Word-of-mouth is a key purchase influencer for consumers, and it appears to also have a strong sway over purchase decisions for business software, according to recent research from HubSpot. Indeed, respondents to HubSpot’s survey ranked word-of-mouth referrals as their top information source when making business purchases.
Customer references followed as the next-most commonly used source of information, per the report.
Business decision-makers’ reliance on recommendations and references has been found in other research, too. Data contained in MarketingCharts’ B2B Digital Marketing Insights Report, for example, indicates that recommendations are a top-3 purchase influence across generations of B2B buyers.
The report also shows that articles and blogs from industry experts are also important sources of research for B2B buyers, and that theme also emerges in the HubSpot research. Media articles were the third-most cited source among respondents, ahead of vendor-authored materials. In fact, when sorting by respondent title, the HubSpot survey results show that media articles are the second-largest source of information for C-level executives, behind only referrals. Media coverage is less important to VPs, though, who are comparatively more interested in analyst reports and recommendations. Read the rest at MarketingCharts.com.
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