in your journey. Add the split paths node by clicking the plus icon and selecting the split paths from the list. Using the split path node, you can filter at the account level or the people level according to buy group stages. In the node properties, choose accounts for the split. To define a condition applicable to path one, click apply condition. In the conditions editor, we will add the buying group filter to define the split path. Expand the special filters at the bottom and drag the has buying group attribute to the workspace. Set the solution interest to the one that is associated with the buying group stages model. In our example, it’s Luma Secure. Click at constraint and select the buying group stage. Select the stage you want to use as a You have successfully split paths using the buying group stages filter on an account level. After you add the split paths node, choose people for the split in the properties. Click apply condition. In the condition editor, we will add the buying group filter. First, expand the special filters at the bottom and drag member of the buying group attributes to the workspace. Select Luma Secure for solution interest. Click at constraint and select the buying group stage. Select the stage you want to use as a criteria and confirm by clicking done. In the properties pane on the right, you can see the conditions that are set for this split path by people not using the buying group stages criteria. Using an account action node, you can update the buying group stage. Click on the plus icon and the connection. Select the update buying group stage. Defining these nodes involves selecting the solution interest which is Luma Secure in our example and setting the new stage we want to assign for the buying group in this step of the journey. Now this section node will update the buying group stage for all qualified accounts on this path. You can use the occurrence of a buying group stage change to move the account forward to the next step in the journey by adding the listen for an defining this node involves selecting the solution interest and additional constraints to satisfy the event trigger. Once you select the change in buying group stage from the drop down, click the edit event button. Using the event editor, select one or more solution interests from the drop down and add additional constraints that will define the event you want to capture. For new stage, we will set intent. For previous stage, we will select awareness and for date of activity we’ll set before January 1st 2025. In this example, we demonstrated the options to fine tune the event. You can use all available filters or just some of them according to your needs. Once you are done with setting up this event, you can confirm it by clicking the done button. Now let’s take a look at our event and its definition. For Luma Secure Solution Interest, we will capture all accounts that moved from awareness stage to intent stage before January 1st 2025. You now know the concept of buying group stages in the Adobe Journey Optimizer B2B edition.