More Informed B2B Buyers Pose New Challenges to Digital Marketers

A new report released by SAP shows that B2B buyers are becoming more informed, with about 75 percent of them saying they research products, solutions and vendors prior to spending. The “What’s the Future of Sales?” report looked at how today’s B2B professionals are handling the risks associated with making purchases.

About 52 percent of respondents said that the biggest risk of getting a purchase wrong is wasting company money. Nearly 23 percent of them said that losing internal credibility is their top concern. When researching products in an effort to overcome these risks, the data shows that approximately 35 percent refer to social media and blogs.

“With a wealth of information at their fingertips, buyers are more informed than ever,” wrote the authors of the report. “Over two-thirds wait longer to initiate contact with vendors than they did two years ago because they are doing more research themselves.”

The data also shows that 35 percent of respondents often share their customer experience with others when it is negative. The researchers note that this has a detrimental effect on B2B marketers, who have to work harder to sell products to prospects who have been negatively influenced.

Attempting to Understand the Primary Buyer

The “2015 State of B2B Marketing” report published by Regalix recently shed light on the efforts marketers are putting toward better understanding their target audience. Over the next three years, 87 percent of B2B marketers claim that they will be focusing their digital marketing initiatives on understanding the customer-buying journey.

As B2B buyers turn to the Internet to conduct more research, marketers are preparing accordingly, according to report data. About 76 percent of respondents said that their website content will become indispensable in 2015, highlighting its value in an era of smart shopping.

Nearly 46 percent of respondents said that their blog posts helped them accomplish their marketing goals in 2014, while 70 percent said that their website content was responsible. Approximately 44 percent cited social media posts as their primary assets.