Why Your Buyers Have Ghosted You

Summary

Synopsis:

The most common reasons buyers drop out of the sales funnel
Personalization and consistency as strategies to prevent buyer ghosting
Demand generation tactics to re-engage cold prospects

With conversion rates commonly ranging between just 1-3% (First Page Sage, 2024), strategies to reduce buyer drop-off are frequently discussed in B2B marketing.

While some attrition is unavoidable, investigating the specific reasons why your buyers might be disappearing from the B2B sales funnel can help refine your nurturing strategies. Misalignment with buyers’ needs, changing buying behaviors, increasingly complex B2B buying groups and processes, and irrelevant content can all contribute to disengagement.

In addition, today’s buyers increasingly conduct their buying processes independently from sales reps, creating the need for educational content that supports their decision making.

In this article, we explore some of the most frequent causes of buyer drop-off and introduce demand generation strategies to re-engage those buyers who have ghosted you.

8 reasons why buyers might ghost you

There are various causes for sudden buyer drop-off, depending on factors both within and outside of your control. In fact, only 30% of B2B prospects go on to request a demo (Chilipiper, 2023) while in the funnel.

Below are some of the most common causes a prospect may drop out of the sales funnel.

#1 Changing buyer behavior

Most modern B2B buyers only engage sellers 70% into their buying journey (6sense, 2023). In fact, 75% of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free sales experience (Gartner, 2023), making outbound outreach particularly challenging. In cases like this, a prospect may simply ignore a call or email they do not want to engage with.

Keep close track of the preferences of buyers in your industry to ensure your strategies are aligned with their expectations and necessities.

#2 Lack of sales and marketing alignment

B2B marketers know that nurturing buyers can take time. However, when internal teams are misaligned or there is pressure to prioritize conversion, sales teams may start outreach while marketing is still nurturing leads. This can frustrate buyers who are not yet ready to engage, potentially causing them to drop off. The same is true when sales teams engage prospects but do not request marketing departments to nurture them, failing to prime these contacts for sales processes and causing drop-off.

Recurrent meetings, unified data systems, and common goals are key to promoting alignment between these departments, with each team educating the other on how it can best contribute to a conversion.

#3 Engaging the wrong contacts

In traditional B2B sales models, there was often just one point of contact. However, with buying groups becoming larger and more complex, and with each member having their own role, needs, and goals, the right message can easily reach the wrong person, making it irrelevant and ineffective. This often happens when the structure of the buying group and its members’ specific needs are not fully understood. Failing to keep your prospect database up-to-date can also lead your sales and marketing efforts to contact the wrong person. Outdated contacts might have moved on to another company or changed roles within their organization.

Conduct frequent data cleanses and avoid acquiring low-quality leads to keep bad data from hindering your efforts.

#4 Irrelevant content

Similarly, drop-off can occur when a marketer or sales representative contacts the right person but uses the wrong messaging. This happens when marketers lack a clear and accurate understanding of the prospect's needs and pain points, sharing content that lacks educational value or practical benefit.

Strive to keep track of that information, as well as of your leads’ position within the sales funnel, ensuring the delivery of resonant information through a content marketing strategy that successfully educates them on solving pain points and demonstrates the value of your solutions.

Keep your demand strategies up to par by avoiding these anti trends

#5 Increasingly complex buying processes

Complexity can arise on both sides of the sales process. For the buyer, multiple decision makers, protocols, and complicated implementation procedures may slow progress down considerably during deliberations. On the brand’s side, overwhelming buyers with too many requirements and steps can create a negative buying experience that can lead prospects to walk away.

Keep track of website performance indicators, analyze traffic and heatmaps, and optimize whenever possible to offer your clients a hassle-free, seamless buying experience that does not feel like a chore.

#6 Poor timing

Buyers often stop engaging when changes within their business make closing a deal unlikely. Simply put, it is just not the right time, and this factor often falls out of our control. In the case of large buying groups, decision making is not always straightforward and can take months—or even years. This delay may give the impression that the buyer has lost interest due to a lack of communication. However, brand awareness efforts can contribute to ensuring your brand stays top of mind for when these prospects do encounter an urgent need.

#7 Price

If the price of your product or service exceeds the client’s budget or does not provide the required value, a buyer is likely to choose a competitor. Investigating the pricing models of competitor solutions and tracking prospect spend are some possible strategies to address this issue.

#8 Missing follow-up opportunities

Many prospects remain unnurtured. While that may not be true for your organization, you might have missed an email or call from a prospect—which is not unlikely given how busy professional inboxes and voicemails can get. One missed opportunity can be all it takes to lose a prospect to a competitor.

Implementing an email marketing strategy featuring automated follow-up sequences according to certain triggers or message content is a powerful option to ensure timely responses.

10 mistakes to avoid when following up with leads

HOW TO CALCULATE DROP-OFF RATES

Drop-off rates measure the percentage of prospects that exit the funnel at a specific stage. To monitor this, it is necessary to also track key metrics such as the number of prospects generated, qualified, and moved to the next stage, as well as the sum of opportunities created and deals closed.

Calculate the conversion rate for each stage by dividing the number of prospects advancing by the total entering that stage. The drop-off rate is the percentage of those abandoning the funnel mid-process, calculated by dividing the number of drop-offs by the total initiators, then multiplying by 100.

4-step strategy to avoid ghosting

An effective strategy to prevent prospects from falling out of the sales funnel should emphasize personalization and consistent engagement to develop valuable relationships with your prospects.

Below is an example of a strategy designed to boost conversation and foster loyalty.

#1 Identify attrition points

Sales funnel leaks can occur at any stage—top, middle, or bottom. By examining funnel data, you can identify friction points or inefficiencies hindering user progress.

As mentioned above, these can include factors such as irrelevant content, exaggerated complexity, non-competitive pricing, and so on.

A Client Relationship Management (CRM) platform can help you keep track of prospect responses, set score thresholds for each stage, and analyze lead progression. More importantly, they can indicate where prospects stop engaging.

Other key metrics at your disposal include conversion rate, drop-off rate, average time to conversion, and abandonment rate, which can indicate patterns and trends affecting funnel performance and reveal opportunities for targeted improvements.

#2 Get to know your prospects

A common reason prospects drop off at the top of the funnel is that they are not a good fit for your offer. It is essential to thoroughly understand your ideal client profile (ICP) before launching a campaign, tailoring your nurturing messaging to their specific needs and pain points. A 'one-size-fits-all' approach risks making prospects feel ignored or disconnected, undermining relationship-building as they move through the funnel.

An ICP or buyer persona outlines the key characteristics of a business most likely to benefit from your product. This includes factors such as company size, industry, budget, and tech stack.

Discover how to fix common perfomance issues to enhance your demand strategy

#3 Build a streamlined, client-centric journey

The goal of lead nurturing is to guide your prospect down the sales funnel by providing them with everything they need for a seamless buying experience, building on your relationship as they progress. This should be true for the whole buying group.

This client-centric approach ensures that your proposed client journeys address the distinct behaviors and pain points of the entire buying group, supported by relevant nurturing content to keep prospects moving through the funnel. At the same time, prioritizing CX and UX creates a smooth, engaging experience, with consistent messaging delivery across diverse marketing channels.

Promoting alignment between sales and marketing is also crucial to ensure SDRs begin outreach only after proper nurturing has taken place.

Mapping out a B2B buying journey involves several key steps:

Define buying stages: Typically, the stages include awareness, consideration, decision, and post-purchase
Determine buyer needs at each stage: Pinpoint what information, challenges, and solutions prospects seek at each phase
Map touchpoints and content: Align the right marketing channels (emails, webinars, blogs) with each stage to guide buyers forward
Analyze and optimize: Continuously gather feedback and refine your strategies based on insights from buyer behavior

#4 Create a loyalty campaign

Nurturing should not end after the prospect converts. 75% of consumers consider client experience (CX) a decisive factor in establishing brand loyalty (Merkle, 2022). Furthermore, B2B client retention is 27% higher among those with an implemented loyalty program—making these initiatives crucial for companies to grow and secure long-term revenue, increase CLTV, and foster brand evangelism.

Steps for implementing a loyalty program:

Tailor the type of program to your client’s preferences. For example, a repeat client would benefit most from a discount or rewards program
Clearly define how points or tiers are earned, whether based on purchase value, frequency of transactions, referrals, or other actions
Use personalized marketing emails, landing pages, and direct outreach to inform clients about how they can participate and what they stand to gain
Utilize automation tools to notify clients of their progress and distribute rewards seamlessly

Create the ideal sales funnel for your clients based on 10 case studies from successful companies

Demand tactics to re-engage buyers that have gone cold

While having a solid plan to prevent prospects from falling out of the sales funnel is essential, it is equally important to address those who have already disengaged with a demand generation strategy designed to nurture colder prospects.

As with your strategy to prevent ghosting, start by identifying friction points and re-evaluate your previous nurturing strategy to optimize touchpoints in these areas.

Below are nurturing tactics that can be employed to re-engage prospects that dropped off in areas of friction:

Nurture prospects the right way with demand generation-ready content

“Prospects choose to ghost because you are asking the wrong questions—you need to pinpoint their pain points. If the prospect has a challenge, they won't forget that. Identify the challenge, go in with an intelligent question, and propose a solution. Strive to be seen as a thought leader, not just a salesperson looking to hit their target metrics. Do not refer to previously downloaded assets, as the prospect will not remember what asset is being referred to, as they are in research mode looking at many solutions to their challenge.

.Michelle Churchill,
VP of Global Client Strategy
INFUSE

Key takeaways

Understand why your buyers are dropping off and where this occurs in the funnel to inform your next steps
Create a long-term strategy to prevent buyers from going cold, focusing on fostering loyalty instead
Re-engage cold prospects with demand tactics designed to regain their attention and trust, enticing them back into the funnel