SiriusDecisions 2017 B-to-B Buying Study Reveals Buyer Behavior and Preferences in Decision-Making Process

SiriusDecisions’ Study Empowers Audience-Centric Marketing by Offering Detailed Insights into Engagement Levels, Decision Drivers, Content Impact, Interaction Preferences and More

SiriusDecisions, the leading global B2B research and advisory firm released 23 new Buyer Insight Reports based on the findings from its 2017 B-to-B Buying Study. SiriusDecisions’ 2017 study is designed to help marketing leaders gain a comprehensive understanding of b-to-b buyer behavior and preferences throughout the entire buying decision process across multiple buying scenarios.

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“Audience-centric marketing is increasingly a requirement for intelligent growth. The ability to granularly explore data on specific buyers and their preferences has a dramatic impact in developing effective messaging, campaigns and programs to reach those buyers, which improves go-to-market strategies and ultimately enhances revenue growth,” said Christina McKeon, Service Director, Portfolio Marketing of SiriusDecisions.

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To support the study, SiriusDecisions conducted a global survey of 868 functional leaders and professionals in b-to-b companies across 15 industries. The breakdown across five revenue bands (less than $50 million, $50 million to $499 million, $500 million to $999 million, $1 billion to $3 billion, and greater than $3 billion) was evenly split with approximately 20 percent of respondents in each band.

The study’s key findings included the following:

1. Marketing leaders’ content preferences vary by decision phase. Marketing leaders find the most value overall in sales presentations, followed by third-party analyst reports, case studies, and brochures.
2. CIOs are most engaged in the solution and selection phases. Across all buying scenarios, CIOs are apt to be more fully engaged during the solution phase when offering evaluations take place, and during the selection phase when the final purchase decision is made.
3. CEOs value third-party content. When using content, CEOs find the most value in third-party analyst reports, with 65 percent of respondents reporting this asset as a meaningful or impactful content type during the education phase.

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