6sense Research recently published groundbreaking research, The 2024 B2B Buyer Experience Report, that reveals how B2B buyers make their decisions, and when.
The report and its implications were recently discussed by co-author Kerry Cunningham, Head of Research and Thought Leadership for 6sense and a former Forrester and Sirius Decisions analyst.
If you don’t have time to watch the full 45-minute webinar, here’s a recap.
Once upon a time, in the not-so-distant past, the world of B2B buying was cloaked in mystery. Buyers relied heavily on sellers, who acted as gatekeepers of information. Much like the Dark Ages, knowledge was held by a privileged few.
Those fairytale days for sellers are over. In the same way the printing press fueled the Renaissance and opened new possibilities, the digital revolution has democratized information within the B2B landscape.
Sellers are no longer the sole providers of product information, market insights, and industry trends. Buyers no longer rely on these gatekeepers to make informed decisions.
Instead, buyers find themselves in a new era of B2B enlightenment.
They can research products, compare services, and read reviews with just a few clicks. This access has empowered buyers to take control of their own buying journey. They no longer need sellers to guide them through every step of the process.
They no longer want sellers to guide them through each step of the process.
Instead, they educate themselves and make many key decisions before they ever talk to a seller. Yet revenue teams frequently still operate under the old paradigm, at their own peril.
Here are five key insights that can reshape how B2B companies approach the buying journey to maximize their opportunities to win deals in the Age of the Empowered Buyer:
1. Buyers Control the Timing of Engagement
One of the B2B Buyer Experience Report’s central findings is that B2B buyers take the lead in initiating contact with vendors. When asked, more than 80% of buyers said they initiated contact with a vendor, rather than responding to vendor outreach. Clearly, buyers want to control when they engage with sellers. Almost always, buyers wait until they’re two-thirds of the way through their buying journey before reaching out. So, if a buying journey lasts an average of 11 months, eight of those months are spent in self-guided research.
This is possible thanks to the abundance of online information. In today’s digital landscape, where buyers conduct extensive independent research, the old playbook of gatekeeping information in order to gather leads is counterproductive. Only about 3% of web visitors fill out forms. Those who do often are simply looking for info — they are nowhere near ready to have a conversation, and they ghost sellers who try to reach them.
2. Buyers Usually Pick a Winner Before They Talk to Vendors
The first two-thirds of the buyer journey essentially functions as a selection phase. Buyers build their short-list of contenders and pick a favorite.
About 80% of the time, buyers go with the first vendor they speak with. Is that because the first seller to reach out has an advantage? Nope. It’s because the first vendor a buyer reaches out to has already established itself as the top choice of the buying team. Everybody else who gets contacted? They’re mostly also-rans who buyers are calling for due diligence purposes.
The new buyer journey means strong B2B marketing is incredibly important. Marketers must build brand awareness and trust, then educate potential buyers through content marketing and digital campaigns. Content must be readily available to inform and influence potential buyers at every touchpoint of their independent research.
“Buyers are choosing early,” Kerry says. “They’re selecting based on the brands they know at the beginning of that buying journey. And that’s a marketing function — to ensure that you’re putting the right messages and content in front of those buyers.”
But creating valuable content isn’t enough. Marketing leaders must also ensure this information is easily accessible, as buyers tend to favor ungated resources. By democratizing access to information and reducing barriers to content, brands can foster trust and earn buyers’ consideration.
3. Aligning Marketing and Sales on Target Accounts
The traditional schism between marketing and sales, often fueled by conflicting definitions of what constitutes a worthwhile lead, remains an obstacle for many B2B companies. A shared focus on account-based marketing (ABM) can resolve this issue. In fact, 82% of marketers in the study reported having an account-based practice within their organization.
ABM ensures that marketing and sales teams focus on the same accounts, streamlining the buyer journey and improving outcomes by treating high-value accounts as cohesive units rather than isolated leads. Moreover, ABM prioritizes entire buying groups within target accounts, moving away from the narrow, lead-based approach.
“The signal of one person coming to your website and looking at your content is absolutely meaningless,” Kerry suggests. “What we need to do is see evidence of multiple people and their interests… so we can know whether that spike is part of a buying process or just a spike.”
When there are strong signs of interest, marketers and sellers should engage in multi-threading — engaging with multiple stakeholders within the same account — to build trust and acceptance within the entire buying team.
4. Buying Groups Are Growing and Interactions Are Increasing
The complexity of B2B purchasing is underscored by the average size of buying groups and the number of interactions they have with vendors. According to the B2B Buyer Experience Report, the typical B2B buying team includes 11 people, each with different priorities and needs.
Collectively, they interact with potential vendors as many as 187 times over the course of their journey — averaging 17 interactions per individual.
These figures reveal how important it is for companies to provide consistent messaging across different touchpoints and build a cohesive experience. Furthermore, the buying group model highlights the importance of understanding each member’s role and influence within the group to create more meaningful and targeted engagement.
5. Traditional Marketing Attribution Is Inadequate
Tracking buyer engagement has grown increasingly complex as the number of touchpoints has skyrocketed. Traditional attribution models, such as first-touch or last-touch, are no longer sufficient. Statistical modeling provides a clearer picture of what actually influences buying decisions. Marketing teams should use statistical analysis to understand the full impact of their efforts rather than relying on outdated linear models.
This advanced approach to attribution will allow B2B companies to attribute value more accurately to their marketing efforts, even as buyers complete a significant portion of their journey independently. It also provides better feedback for adjusting strategies based on what’s genuinely resonating with the full buying group rather than focusing on individual responses.
Final Thoughts: A Renaissance in B2B Sales and Marketing
Kerry’s webinar positions these changes as part of a “B2B renaissance.” This renaissance acknowledges that information democratization has fundamentally altered how buyers make decisions, just as the printing press revolutionized access to knowledge during the Renaissance. The modern B2B buyer journey may be complex, but by embracing new strategies and a renewed focus on the role of marketing, companies can meet the needs of empowered, information-driven buyers.
By aligning sales and marketing, prioritizing ABM, creating buyer-centered content, and updating attribution models, companies can foster a more connected and effective approach to revenue generation in the digital age.
