Survey: B2B Buyers Prioritize Reliability and Ease of Use in Tech Solutions

As B2B buyers look for products, new research suggests that B2B marketers may want to focus on highlighting their reliability and ease of use to close the deal.

Lavidge recently surveyed 400 B2B tech buyers to learn about their preferences when it comes to purchasing products and services. The majority of respondents (68 percent) claimed that reliability was the most critical criteria that influences their purchase decision. This was followed by ease of use (64 percent) and low cost (49 percent). About 43 percent of respondents also said that they prefer a new product or service to be easy to integrate.

The research also showed that B2B buyers are taking several different avenues to connect with marketers and their companies. About half of the respondents (52 percent) stated that they turn to referrals from friends and colleagues first. Approximately 39 percent use search engines, while 34 percent consult vendor websites.

“Getting to decision makers is crazy difficult in today’s fragmented environment, which is why an omnichannel approach is required,” says Stephen Heitz, chief innovation officer of Lavidge.

Marketers and the Omnichannel Customer Experience

This is not the first research to point to the importance of providing an omnichannel experience. The “Customer in Context” report from the CMO Council discovered that 47 percent of customers engage with businesses across several platforms. In addition, 42 percent like to mix it up, depending on where they are or what they want.

“Customers are defining which channel is important at different stages of their journey,” wrote the authors of the report. “This means it is even more critical for marketers to truly understand their target audience.”