According to a recent report from Eccolo Media, product brochures are frequently consumed and highly valued by B2B technology buyers. The survey, based on data from people
responsible for influencing or making B2B technology buying decisions, said that 57% of respondents had looked at product brochures/data sheets from B2B technology vendors in the past six months, the
most engagement with any content type.
Other commonly consumed content types read in the previous 6 months are:
- Emails from vendors (52%)
- White
papers (52%)
- Competitive vendor worksheets (42%)
- Case studies/success stories (42%)
The least consumed content types are eBooks (24%) and podcasts
(24%). The content types seen as being least influential on buying decisions are eBooks (7%) and tweets (4%). Content types ranking as the top five asset types being very influential include:
- White papers (33%)
- Case studies/success stories (31%)
- Detailed technology guides (23%)
- Competitive vendor worksheets (22%)
48%
of B2B tech buyers say they only consume 2 - 5 content assets before making a decision. 52% of buyers read the same number of emails and white papers from vendors, but white papers are seen as being
twice as influential in the decision-making process.
Number Of Assets
Consumed Before Ready To Make Purchase |
Content Used | % of
Respondents |
More than 10 collateral assets | 4% |
9-10 | 8 |
6-8 | 25 |
2-5 | 48 |
Less than 2 | 16 |
Source: Eccolo Media, January 2015 |
For the 2015 Eccolo Media B2B Technology Content
Survey, respondents ranked their consumption of the following types of content:
Media B2B Technology Content Survey (Consumed in Previous 6 Months; % of Respondents) |
Content Type | Consumed | Top Five
Assets |
Email | 52% | 15% |
White papers: analysis of technology or business trends from a
vendor-neutral perspective | 52 | 33 |
Product brochures: product, service, or vendor information | 57 | 39 |
Case studies: success stories of how
customers deploy a vendor’s products or services | 42 | 31 |
Detailed technology guides: in-depth descriptions of product features and functionality | 35 | 23 |
Video and multimedia files: marketing communications, from customer testimonials to product demonstrations to executive interviews | 35 | 17 |
Blog articles: online dispatches on current topics in an informal style | 30 | 12 |
Infographics: visual representations of data and trends | 25 | 13 |
Webinars: online seminars that deliver presentations or workshops either live or prerecorded | 34 | 16 |
E-books: long-format documents, consumed digitally,
delivering information visually stimulating or interactive | 24 | 7 |
Podcasts and audio files: audio recordings of customer testimonials streamed onto a desktop or mobile
device | 24 | 8 |
Customer magazines and publications print and online | 35 | 14 |
Competitive vendor worksheets: product features and functions from multiple vendors | 42 | 22 |
E-newslettersand digests: newsletter in an electronic format with links to longer treatments | 30 | 8 |
Social content: any form of
content delivered through socialmedia platforms | 34 | 14 |
Web slide shows: online presentations with an emphasis on charts and images | 31 | 9 |
Tweets:
140-character messages with links to more in-depth content | 2 | 4 |
Source: Eccolo Media, January 2015 |
For additional information from Eccola Media, please visit here