Our key takeaways:
– 95% of participants consider vendor related content as trustworthy – 73% of decision makers spend less time today (compared to 12 months ago) when making decisions – 84% prefer visual content in contrast to long format text based content
In conclusion, investing in video based sales content is well received by your audience. Especially when complex value propositions are communicated in a short timeframe. High quality video production fuels both effective demand creation and successful sales conversations.
Summary of the survey:
In 2016, the trends suggest a focus on content length, consuming content on mobile platforms and the importance of usability. The findings from the annual survey conducted by Demandgen (B2B Content Preferences Survey Report) center around the habits of B2B decision makers in regard to content marketing and purchasing decisions.
As a general trend, in 2016, content length and quality becomes of crucial importance. With long text formats dominating the buyer’s information source (white papers, e-books and webinars), long paragraphs with sales pitches are considered unappealing.
Also, 95% are open to trusting a manufacturer’s content, and by using a well-thought-out mixture of text and video, you can increase the probability of them making a purchase.
The decision times are becoming longer and the teams making the decisions are becoming larger in order to have a good overview of the purchase. In conclusion, unbiased detailed information served in an understandable way becomes the most powerful tool when informing buyers.
More than half of customers (53%) are turning to social media platforms to get information, so, in turn, they can become valuable distribution channels. In terms of influencing buyers’ decisions, LinkedIn leads the other social media platforms, since they can get valuable information from authorities in the field and peers that happen to be in a similar situation. We advise using LinkedIn targeted campaigns to incentivise past customers into sharing their experiences on the social platform and communicating to potential customers.
The number of decision makers who are frequently using smartphones to research and get information about B2B is growing and is up to 56%, so considering the device in which the content is accessed is essential. User experience optimisation plays an important role in both the user’s interaction with the content and the platform that buyers use when purchasing. In Demandgen’s 2015 B2B Buyer’s Survey Report, 92% of buyers considered it to be one of the most important factors when choosing a vendor, followed closely by price. Paying attention to and investing in optimisation will have a long-term benefit, either it being in SEO if we are talking about your online platform or customer satisfaction as an overall metric.
Sources:
- Demandgen’s 2016 Content Preferences Survey
- Demandgen’s 2015 B2B Buyer’s Survey Report
The survey was conducted in the first quarter of 2016 by interviewing buyers of B2B products and services about their use of content in making purchasing decisions in different sectors; with 32% of the buyers offering business services/consulting and 29% working in the technology/software industry. 59% of respondents were from companies with an annual revenue of more than US $10 million.
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