[wib Co., Ltd.] [Original research report] In the BtoB purchasing process, 84% of decision makers receive information that will help them decide on a purchase before contacting a sales person
*View in browser* *wib Co., Ltd.*
Press release: April 2, 2024
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[Original research report] In the BtoB purchasing process, 84% of decision makers receive information that will help them make a purchase decision before contacting a sales person
*In BtoB sales, the role of touchpoints leading up to business negotiations is expanding*
wib Co., Ltd. (headquarters: 2-19-10 Kojima, Taito-ku, Tokyo, CEO: Yuta Watari, hereafter wib) conducted an independent survey on purchasing decisions in BtoB sales.
This research is based on the Digital Evolution in B2B Marketing study announced by Google and CEB in 2012.
Based on the result that “57% of the sales process is completed before the actual business meeting”, we conducted a survey of the current market situation in Japan 12 years later.
(*As the exact questionnaire methods etc. at that time were not made public, and the respondent population of this survey was limited to Japan, it is not a strict comparison with the 2012 survey.)
The survey results revealed that, as the title suggests, “84% of decision makers are exposed to the information that led them to make a purchasing decision before contacting a salesperson,” and over the past 11 years, the importance of BtoB content has increased. This result significantly indicates that the number of people living in Japan is increasing.
-Survey overview-
Research source: wib Co., Ltd.
Survey period: February 2024
Number of people surveyed: 500 people
Survey target:
25-59 years old
Approvers who have purchased BtoB products within the past year (No allocation by gender, age, or industry)
* Investigation result*
▪️67% of approvers make purchase decisions through channels other than sales representatives
As shown in the figure below, 67% of the information that made me feel “I should use this product” or “I should hire this company” was other than “Business negotiations and inquiries with sales
representatives.”
This tendency is stronger the younger you are, with 85% of people in their 20s and 71% of people in their 30s making purchase decisions through channels other than contacting salespeople (web advertising, TV commercials, websites, owned media, etc.) answered.
▪️84% of respondents obtained “information” related to purchasing decisions “before contacting a salesperson”
As shown in the figure below, the timing when you received information that made you feel like “I should use this product” or “I should hire this company” was determined by the overall *
84% said it was before *the time they had an actual
conversation/contact with a salesperson/conducted a business meeting. ▪️Web content such as white papers and case studies are becoming even more important.
When we looked at BtoB purchasing decisions over the past 2-3 years, we checked which items were used more or less frequently.*
The categories with the highest percentage increase were “Downloadable useful materials (white papers),” “Company website, owned media,” “Introduction case studies/case studies,” “Official SNS,” and “Business negotiations.”*
The focus was on web content.
On the other hand, offline content such as “request for materials (mail)” and “exhibition” had a high percentage of decreases. ▪️Current status of BtoB sales in Japan
Survey summary
– 70% of customers make purchasing decisions outside of contact with sales staff
– 80% of customers are exposed to information relevant to their purchasing decisions before contacting a salesperson
– Online touchpoints are convenient and useful in the BtoB purchasing process Consideration
– Due to the shortage of human resources and the development of technology, “purchasing without involving a salesperson” will become more mainstream in the BtoB purchasing process.
– Online content that is “easy to read/understand” and “shows the uniqueness of the company” is required.
– It is necessary to design web flow lines so that information can be easily obtained.
Detailed data can be downloaded here