Here at Wynter, we surveyed 100 B2B SaaS marketing executives from companies with 200+ employees to answer these questions.
The key trend: buyers trust their peers and their own eyes more than anything else.
The process starts with companies identifying their needs and requirements.
While the exact sequence of steps varies, each of them asks:
Before engaging with vendors, companies conduct thorough research to understand the vendor's offerings, reputation, and alignment with their needs.
“We identify a specific problem and come up with a list of requirements. Then, we put together a shortlist of vendors using Google and recommendations from friends.
Next, we do a deep-dive into the website of each candidate and earmark 3-5 vendors — whom we invite to pitch to a cross-functional team. Finally, we negotiate pricing and sign a contract.”
says Justin, Chief Marketing Officer.
Companies create a shortlist of potential vendors, often through RFPs, and evaluate them based on a set of criteria, including cost, value, quality, and references.
Demos, trials, and negotiations follow this before making a final decision.
54% of people begin with a category search to identify possible vendors.
Most of them google the category name and comb through search results, or look up vendors from G2 or Trustradius categories.
John, Chief Revenue Officer: “I will google the issue and solution providers, then ask within my peer group before narrowing down 2 or 3 vendors to dive deeper on. Then do a + - on them and rank them.”
Some companies consult industry analysts and reports from organizations like Gartner and Forrester to identify potential vendors and gain insights into market leaders and emerging players.
This list of vendors comes from peer recommendations, brands the buyers have already been following for a while (their content, social, etc), or through brand fame (category leaders).
Andrew, SVP, Marketing: If we're not already "solution aware," then we'll tap our networks or explore solutions on G2. However, most of the software we purchase already has a preferred vendor in mind, which speeds things up.
In these cases, we're required to explore other vendors/solutions as well, and those generally require a bit more research if there isn't a clear direct competitor.
These results show the power of:
Eric, VP, Head of Marketing:
We start with Google, G2…but honestly someone usually has suggestions already before we search online. So we don’t always look.
The domination of a peer-influenced process shows that happy customers and effective SEO are a one-two punch.
If your ideal buyer hears of you through their network and then looks you up on Google, you have both the bandwagon effect and availability bias working in your favor.
The bandwagon effect: your product has a higher chance of being selected as buyers are influenced by their circle of peers.
Availability bias: buyers tend to pay closer attention to newly acquired information. So when they see you in the search results, they’re already predisposed to buying from you.
With an employee-led approach, your buyers’ circle of influence shifts from a professional network to employees, so the principles at play remain the same.
Three key conclusions here:
Even though the journey to a solution goes through multiple touchpoints, not all of them carry equal weight.
Referrals from colleagues, industry peers, and professional networks play a significant role in the vendor selection process.
This includes recommendations from past experiences and discussions in professional groups or forums.
Heather, VP of Marketing: I would research using Google, CMO Coffee Talk Slack channel, and Pavilion Slack channel for initial recommendations of vendors.
Nicole, VP of Marketing: I usually go to one of my communities I'm in: Pavilion or CMO Coffee Talk and search there first or ask for recommendations.
This shows that trust and credibility outweigh intentional marketing efforts.
Third-party reviews and market share/brand fame follow closely, with scores of 4.74 and 4.63 respectively, showing that buyers value external validation and the perceived market position of the vendor.
Content across socials, blogs, and webinars falls in the middle of the spectrum with a score of 3.95.
Cold outreach and supplier ads were the least influential — with scores of 2.25 and 2.
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This means they are already coming into the demo with biases and preconceived ideas. Only 8% will have minimal familiarity.
“We are extremely familiar with a vendor before getting on a sales call with them. We do the bulk of our research ahead of time and generally come in with a strong POV and questions ready to go.” says Andrew, SVP, Marketing.
What are they checking out on their own?
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This means that if your website isn’t designed to communicate your differentiated value, you’re probably out of the running.
Even when buyers evaluate via online review sites (which 4 out of 5 buyers do), they cross-reference it with your website.
Janelle, Head of Marketing:
By the time I get on a sales call I have usually done my own due diligence, understand the product differentiators and value, and have narrowed down to a short list. I just need to evaluate if the pricing aligns with the budget.
What buyers want to find out above all:
Most B2B SaaS websites completely ignore differentiation and communicate as if they’re the only one doing what they’re doing.
These brands are likely are not getting into the final three as often.
Interactive demos make as frequent an appearance as online review sites, with over 80% of buyers opting for them.
People want to see the tool with their own eyes, get a sense of what it’s like and how’s the usability.
33% of buyers interact with digital ads, implying that well-targeted and contextually relevant advertising can enhance brand recall — bolstering mental availability.
30% of buyers interact with your blog and 40% with your social media, meaning that buyers not just passively consuming information; they are actively seeking out content that helps them make educated decisions.
To summarize, the B2B buyer will hunt down information across websites, review sites, product demos, and vendor content.
Since you can directly control what goes on the website, demos, blog, and socials — you’re already in the driver’s seat.
The key is to make sure you clearly communicate the problem you solve, and your differentiated value.
78% of B2B buyers shortlist only 3 vendors to get a demo with.
Once buyers have gone through the research and review process via website and demos, 78% of buyers narrow it down to 3 vendors, who they investigate further.
“We look at 3 or 4 vendors that we think would meet our needs, have discussions with the sales reps, get demos, have internal team discussions, and make the selection. We do not have a procurement function.
If the application is in budget, and legal approves the terms, we move forward to contract,” says Mike, CMO.
How do you win the shortlisting battle?
Other influential factors are market share/brand fame (category kings usually earn a spot by default), and vendor content (social, newsletter, blog).
The content can get you into the initial larger consideration set (someone from the buyer team following your content over a longer period of time), but to make it into the final three, the listed 3 items still matter most.
When questioned on their typical journey, 83% of buyers said they follow a traditional purchase process via a sales rep.
Not only is buying through a sales meeting most common, 50% of the marketing buyers in B2B prefer it. 27% preferred pure self-service (sign up on your own and pay by card), and 25% preferred rep-assisted self-serve motion.
This goes to show that human interaction can make or break a deal. When 4 out of every five buyers are talking to your sales rep, the pitch matters.
Not only that, 49% report that the actual demo adds the most value in the sales process -- more than interactive demos and trials, reviews or the marketing website.
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Andrey, VP of Growth and Marketing:
"Typically, the process starts with one of my team members coming across a new tool, testing it out themselves, and then telling me about it (assuming it's a freemium model).
After that, we loop in other members of the team and schedule demos. If it’s a good fit — we buy it, as long as I do not exceed my budget.”
The data shows that the median number of stakeholders involved in the decision making is five people.
What’s curious is that the things that matter to stakeholders in the shortlisting phase are different than in the final sales stage.
During shortlisting, they want to make sure you check the boxes - that your tool solves their problem. In the sales phase (final three), they will look beyond the tablestakes.
The questions and expectations are going to vary at every stage. Here are 5 critical differences we’ve identified from responses:
Initial Stakeholders Questions
Final Stakeholders Questions
It makes sense to have content that answers these type of questions at the ready.
49% voted sales demo as the linchpin of the selection process. Interactive website demos came in second with 23% of votes, followed by review sites and websites with 14% votes each.
“If it is software, then an online demo is a MUST-HAVE,” says Justin, Chief Marketing Officer.
This implies that once buyers are out of the initial research phase, the sales experience carries the day.
They know all about you. It only makes sense that you should know all you can about them too.
Research your buyer, understand their pain, and use your time strategically. At this stage, 90% of buyers are evaluating ~3 vendors, so every differentiator counts.
The overall buyer journey for B2B SaaS revenue leaders is straightforward:
Requirements gathering → mapping out needs
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Building an initial consideration set → asking peers, googling the category, looking at G2/Trustradius
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Shortlisting the final 3 → going through vendor websites, checking out interactive demos, sandboxes, reading reviews
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Demos → most prefer to buy through a sales rep
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Decision → On avg, 5 stakeholders involved
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Purchase.
Good luck!
