B2B Marketing Statistics and Notes from 7 Recent Reports

Buyers of B2B software want published pricing: according to a study by McKinsey, 68% want prices published online without negotiation (and other useful B2B marketing statistics)

Regular readers know I frequently dive into surveys and studies about B2B marketing, sales and PR.

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In the meantime, below are some B2B marketing statistics and cliff notes from seven such reporters.

1. B2B prospects want published pricing

Buyers of B2B software want published pricing. According to a study by McKinsey, 68% want prices published online without negotiation.

Yet, B2B software companies are resistant to publishing pricing online because they feel it removes leverage. The reality is buyers will just go elsewhere. You’re kidding yourself if you think a motivated buyer doesn’t know what they are going to pay for your software.

Even Jason Lemkin of SaaStr suggests being open and transparent with pricing is the right approach. He wrote, “So 9.5 times out of 10, at least start with transparent, published pricing. Start there at first. It takes one less piece of friction out of your sales process.”

2. The cost of B2B marketing content

Prices have inflated the cost of content in B2B is no exception. A study by PathFactory found content costs soared 58% in 2021 compared to the year earlier. The average content asset costs $2,791 to produce and the report breaks out a few examples:

Marketing videos cost an average of $8,448 and earned 2:22 minutes of viewing time;
Blogs cost an average of $1,959 and earned 3:02 minutes of viewing time;
Webinars cost an average of $4,231 and earned 2:20 minutes of viewing time;
White papers cost an average of $8,279 and earned 6:18 minutes of viewing time; and
Articles cost an average of $2,854 and earned 2:04 minutes of viewing time.

3. Trusted sources of B2B information

Nearly three-quarters (73%) said they believe “most vendors fall short” of the honesty mark, according to a third-party survey commissioned by Rob Roy Consulting. Just 27% said most vendors are honest most of the time.

What sources of information do B2B buyers trust? According to the survey, the sources respondents say they find “valuable” or “extremely valuable” for “determining which vendors you will include in a request for proposal (RFP) or invite to compete for your business” included the following:

72% said conversations with peers;
72% said technology publications;
69% said industry analyst reports;
66% said live conversations with industry analysts; and
66% said conferences (including virtual).

4. Twitter is still a journalist’s favorite social media site

A survey of 2,500 journalists finds Twitter is still their favorite social media network. More than three-quarters (77%) of journalists surveyed say Twitter is the most valuable social network – the next most valuable network isn’t even close with 39%.

Other findings include:

39% plan to spend more time on Twitter this year – the highest of any other social network. Another 46% will spend the same about of time and just 12% will spend less time on Twitter;

60% of journalists consult a company’s social media in their reporting; and

18% of reporters say they get their news from Twitter – that’s about one in five.

5. Research and surveys are the most valuable content in B2B

Nearly three-quarters (72%) of B2B buyers say they consume three or more pieces of content before engaging a salesperson, according to a survey by Demand Gen Report. More respondents (42%) put that number at between 3 and 5 – than any other option.

The survey also asked respondents which content formats they found most valuable in researching B2B purchases. The survey listed 16 possible formats and here’s how the most valuable format stacked up:

43% said research or survey reports;
40% said case studies;
40% said webinars;
37% said B2B media and news;
34% said white papers; and
34% said ebooks.

6. B2B sales deals require more interactions than ever

Deals in B2B are increasingly complicated and more likely to be scrutinized by top executives and the finance department, according to an analysis of several studies by Forrester.

Case in point? B2B buyers engaged in an average of 27 interactions with a vendor over the course of making a purchase decision in 2021. That’s up from 17 interactions in 2019.

Those interactions are composed of both human and digital touches. The Forrester survey data breaks it down into an average of 15 digital interactions and 12 human interactions. Moreover, buyers value both types of engagement.

7. Video may be the most trusted content in B2B

A survey commissioned by Brightcove and conducted by Ascend2 found 93% of B2B buyers believe “video builds trust in a brand.” Some 70% reported video has a greater impact “over other content formats such as infographics, e-books and white papers” in raising awareness of a business problem.

Other findings included:

58% of respondents said video was “most helpful” when trying to learn about a new product or service; another 40% said learning how to solve a problem;

Among the types of videos respondents said they’ve watched in the last three months are product reviews (39%), product demonstrations (39%), tutorials (33%), live video, like webinars (31%), and educational videos (30%); and

97% of respondents said video content and communication were useful after making a purchase.

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If you have a B2B survey or study, you’ve recently completed, feel free to send me a link to a press release or blog post about it. My DMs are open on Twitter or use the contact form. I read every message.

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