Global B2B market is estimated to reach $28 trillion this year and both buyers and sellers are evolving as the demand for digitization grows. Sales funnels don’t act the way they used to a few years back. There is a need for omni channel presence more than ever before.
Uncover the demands and standards for the current B2B market so that you can be better prepared for the revolution that is here.
B2B Marketing Trends
B2B is taking full swings in its digital phase. Know the latest trends to stay ahead of your competition.
64% of new age B2B buyers prefer digital channels over traditional
According to 71% of the respondents, at least 50% or more of their suppliers currently use a B2B eCommerce solution. This suggests that many suppliers are recognizing the importance of the digital purchasing trend and are adopting technologies to meet their buyers’ expectations.
80% of B2B buyers use mobiles throughout the buying journey
Having a mobile-friendly B2B website is crucial as buyers shuffle between small and large screens throughout their buying journey.
Moreover, 90% of B2B buyers who have a positive mobile experience are likely to buy again from the same vendor compared with about 50% of those reporting a poor mobile experience.
Take extra care of these pain points in B2B buying experiences
The top three pain points concerning the buying experience of B2Bs are lack of customization, localization, and personalization (39%), lack of real-time stock information (38%), and lengthy purchasing processes (34%).
About one-third of the respondents (33%) also cite a lack of personalized prices and discount information as a pain point.
Addressing these pain points will help B2Bs sell better. The takeaway from this stat is that buyers want a shorter and personalized checkout process.
B2B Content Marketing Statistics
To excel in B2B marketing, it’s essential to exceed the expectations of the modern B2B buyer. It’s no longer sufficient to merely operate a functional website; businesses must replicate the engaging shopping experience consumers are accustomed to in offline B2B.
This means doing comprehensive content marketing (especially visual), easing up the navigation process, and ensuring mobile accessibility.
This section shed light on findings from both successful and failed B2B marketing strategies that could help you adopt and avoid elements in your own campaign.
The average B2B buyer will interact with 13 pieces of content before engaging with a brand
A survey by FocusVision found that the average B2B buyer consumes 13 pieces of content during their purchasing journey. This includes 8 pieces created by vendors and 5 from third parties, such as videos, blog posts, white papers, and customer testimonials.
The buying process typically spans two to six weeks and involves 3 to 4 internal decision makers. The primary sources of content are vendor websites, search engines, and social media.
The survey identified four buying stages:
- understanding the problem
- looking for vendors,
- Short-listing
- making the final decision.
60% of B2B buyers can and may finalize purchase decisions based solely on digital content
Content is still the king, B2B buyers consult vendor websites and peer reviews throughout the process. The most influential types of content are the one which address product specifications (67%), comparisons (65%), success stories (54%), value demonstration (49%), and product walkthroughs / problem-solving guides (48%).
B2B buyers from Larger companies (revenues exceeding $250 and $500 million), rely more on third-party sources due to their perceived independence.
Video is the most successful marketing technique after in person events for B2B marketers
Linkedin’s survey of 1,577 B2B marketing leaders revealed that in-person events was the most effective marketing channel for them; 60% plan to use this strategy to meet their needs.
The same survey revealed that 26% of marketers plan to use Generative AI in their marketing strategy this year.
80% of B2B marketers prefer LinkedIn to promote their content
LinkedIn has proven to be the most successful social media for the B2B sector as 4 in 5 leads come from the platform.
The majority of B2B marketing leaders have increased their usage of LinkedIn in the past year and expect usage to grow.
65% of B2B marketers expressed their intention to increase the use of LinkedIn. Meanwhile, 28% stated their usage would remain consistent with the previous year, and a smaller proportion, 6%, acknowledged the possibility of reducing their engagement with LinkedIn.
Here is a table showing most preferred social media platforms by B2B Marketers:
| Platform | Share of B2B marketers using it |
|---|---|
| 80% | |
| YouTube | 63% |
| 57% | |
| 52% | |
| 39% | |
| TikTok | 16% |
84% of B2Bs outsource their content creation activities
Large companies outsource 75%, while medium and small companies outsource 54% and 37%, respectively.
Among those who outsource, 84% get help with content creation, followed by content distribution at 31%. Tasks like planning, measurement, and research are mainly handled in-house.
Influence of AI in B2B Marketing
Today’s marketing teams face a huge amount of customer data, almost 1000 times more than a decade ago, and they have to manage ten times as many channels. AI is the solution that helps marketers handle all this overwhelming amount of complex data.
Let’s take a look at the state of AI in B2B
50% of B2B marketing leaders are currently using AI applications for business marketing activities
There is eagerness among B2B marketers to embrace the technology and 75% of B2B marketing leaders say they are likely to use or continue using generative AI to promote business when AI-driven advertising opportunities become available.
Where are B2B companies implementing AI?
67% of B2B companies implement AI for product recommendations while 42% use it to optimize their pricing and customer segmentation. AI has also found its way in UI optimization and Fraud detection.
AI is changing the game for marketers, letting them try out things they never imagined they could do before. A recent Gartner report summed it up well, when it said that “AI’s capacity to transform marketing is obscured by a fog of hype, but the breakthroughs are real
Here is a table showing the use cases of AI among B2B marketers:
| Use case | Share of B2B marketers using it |
|---|---|
| Product Recommendations | 67% |
| Site Search | 54% |
| Chatbots, Virtual Assistants | 46% |
| Anomaly Detection | 46% |
| Price Optimization | 42% |
| Customer Segmentation | 42% |
| Ui Optimization | 38% |
| Product Categorization | 33% |
| Fraud Detection | 25% |
21% of B2B marketers say lack of skilled labor is biggest challenge in AI adoption
The top challenges for B2Bs getting into AI are not having enough skilled people who know how to use it and not having the right data or the data not being good enough.
Figuring out where AI can actually help the business is a big challenge too, with 13% of B2B marketers facing this issue.
57% of B2Bs are using Generative AI to create more content in lesser time
B2B marketers are automating as many tasks as possible through Generative AI so that they can focus on other higher value tasks. 41% of B2B marketers revealed that they use Generative AI to build more creative campaigns while 35% said they use the technology to gain competitive advantage.
The majority of B2B marketers lack the understanding on how to leverage AI for marketing
Just over 2 out of 5 B2B marketing leaders believe they have a “somewhat good” grasp on how to use generative AI marketing tools for B2B marketing campaigns. However, fewer than 1 out of 5 feel they have an “extremely good” understanding.
B2B Sales Statistics
Here are some interesting insights on B2B sales that will change your perspective on the FUNNEL.
B2B buyers are 57% to 70% through their buying research before contacting sales
In current times, buyers have a greater influence over their purchasing journey compared to the control vendors have over the selling process. B2B buyers now interact with multiple content, read third party reviews and consult to experts before investing.
B2B will choose their channels, although the research primarily starts from the website, it quickly moves to socials and third party reviews. Having an Omnichannel marketing strategy is the key to driving sales.
77% of B2B buyers say they prefer to be contacted by email than any other channel
Less than half B2B buyers want to be contacted by phone and only 21% like to get voicemails.
The popularity of emails is the reason why 73% of B2B marketers use email newsletters in their content strategy. Well crafted email newsletters can boost your sales by as much as 1.5x.
61% of B2B personales say sales are getting tougher than half a decade ago
The economy has only gotten better in the past five years, so that means there are other factors besides the economy making sales much harder.
55% of sales personnel said that budget was either the first or second most common reason that stronger opportunities fall apart in sales.
Another reason can be exposure to leads in the first place. A sales insight lab study found that 66.7% of salespeople reached out to 250 or fewer leads in the past year, which is considered a low number for effective sales. Additionally, only 15% of salespeople reached out to over 1,000 prospects in the same period, indicating a significant disparity in the outreach efforts among sales professionals.
B2B Lead Generation Statistics
Nurtured B2B leads generate 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads
First-time B2B website visitors are usually researching rather than ready to buy. Despite seeming like poor leads initially, 80% may convert within 24 months. Effective lead nurturing can reclaim potential lost revenue, yielding 47% more sales-ready prospects.
Reports suggest that only 35% of B2Bs have an established lead nurturing strategy.
Customer referrals account for 54% of all B2B leads
Customer referrals are responsible for 54% of all Business to Business leads while eMail marketing is the second most successful channel.
Building a network of satisfied customers who actively refer to your business can significantly amplify your marketing reach and lead generation efforts. Customer referrals are notably more cost-effective compared to other marketing strategies, demanding fewer resources and time for lead generation.
Here are the top 5 sources of B2B leads:
| Customer Referrals | 54% |
| Email Marketing | 14% |
| Internet | 8% |
| Events | 7% |
| Others | 8% |
B2B Video Marketing Stats
Videos are crucial in all sorts of marketing efforts. Even in a purely B2B context, video content is the preferred channel among millennials (most B2B buyers are millennials) for researching products and services. Lets take a look at the insights on how video marketing is a big think in B2B.
7 out of 10 buyers watch videos throughout their sales journey
70% of B2B buyers are watching videos of their prospective vendor in their research journey. And seller’s are actively acting to meet this demand, with 59% sellers planning to increase the use of video in their marketing strategy this year.
90% of B2B buyers identified video content as their preferred content form to learn
Around 9 in 10 B2B buyers watched a video to learn about the company’s products or services in the past 12 months.
B2B buyers cite that they watched Product reviews (39%) and product demos (39%) the most.
52% of B2B marketers acknowledge video as the content type yielding the highest return on investment
That is the reason that 81% of companies are putting all their marketing money into video. According to Hubspot’s survey on B2B marketing, a massive 92% of businesses using video marketing are seeing a positive return on investment (ROI).
Even more impressively, 87% of these companies directly link video content to increased sales. This suggests that video is not only effective in grabbing attention but also in driving actual purchases.
B2B SEO Statistics
Remember how B2B marketers consume at least 12 pieces of content before contacting sales? Its highly likely that the content consumption begins on Google. Optimizing your website for search engines will reward you with organic leads which have a high chance of getting converted.
95% of search engine traffic goes to the first page of Google
70% of online experiences begin on a search engine, and Google is where most B2B buyers start their journey. Getting your page in the Top 3 of the SERPs can reward you with 54.4% of all clicks.
Moreover, only 5% of searchers end up clicking through to the second search engine results page highlighting the importance of SEO for B2B marketers.
70% of B2B marketers believe that SEO drive more sales than PPC
While PPC boasts precise audience targeting and faster results, its efficacy in generating sales falls short of SEO, as only 30% of B2B marketers favor it.
However, paid advertising is important too. If you are a B2B marketer, follow a blended approach where SEO serves as the cornerstone for long-term growth, complemented by targeted PPC campaigns to address short-term objectives.
B2Bs generate 2 times more revenue from organic search than other channels
Organic search gets 52.7% of share of revenue for B2Bs, this is higher than the average industry standards and second only to the technology sector (58.8%).
Final Word
In closing, the growth of B2B has been impressive. More and more businesses are realizing they need to go digital to keep up. What used to be a nice bonus is now essential.
Today’s B2B buyers want an online experience that’s as easy and tailored as what they get when they shop online personally. They expect suggestions for products they might like, a search that actually finds what they’re looking for, and a checkout process that’s quick and painless.
B2B companies need to fully embrace this shift to digital. It’s not just about staying in the game; it’s about finding new ways to grow and succeed. Simply put, the future of B2B is all about personalization and speed. Those who understand and act on this will thrive in upcoming business to business world.