Analyzing Consumer Insights

Something strange is happening in B2B buying. Deals are being won and lost before sales calls even happen. Not because of features. Not because of price. But because of something most B2B companies barely think about. Dentsu's massive 2024 B2B buyer study - over 14,000 interviews - reveals a shift that's rewriting the rules of how enterprise software gets purchased. And most companies are completely unprepared for it. The shift? Brand marketing now drives more revenue than most companies realize. And the ROI is measurable, predictable, and massive. B2B buyers only evaluate 2-5 vendors on average, according to TrustRadius's 2024 B2B Buying Disconnect Report. That's it. Once you make that shortlist, you have a 71% chance the buyer sticks with their initial favorite. The entire "evaluation process" often just validates a choice they've already made. But here's the ROI kicker: TrustRadius found 78% of buyers select products they've heard of before starting their research. Forrester's Business Trust survey found 77% of purchase influencers consider a vendor's brand awareness as a key factor in whether they trust that organization. The revenue impact? Forrester found 83% of B2B influencers who trust a supplier plan to continue doing business with them. That's not just win rate - that's lifetime value. The LinkedIn B2B Institute and Ipsos research confirms the pricing power: buyers explicitly state they'll pay premiums for trusted brands because it mitigates risk in complex B2B deals. Brand marketing doesn't just win deals. It wins them at higher prices with better retention. Brand marketing isn't a cost center - it's a revenue multiplier. When 78% of buyers choose from brands they already know, awareness directly equals pipeline. Yet only ~30% of B2B marketing budgets go to brand. We're investing backwards. Meanwhile, 68% of buyers say all vendors sound identical (Dentsu). And every $1 cut from brand investment costs $1.85 to rebuild (BCG). Smart companies track brand perception religiously. They know which buying situations trigger their brand. They measure if messages actually change perception. But 79% of CFOs see no clear metrics connecting brand to revenue. Because most companies guess instead of measure. You should do brand tracking at minimum once a year. You can run one with Wynter and gets results in 2 days https://lnkd.in/dV2umFPy

Smart brands stopped chasing customers. Instead, they appear where purchase decisions happen unconsciously. There was a time when shopping started with intent. But that’s no longer how we shop. Today, the purchase begins somewhere completely different.  A reel.  A random scroll on your lunch break. This is ambient shopping -where discovery, consideration, and checkout all happen in the same swipe. Here's what's really happening: → 76% of millennials buy while multitasking [Salsify] → 39% purchased after an influencer recommendation [Salsify] → 34% bought viral products they discovered randomly  → Men (75%) do this more than women (63%) [Salsify] The smartest brands have figured this out. Take Myntra's ₹5,122 crore success story: [entrackr] 📌 They don't wait for you to visit their app. Their Style Hub articles pop up when you're casually googling "monsoon fashion tips." Their lookbooks appear in your Instagram feed between friend updates. You're reading about trends, not shopping – yet somehow that perfect kurta ends up in your cart. 📌 They partner with influencers you actually follow: Myntra works with nano and micro influencers. This changes the purchase intent because these feel like friend recommendations, not ads. 📌 They go live when you're scrolling: M-Now Live events aren't just fashion shows. They're real-time outfit demos with flash deals that caught more buyers simply because they happened to be online at the right moment. 📌 They make discovery feel natural: Myntra's AI Style Assistant doesn't push products. It suggests outfits based on what you browsed last week, increasing order values without feeling salesy. The truth? Shopping isn't an errand anymore. It's woven into everything we do online. Brands that understand this aren't interrupting your scroll, they're becoming part of it. Ever bought something and wondered "when did I even decide to buy this?

80% of consumers don’t just listen to influencers. But they also buy the product they’re recommending. This number clearly indicates that an influencer has a solid hold over how many people buy from your brand. But here’s the blind spot: not all influencers have the same impact. Because the game of influence is not less about reach and more about trust. And in India, trust often flows through cultural and spiritual authorities more than celebrity endorsements. Case in point: my research at IIM Ahmedabad (IMRC 2024): I studied 10,000 respondents (18–40 years) across India in the gemstones & crystals category. The findings were eye-opening: - 72% said astrologers/numerologists influenced their purchase decisions. - 65% said social media influencers played a role. - 55% said celebrities mattered. - Only 30% said friends/family. Think about that: in this space, astrologers weren’t just “influencers.” They were cultural authorities who were becoming the common link between trust, tradition, and aspiration. Now here’s the bigger question for every D2C founder & marketer: If spirituality can drive consumer behavior so powerfully in one category… what’s stopping it from unlocking growth in others? At NumroVani, we’ve seen similar patterns play out across India. Spirituality isn’t a niche. It’s a cultural construct with massive influence, especially in wellness, jewelry, lifestyle, and beyond. For brands building in the D2C space, the lesson is clear: Don’t just chase influencers with the biggest following. Find the voices with the deepest trust. #Astrology #D2C #InfluencerMarketing

For years, companies have been leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to provide personalized customer experiences. One widespread use case is showing product recommendations based on previous data. But there's so much more potential in AI that we're just scratching the surface. One of the most important things for any company is anticipating each customer's needs and delivering predictive personalization. Understanding customer intent is critical to shaping predictive personalization strategies. This involves interpreting signals from customers’ current and past behaviors to infer what they are likely to need or do next, and then dynamically surfacing that through a platform of their choice. Here’s how: 1. Customer Journey Mapping: Understanding the various stages a customer goes through, from awareness to purchase and beyond. This helps in identifying key moments where personalization can have the most impact. This doesn't have to be an exercise on a whiteboard; in fact, I would counsel against that. Journey analytics software can get you there quickly and keep journeys "alive" in real time, changing dynamically as customer needs evolve. 2. Behavioral Analysis: Examining how customers interact with your brand, including what they click on, how long they spend on certain pages, and what they search for. You will need analytical resources here, and hopefully you have them on your team. If not, find them in your organization; my experience has been that they find this type of exercise interesting and will want to help. 3. Sentiment Analysis: Using natural language processing to understand customer sentiment expressed in feedback, reviews, social media, or even case notes. This provides insights into how customers feel about your brand or products. As in journey analytics, technology and analytical resources will be important here. 4. Predictive Analytics: Employing advanced analytics to forecast future customer behavior based on current data. This can involve machine learning models that evolve and improve over time. 5. Feedback Loops: Continuously incorporate customer signals (not just survey feedback) to refine and enhance personalization strategies. Set these up through your analytics team. Predictive personalization is not just about selling more; it’s about enhancing the customer experience by making interactions more relevant, timely, and personalized. This customer-led approach leads to increased revenue and reduced cost-to-serve. How is your organization thinking about personalization in 2024? DM me if you want to talk it through. #customerexperience #artificialintelligence #ai #personalization #technology #ceo

For every enterprise seller who still thinks they can win complex deals by “selling to the champion”… You won’t. The champion can’t close the deal alone. Think Game of Thrones, not Superman. Beyond the champion, you need to win over 4 specific people—each with their own priorities, politics, and power. Miss even one, and the deal’s at risk. Here’s how to play it: 1. The Champion (The Puppeteer) Champions are your internal sellers. They personally win if your solution wins—and risk their reputation if you fail. If I spotted a Champion under pressure (like fixing an audit gap)... I’d hand them a tailored deck with: - A quantified win they can present as their own - Internal proof points - An executive summary they don’t have to edit I don’t need credit. I need them to win inside their company—so I can win, too. 2. The Decision Maker (The Big Boss) Deals over $100K rarely close without a true Decision Maker’s sign-off. If I get a CFO in the room... I’m not showing dashboards. I’m showing: - Payback in 6 to 10 months - $M in annual savings - Alignment with next year’s strategic goals They don’t buy tools. They buy outcomes they can defend at the board table in 2 slides or less. 3. The Influencer (The Consigliere) Influencers cherish their respected position. They don't hold the pen, but their opinion matters. They tend to get what they want. If I hear an influencer is nervous… - I shower them with attention - Encourage them to impact the narrative - Incorporate their ideas in the vision Influencers don’t need a pitch. They need to feel seen and heard. 4. The Blocker (The Saboteur) They may not oppose you to your face…. …but they are dead set on sinking your ship. They have a plan or a fiefdom that serves them, And your solution threatens it. I’d give them one of two things: - A way to feel ownership in the project - A vision of how they will benefit post-implementation Blockers fester if left alone. You don’t need to make them a fan. You just need to neutralize their fears. 5. The User (The Citizen) Even after you close, users decide if you actually win. If I know adoption will be a battle… I’d launch a “First 5 Days” playbook: - 5-minute wins - Video walkthroughs - Recognition for early adopters Because users don’t care what your product roadmap looks like. They care if it makes today suck less. — Enterprise sales isn’t just about navigating complexity. It’s about orchestrating belief—across every layer of the system. Sellers who master the psychology, not just the process, are the ones who consistently close seven- and eight-figure deals. PS: If you want to build a pipeline full of real opportunities—we just dropped The Pipeline Flywheel Webinar On Demand. It breaks down how top sellers align every persona and generate momentum across complex deals. Comment “Flywheel” and my team or I’ll send you the link.

If you're losing late-stage deals, this is probably why. 👇 A new study by LinkedIn just confirmed what every seasoned sales leader has known but struggled to solve: Defensibility outweighs utility when it comes to buying decisions. Buyers aren’t picking the best product. They’re picking the safest decision. That matters to them more than price or features. They’re asking themselves, “If this fails, can I defend it?” Any two products being equal, B2B buyers weigh career risk the most. That survival instinct explains many late-stage symptoms we see: deals stalling, champions going silent, competitors suddenly pulling ahead. When the stakes are this personal, one believer isn’t enough. Your champion needs backup. The entire buying group must be willing to share the risk and stand behind the decision. That’s what actually moves deals forward: alignment around the table. LinkedIn’s research named it clearly: one of the five emotional “Jobs to Be Done” behind every B2B decision is that “The buyer group was more or less aligned.” A confident buying decision is forged among 5-10+ stakeholders who agree: 1) This solution will work 2) The risk can be managed 3) We’ll back each other up if it doesn’t go well The solution? Buying Group Marketing (BGM). It’s the only way to sell into defensibility. Emotional alignment of that group is now the predictor of closed-won. BGM is how you identify the real decision-makers, engage the influencers who can kill a deal, and equip champions with the validation they need: peer proof. What’s different now is that AI makes BGM scalable. We can use AI to detect every person in the buying group (even those you didn’t know mattered), automate sequencing across each of those people, and generate content that travels within an org. Buying group marketing is essentially emotional risk management at scale. It's where every technology solution must now compete.

There is a quiet shift happening in how people decide what to buy. We still talk a lot about reach, virality and creator-led discovery and rightly so. Influencer marketing has become one of the most powerful ways for brands to enter conversations quickly. When it is niche-led and rooted in genuine familiarity, it can accelerate discovery in ways traditional media never could. But discovery is only the first chapter. What shapes decisions more deeply is what people encounter after the first impression. The small signals that tell them whether a brand is consistent, thoughtful and trustworthy. Visibility creates awareness. Experience creates conviction. And that experience is built through details that rarely go viral - a helpful customer support reply, packaging that feels intentional, a website that answers questions clearly, a genuine story shared by a real customer about why the product mattered to them. This is where design thinking quietly becomes marketing. Instead of asking, “What should we say to customers?” The better question is, “What are customers actually experiencing when they meet the brand?” Every touchpoint becomes part of the narrative. When those touchpoints feel personal and aligned, they do more than generate attention - they create preference. Influencers remain an important discovery channel. But the brands that grow stronger over time are the ones that pair discovery with lived customer experiences that people want to talk about. That combination is where meaningful marketing really begins. #Marketing #Branding #Trust #Design

Demographics tell you "who" holds the wallet. Motivations tell you "why" it opens. Here's what kills food brands: Food brands spend serious budget profiling their "target consumer." Female. 25-34. Urban. $75K income. Shops at Whole Foods. But that same profile bought both $2 store-brand yogurt and $8 artisanal kefir last week. The demographics didn't change. The motivations did. After analyzing millions of food purchases and diving deep into consumer psychology research, we've built something that actually predicts buying behavior. Something specifically for food & beverage. Introducing the Why People Buy Pyramid by Schaefer. It maps the real motivations that drive every food purchase. Four levels that explain why someone picks Oatly over Silk. Why they'll pay $5 for a protein bar but balk at $3 granola. The pyramid reveals what demographics hide: 1️⃣ 𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗡𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 (𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜𝘁 𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀): Taste, convenience, nutrition, price. These are your table stakes. If you fail here, nothing else matters. But succeeding here? That just gets you in the game. 2️⃣ 𝗘𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 (𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗜𝘁 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗹𝘀): This is where brands build loyalty. Nostalgia. Comfort. Indulgence. That chocolate bar that tastes like childhood. The beverage ritual that starts your day. Emotions drive repeat purchases, not nutrition labels. 3️⃣ 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 (𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗜𝘁 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀): Food as identity. The keto snacks that support your lifestyle. The plant-based milk that aligns with your values. The performance drinks that fuel your ambitions. This creates advocates, not just customers. 4️⃣ 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 (𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗜𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀): The highest level. Fair trade. Zero waste. Supporting local farmers. This is where premium pricing lives. Where movements begin. Where brands become causes and communities. The psychology breakthrough: Most brands think linearly. Better taste → Higher price → More sales. But consumers think in layers. They'll pay $6 for coffee that tastes good (Basic Needs), $8 if it makes them feel sophisticated (Emotional Value), $10 if it fits their wellness journey (Personal Growth), and $12 if it supports farmers directly (Social Impact). Same coffee. Different story. 2X the price. We evolved this from Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and Bain's Elements of Value, but made it actually useful for food brands. Because knowing consumers want "self-actualization" doesn't help you position a yogurt brand. But knowing they want gut health (Personal Growth) wrapped in childhood comfort (Emotional Value)? Now you're speaking their language. The brutal truth: You can't win it all. But you must know which motivations you own. Mass brands dominate Basic Needs. Premium brands rely on Emotional Value. Functional brands own Personal Growth. Mission-driven brands command Social Impact. Where does your brand live in the pyramid? 🔺

Product Data is the New Customer Data! Scott Brinker and Frans Riemersma just dropped the Martech 2026 report. One stat made me pause: McKinsey & Company predicts $750 billion in consumer spend will flow through AI assistants by 2028. Think about what that means. When ChatGPT shops for your customers, there is no website visit. No browsing behavior. No click path. No time-on-page. No scroll depth. The entire customer journey happens somewhere you cannot see. So what happens to Customer Intelligence when First-Party Data essentially disappears?' I keep coming back to one answer: Product Data. When all you have left is the transaction – what someone actually bought – you need to extract maximum intelligence from it. Not just SKU and price. But the lifestyle embedded in that product. Here is what I mean. Take your product feed and enrich it with an LLM. Look at the promotional images. What world does the brand show? What kind of person is wearing that jacket, using that tool, drinking that coffee? Suddenly your product carries lifestyle attributes you never explicitly captured. A customer buys a Patagonia fleece, oat milk, and a Theragun. You have no journey data. But the products themselves tell you: outdoor, health-conscious, recovery-focused, premium-willing. The products are the persona. From an enriched product feed you can derive competitor products that match the same lifestyle. You can cluster purchases into lifestyle segments. You can build recommendations based on product affinity rather than behavioral signals you no longer have. This feels like a fundamental shift. From understanding customers through their behavior to understanding them through their choices. How well do you actually know your products? Not the category codes but the lifestyles they represent? Full report: https://lnkd.in/e5EaFs4u

⚠️ It's the economy, stupid! In 2026, the most dangerous assumption a business leader can make is that all their customers are feeling the economy the same way. 📊 The top 10% of US earners now account for nearly half of all consumer spending, according to Moody’s Analytics and Bank of America. So the picture doesn’t look like a neat curve…it looks more like a 'K': - 😎 One branch is still booking trips, upgrading kitchens, and paying for convenience. - 💸 The other is doing mental math in the grocery aisle, watching every dollar, and postponing “nice‑to‑haves”. Most brands are now serving two very different customers: - the high‑income household that’s still fueling growth - the household that’s stretching paychecks and protecting essentials In that environment, a single “average customer” strategy doesn’t hold up. The real work to be done is going beyond pricing to make sure each tier delivers a different kind of value. 🛒 Entry products need to deliver reliability, efficiency, and thoughtful design that respect constrained households. 💎 Premium and luxury products should add real, incremental benefits: better ergonomics, integration, and service that actually make life easier. There’s also a trust dimension here. Quiet price increases and feature trade‑offs hit hardest where there’s the least buffer. For your customers watching dollars, responsible brand leadership might mean showing:  ✅ Why prices are moving ✅ Where you’re protecting essentials, and ✅ How you’re building durability into core products At the top of the K, the brief is different: ✅ Invest in experience and seamless built‑ins ✅ Feature benefits that genuinely delight ✅ Deliver service that feels human and responsive And ideally, the best innovations in those tiers don’t stay locked there forever; they trickle down over time. As someone who grew up in a home that watched every dollar, I don’t believe you can call yourself customer‑centric if your brand strategy only works for the top of the K. 💌 Real customer‑centricity shows up when we create and sell portfolios that feel respectful whether a family is trading up or trading down.