The way businesses grow is changing. And we are evolving with them.
Digital has never been more central to business growth.
For considered purchases brands, digital is no longer simply a marketing channel. where customers make decisions about brands. More than two thirds of B2B decision makers now prefer digital self-service and remote human interactions across the purchase journey (McKinsey & Company).
Brands that get digital right will drive sustainable growth, outperform their competitors and become a category of one.
But there is a catch
Digital has become increasingly difficult to get right. Customer journeys that were once relatively linear now span a multitude of platforms and channels, from search and social, to reviews, communities, comparison sites and AI.
Users have more choice and ways to research independently than ever before. They can compare brands, question claims, seek opinions, validate recommendations and revisit decisions across multiple touchpoints before they ever need to act.
More information, therefore, does not necessarily mean more certainty.
At 7DOTS, we have identified this gap between intent and action as the Messy Middle and believe that it presents as a key industry problem, but also one of the biggest opportunities for businesses looking to generate growth.
AI is making this development even more significant and has begun to define both the process of brand discovery and which brands are discoverable in the first place.
As people now use AI to research, compare and validate their choices, brands are no longer competing solely for visibility on traditional search results. This creates a new layer of uncertainty.
Customers can be overwhelmed by choice, unsure of what information is credible, or just conscious that an AI recommendation is not necessarily a guarantee if something is right for them.
The evidence for this disconnect is already clear. The Challenger Sale found that 60% of B2B purchasing journeys end in “no decision” and buyers get stuck, while Gartner established that 23% of buyers do not trust a vendor to deliver what they said they would.
Indeed, a certain channel may facilitate a problem, a poor experience might contribute to it, and weak content, unclear positioning, insufficient proof or technical friction might all create barriers. However, at 7DOTS, we see this as a confidence problem.
The key growth question boils down to:
Does the customer have enough confidence to make the decision?
Because confidence is not only a lack of doubt, but the key driver of any action.
If businesses can identify where confidence is being lost, they can do more than fix an individual conversion point. They can create the long-term conditions that enable people to make faster and more assured decisions.
This is why we believe the role of businesses like ours needs to evolve.
The traditional digital agency model is often organised around capabilities: Digital strategy & consulting, SEO, paid media, UX & UI design, data, analytics & insight, GEO, and so on. These services are central to industry success, but in an increasingly interconnected customer journey, they cannot be the starting point.
This point must be the problem.
Before asking which channel needs optimising, the campaign that should be launched, or which technology needs implementing, we first have to understand why there is hesitation in the first place and aim to close this Confidence Gap. ™
As a result, we have formulated the 5Cs snapshot which allows us to identify how such problems can directly affect a business:
- Company: Are you set up to deliver?
- Cohorts: Who are the customers and why are they hesitating?
- Competitors: Who is winning the confidence that we aren’t?
- Context: What external forces are changing the decision?
- Confidence: Where is intent breaking down into inaction?
In action, the first four Cs provide the evidence, while the fifth turns that evidence into a clear understanding of where decisions are being lost, and what needs to be changed.
From there, our capabilities become the mechanism for closing the gap.
We haven’t fundamentally changed what we do. Customer journeys have changed and the way people discover, research and make decisions is affected. So, while our name, services and people remain the same, our industry approach has evolved, and our digital identity is now reflective of this.
