Forrester Highlights Growing Challenges in B2B Buying Processes

AI is well suited to activities such as account research, personalized messaging, signal monitoring, and next best actions, while sellers remain differentiated in empathy, judgment, contextual understanding, and value framing. The need for that shift is becoming more urgent as Gartner predicts that by 2027, 95% of sellers’ research workflows will begin with AI, up from less than 20% in 2024. Interacting with a human contact remains the most important information source when buyers are researching a business problem or need, identifying a preferred supplier, securing internal support, and finalizing the purchase. 84% of B2B decision makers start their buying process with a referral B2B buyers are nearly 70% through their purchasing process before engaging with sellers — and 80% of the time, it’s the buyers who initiate the first contact, new research revealed.

From target audience to brand positioning, I’ll break down eight parameters to explain how these two approaches differ and intersect at times. Marketing to businesses is a long-term endeavor involving a lengthy buying process. If you’ve built something that’s driving real innovation and impact, this is where it gets recognized. Chamber of Commerce awards program recognizing the top 100 businesses in America. CO—is committed to helping you start, run and grow your small business.

This AI shift has major implications for sales organizations, leading Gartner officials to advocate for the redesigning roles around AI-augmented workflows and allow sellers to focus on empathy, judgment, and value realization. These findings put at the forefront the value of human sellers when teams need context, reassurance, and a clear path forward. Demonstrate business value through messaging that speaks directly to their needs, industry context, and the outcomes they hope to achieve. A purchase journey that’s more rigorous, more collaborative, and far less forgiving of claims without proof. Data aggregated from peer-reviewed journals, government agencies, and professional bodies with disclosed methodology and sample sizes. “To compete effectively, marketers must drive awareness and preference early in the buying journey,” said Kerry Cunningham, Head of Research and Thought Leadership at 6sense, in a statement.

B2B purchases involve multiple stakeholders across different functions, formal approval processes, compliance requirements, and significantly higher transaction values. B2C purchases are typically made by individuals with short decision timelines and personal criteria. Buyers expect self-service evaluation paths, transparent pricing, and content that addresses their specific context, rather than generic sales outreach. The most significant shift is that buyers now complete the majority of their research independently, before engaging with vendors.

From days to minutes: Fast credit decisioning that maximizes conversions in the order to cash process

• To streamline your search, create a shortlist of criteria that align with your needs.
• Modern B2B sales requires an integrated tech stack that consolidates prospecting, engagement, and execution into one workspace.
• Use tools like Google Data Studio or Tableau for easy-to-understand visualizations.
• Which of the following best describes your initial type of AI prompt when researching software?
• We’ve also created a list of must-have B2B marketing tools that help us scale and improve processes.

In this stage, the B2B buyer will research potential options and compare prices, quality of goods, shipping options, range of products, etc. Digital channels, including search, review platforms, LinkedIn, and AI tools,s have replaced many of the touchpoints that used to require direct vendor interaction. Companies using intent data report significantly higher engagement and conversion rates compared to cold outbound approaches. It allows vendors to identify in-market buyers before they reach out, enabling more timely and relevant outreach.

The Hybrid Shift

As the typical decision-making process for business customers has shifted from trade show attendance to independent online research. Considering B2B purchases often involve custom pricing and quoting, pre-negotiated contracts and larger quantities of goods, you should separate your B2C site from your B2B site to avoid the complexity of layering two sets of requirements onto one site. Lastly, B2B marketing largely focuses on logic-driven purchases, while B2C marketing focuses on emotion-driven purchases. Since B2B purchases are often more expensive and involve larger quantities of goods than B2C purchases, there is more risk involved. And as the B2B industry inches toward B2C-like experiences, it’s important that you deeply understand how the B2B buying process is evolving and what the implications are for your business. If your prospects and customers need a quick answer to a small question, they can check out your knowledge base, or if they need technical help while using your product, they can just as easily reach out to your support team via live chat.

Evaluating and comparing available solutions.

In my stint as a B2C marketer, I increased CLV by encouraging repeat purchases and building loyalty. That’s a big opportunity for the B2B industry to go above and beyond like D2C/B2C brands.” Research suggests that B2B marketers consider relationship-building an important factor for cross-selling and upselling buyers.

How to Improve the B2B Buying Journey

When using AI chatbots for software research, how has AI affected the speed of your purchasing decisions? Only one in five start with questions about requirements or process. Buyers who use AI chatbots to research software aren't easing into it. Which of the following best describes your initial type of AI prompt when researching software? Buyers are researching in AI now, and most brands have limited visibility into how they show up in those conversations.

Investigating, Evaluating & Comparing Solutions (Consideration)

Use Decision Science principles and research-backed frameworks to launch commercial stories and messaging that persuades buyers to choose you. Find the solutions that map to your responsibilities—and the outcomes you’re expected to deliver. Learn more about our targeted solutions and see what fits the gap you’re seeing. Pick the priority you need to fix first and get a clear starting point. As buyers increasingly shift from traditional search to AI search platforms, G2 has become the most-cited B2B software source across those AI-first channels where software discovery happens. G2 is the world’s largest and most trusted data source for B2B software, helping businesses reach their peak potential by enabling confident buying and go-to-market decisions.

• Email nurturing, stage-specific content sequences that keep prospects engaged between active research phases • AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity are increasingly used for initial category research and vendor shortlisting b2b buying process This means that with the right approach and guidance, you can help them succeed.