Almost three quarters (72%) of buyers planning to purchase a business product begin their research with a Google search, according to a recent report by Pardot.
After an initial search, 70% of buyers then return online 2-3 times to do additional research, and 12% return online more than three times. Just under one in five (18%) do all of their online research in a single sitting.
Besides Google, B2B buyers also use personal networks (15.5%), Yahoo (5.5%), Bing (2.7%), and LinkedIn (2.5%) as starting points for their research.
Below, additional key findings from the report, which was based on data from a survey of 400 B2B buyers.
Content Preferences
- 76% of B2B buyers surveyed prefer different content at each stage of their research process.
- 89% agree that the cost of the item they are purchasing affects the amount of research they do.
- 98% say their search terms usually become more refined as their research deepens on a purchase.
- 70% of buyers say written B2B content such as whitepapers and case studies should be under five pages.
- 2% prefer content longer than five pages, and 28% think the content should be as long as it takes to inform.
About the research: The report was based on data from a survey of 400 B2B buyers (53% employed by small businesses, 22% by mid-market companies, and 25% by enterprise companies). The majority (75%) of respondents were not marketers.
