Deliver a disappointing UX–and duck. A B2B Cautionary Tale.

By Jacqueline A. Ball, Yo Marketing Agency Copywriting and Content Lead

As B2B marketers, we know business success hinges on the quality of the user/customer experience, but I suffered the fearsome fallout of a bad UX outside the business world years ago. It came from an angry sixth grader. And I’m still smarting.

A few years after college, I was a staff writer on a middle school classroom magazine designed to encourage creativity and sharpen reading and language skills. Every issue included a piece of short fiction.

For our Halloween issue, I wrote a story about three cowboys camping near a boarded-up mine once owned by Nicholas “Nickels” Nelson. According to legend, Nickels descended into the mine shaft one day and was never seen again. Now his spirit lurked below.

At dawn one wrangler woke up to find the others gone. Eerie lights appeared in the distance. There was a strangled scream. And then . . .

And then the story ended, followed by a pedagogical prompt: “What do you think happened? Write your own ending and send it to us. We’ll publish the best ones!”

I thought leaving the story open-ended was a wonderful idea. Instead of an ordinary, boring story with a beginning, middle, and end, this one would be special.

I got ready for a flood of submissions. Maybe a little fan mail.

The first letter arrived a week after publication–not a rave, just raving mad.

Dear Dummy,

You forgot to print the ending! Send us the ending!

Enough other students wrote in to make it cringeably clear that the nonending was a nonstarter. Why? In the words of my editor, who had strong reservations about the cliffhanger ending all along: “Kids want to see the monster.”

I hadn’t shown them the monster; in fact, I was asking them to create their own monster. I was making them work when the experience they wanted was the shivery pleasure of a good scary story.

Why UX/CX is make-or-break for B2B

Back then, the stakes were low–just a few disappointed readers. But in B2B, the same kind of misstep can cost real trust, customers, and revenue.

Loss of trust. More than half of B2B customers surveyed said they’re likely to switch suppliers if the CX isn’t seamless across all touchpoints–10 channels on average.1

Loss of market share. Churn triggered by bad UX can lead to a lower competitive standing and long-term damage to brand reputation. That’s especially bad news for B2B companies, which rely on current customers for most of their business.

Loss of profit and revenue. Unchecked churn can result in millions in lost profits over time.

On the flip side, investing time and resources in improving UX and CX can:

Raise ROI and lower costs. Every $1 invested in UX design can yield a return of $100 through higher adoption, reduced training, and customer support costs.2

Grow revenue and boost retention. Organizations delivering the best CX enjoy more than twice the revenue growth of other businesses.3 Groups that prioritize customers’ needs and satisfaction report 51% better customer retention than their peers.4

Set your brand apart. CX has jumped to a top spot on the list of B2B brand differentiators.

Like my young student, B2B end users and customers crave simple, user-friendly experiences–solutions that help them solve problems, do their jobs better, and improve their lives. No matter how innovative or well-intentioned, the solution or product is useless if the people who actually need to use it don't adopt it because it’s too complex, not intuitive–or just plain disappointing.

At Yo Marketing, we know how to build user-friendly apps and create the kind of engaging, intuitive customer experiences that never disappoint. We understand that in B2B, you don’t get away with leaving customers hanging. We make sure they always “see the monster,” with user experiences that deliver.

Give us a call and let’s start spurning churn and accelerating your growth together.

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Content Digital Marketing

Should AI Write This? The Question That Changes Everything

**AI gives content fluency. Humans give it friction. Here’s why you need both.** By Mary Cowlett, Yo Marketing Agency Copywriting and Content Lead Judging by the state of my inbox, AI has taken over marketing outreach. Every week brings a fresh wave of clichés, copy-and-paste warmth, and “quick question” hooks. In short, I’m not quite feeling it. These emails and LinkedIn messages are polite and polished, yes, but utterly forgettable – competent, but devoid of a distinct voice. When every brand starts sounding the same, what they say blurs to a monotonous hum – easy to tune out. And for B2B brands that live or die on differentiation, that’s deadly. AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude can be brilliant creative partners, but only when there’s a human applying judgment, shaping the message, and steering the tone. Without that, you don’t get communication – you get hollow output: fluent, mellifluous words that say nothing. This blog isn’t about demonizing AI; it’s about using AI well to create messaging that feels genuinely you to the people you’re trying to reach – so what you say doesn’t just land and connect, it moves people to act. #### The real problem isn’t capability, it’s purpose It’s easy to be dazzled by what AI can produce – first drafts, ad copy, product descriptions, SEO metadata – all in seconds. But speed and scale alone don’t build credibility and connection. Those still come from human elements like empathy, usefulness, and meeting audiences where they are with stories and messages that are relatable and worth reading. Too often, organizations get swept up in what AI can do, instead of being clear about what they actually need it to achieve for their brand. Good digital marketing, and by extension great content, doesn’t start with technology or process. It starts with your audience and your purpose. If a piece of content doesn’t serve those two things, it doesn’t matter how you produce it – your audience won’t be interested, won’t engage, and certainly won’t be moved to act. #### The shift from “Can AI?” to “Should AI?” Once you're clear on who you're speaking to and why, a different kind of question emerges. The useful conversation about AI is no longer about capability – it's about human intent. That’s where *should* becomes more powerful than *can*. • Should this be handed over to AI, or does it need a human point of view? • Should AI speed up production or help you understand your audience well enough to say something that matters? • Should AI replace a conversation, or prompt a more meaningful one? Asking *should* brings intent back into your decisions. It shifts the focus from output to impact – from producing more, faster to producing better and creating connection. And beyond the risk of everything sounding the same, there’s a deeper issue: trust. Without standards, accountability and human oversight, AI can produce content that misleads, misses the mark, or steadily erodes credibility. The goal is to use AI in ways that strengthen trust and sharpen differentiation, not flatten it. #### What “should” looks like in practice Thoughtful use of AI doesn’t replace people; it amplifies what people do best. In other words, it helps you do the thinking around your content – the part that matters most. Content shaped by a human eye and ear does things AI can’t: • **It chooses what not to say:** AI fills space; humans use restraint. • **It creates recognition:** that subtle nod of “this brand actually gets my world.” • **It plays with expectation:** human content allows tension and surprise instead of always taking the safe line. • **It keeps the raw edges when it matters:** it breathes and pauses. AI sanitizes everything and irons it smooth. AI should help you: • **Surface audience insight**, so you’re writing with relevance, not assumptions – or into the void. • **Explore ideas from different perspectives and personas** – even completely bonkers ones. With the right prompts, AI chatbots make great brainstorming partners, letting you try angles you wouldn’t have scope for otherwise. • **Repackage what you’ve already created** – turn a webinar into a blog, a blog into a social thread or a set of short posts, a long article into a mini video script – so one strong idea works harder and goes further across formats and channels. • **Proofread, edit, and critique your work** – a second pair of eyes to catch typos, clunky sentences, contradictions, and places where the thread starts to wobble. Crucially: you decide what stays and what goes. AI shouldn’t strip the soul out of your marketing content – it should give it more space to breathe. Used well, it creates room for more strategic, creative thinking and storytelling, and for the kind of human understanding that builds relationships. #### The payoff: human-led content performs better Recent industry analysis suggests we may already have crossed a tipping point, with AI now responsible for more online content than humans. Yet despite the surge in output, engagement hasn’t kept pace. The flood seems to be leveling off, perhaps because audiences can tell when something’s missing – intent, rhythm, and feel, or simply a point of view. AI is brilliant at generating language. But it does it by predicting the most likely next word – and the most likely thing to say is rarely the thing worth saying. AI gives you fluency. Humans give you friction, timing, emotion – the things that make content resonate. AI can assemble sentences. It can’t care about how they land. The brands that cut through won’t be the ones flooding feeds with polished AI output. They’ll be the ones willing to sound like someone – not everyone – and willing to take creative risk. #### Key takeaways With every new GenAI update, it’s tempting to hand more of the creative process over to the chatbots. But that’s rarely where the real value lies. The brands that stand out use AI to deepen human thinking, not replace it; to create stories that mean something, not just add to the noise. That takes discernment – knowing when AI can stretch your perspective or unlock a fresh line of thought, and when only a human can bring the boldness, empathy, or spark of imperfection that gives communication its edge. Because real connection isn’t always neat. It’s nuanced, emotional, and sometimes even a little messy. It’s about balance: speed and reflection, scale and substance. At Yo Marketing, that balance sits at the heart of how we work. We’re AI-fluent but unapologetically human. What does that mean for our clients? We use AI to amplify creativity, not flatten it – to keep your content sharp, consistent, and unmistakably you in an increasingly bland, safe, automated world. [![Schedule a free strategy session today](https://8pfraw1pqsd9gr2m.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/cta/schedule%20a%20free%20strategy%20session%20today-71nxI8IjipsNWn5HZlezFcxibVvXHd.png)](/contact/)

Digital Marketing Strategy

Why 2025 Belongs to Customer Marketing

By Sarah Taylor, Yo Marketing Agency Head of Global Events As we head deeper into 2025, a quiet shift is reshaping the way marketing teams operate. It’s not about flashy lead gen tactics or ever-larger acquisition funnels anymore. The most forward-thinking businesses are asking a different question: How do we get more value from the customers we already have? ### Budget Cuts and Strategic Shifts With many marketing budgets under pressure, companies are re-evaluating how and where they invest. For a long time, growth was synonymous with acquiring net-new leads. But in today’s landscape, where CAC (customer acquisition cost) is climbing and conversion timelines are stretching, executives are doubling down on a more efficient path to growth: customer marketing. In fact, while many demand gen roles are being frozen or cut, there’s been a noticeable uptick in investment for customer advocacy, lifecycle marketing, and community-led programmes. These aren’t just tactical roles; they’re becoming the backbone of a more sustainable growth strategy. ### It’s More Than Just Upselling Let’s be clear: this isn’t about squeezing more revenue out of existing clients. The shift is much bigger than that. It’s about: • Creating genuine brand advocates • Showcasing customer success as proof of value • Building deeper loyalty that leads to repeat business and referrals Customer marketers are becoming the storytellers of the business, spotlighting real-world results, amplifying trusted voices, and helping prospects see what’s possible through the lens of existing success. ### Advocacy Over Acquisition When done right, your happiest customers become your most powerful marketing channel. They bring credibility, reduce sales cycles, and build trust in a way no campaign or cold call ever could. And the beauty is, you’ve already done the hard part – they chose you. Now it’s about nurturing those relationships and building a platform for them to tell their story. In 2025, the smartest marketers aren’t chasing attention. They’re earning trust. If you’re ready to turn your customers into your most valuable marketing asset, Yo Marketing can help. We design and deliver customer-led programmes that build loyalty, drive referrals, and create stories that sell. Let’s talk! [![Schedule a free strategy session today](https://8pfraw1pqsd9gr2m.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/cta/schedule%20a%20free%20strategy%20session%20today-71nxI8IjipsNWn5HZlezFcxibVvXHd.png)](/contact/)

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Deliver a disappointing UX–and duck. A B2B Cautionary Tale.

Dear Dummy,

You forgot to print the ending! Send us the ending!

Why UX/CX is make-or-break for B2B

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Should AI Write This? The Question That Changes Everything

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