Define and Manage Buying Groups

Context

The purchase decisions for B2B buyers are often made by groups rather than individuals. Using buying groups, you can identify and engage these group members at your target accounts. Start defining a buying group by selecting the personas and buying roles usually involved in the buying process. Then, include keyword sets and web pages that relate to a specific product or solution. After defining and activating your buying group, optimize your ad campaigns to reach its members effectively.

Important: The number of buying groups you can define depends on your ABX package edition.

• Professional: 1 buying group
• Enterprise: 3 buying groups
• Elite: 5 buying groups

The Buying Groups page shows your active and inactive buying groups. From this page, you can create new buying groups and edit or archive existing ones.

To watch a video that shows you how to create buying groups, see Creating a Buying Group (Video).

For each buying group you create, Demandbase guides you through the following steps.

Step 1: Personas Involved

Add personas to the buying group based on title keywords, job functions, and job levels. You have the option to include existing personas or to create new ones during buying group setup. For each persona you add to a buying group, you need to assign one or more predefined buying roles.

Note that the same persona can have different buying roles in different buying groups. For example, a Demand Gen persona can play the Decision-Maker role for the buying group of one solution and the Influencer role in the buying group for another solution. 

Step 2. Add Product Interests

Add the keyword sets and web pages that indicate interest in your product or solution.

Tip: You can save and activate buying groups without adding product interests.

Step 3: Review and Activate

Review the buying group configuration and activate it from the summary page. The page lists the personas, keyword sets, and web pages added.

Prerequisites/Preparation

You must have Admin privileges or be assigned to a permission set with the required Demandbase settings access.

You must have access to Demandbase ABX to create buying groups and Demandbase Advertising to use buying group targeting in campaigns. The maximum number of buying groups you can have active depends on your ABX license type.

You must complete your Qualification Score setup before Demandbase can identify buying groups at your accounts and recommend buying group members. Demandbase can only identify buying groups and recommend buying group members for accounts with Qualification Scores greater than 50.  

(Optional) Create Keyword Sets for your products or solutions and deploy the Demandbase Tag to your website. You only need to complete these steps if you want to add product interests when defining buying groups.

Steps: Create a Buying Group

1. From the left navigation bar, go to Settings > Buyer Profiles > Buying Groups and click Create New.
2. In the window that opens, enter a Name and click Next to go to Step 1.
3. To add personas, do the following:
   a. To add an existing persona, click Add next to its name.
   Tip: Click Create New to create a new persona. See Create and Manage Personas for Buying Groups.
   b. Select the Buying Role(s) to assign to the persona.
   Important: Buying roles are predefined and cannot be edited. See Reference: Buying Roles for Buying Groups.
   Click Next to go to Step 2.
4. To add product interests, do the following:
   a. (Optional) Select Demandbase Intent Keyword sets with the keywords that personas within a buying group would read about for your products or solutions.
   b. (Optional) Select the Web Pages that personas within a buying group would visit when showing engagement for your products or solutions.
   c. Click Next to go to Step 3.
5. To review and activate the buying group, do the following:
   a. Review the personas and product interest summaries.
   b. Click Activate.
   Tip: If you’re not ready to activate the buying group, click Save Draft to save the current configuration. Draft buying groups appear in the Inactive tab.

Steps: Edit and Archive a Buying Group

1. From the left navigation bar, go to  Settings > Buyer Profiles > Buying Groups.
2. Hover over the buying group name, click the gear icon that appears, and select one of the following options:
   • Edit Buying Group: Select to update the buying group.
   • Archive: Select to archive a buying group.
     
     Tip: To make an archived buying group active, go to the Inactive tab, hover over the name, click the gear icon that appears, and select Active.