Email is not the most popular channel, but B2B buyers use it when researching and buying products, according to Never Settle: Expect the Basics and Innovation in B2B eCommerce Capabilities now, a study by Avionos.
They could do worse—97% of buyers experience some kind of pain point during the buying process. And most of these are caused by technology failures.
B2B buyers rely on these channels when getting information on suppliers and their products:
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Roughly the same percentage lists email among the technologies they want suppliers to offer in retaining their long-term business:
But all of these channels must be extremely reliable, for 85% will turn to a competitor if a supplier’s channel can’t keep up with their wishes. This is down from 90% in 2021 and 88% in 2020.
But 81% prefer a supplier with excellent ecommerce and customer portal capabilities even if their product is moderately higher priced than a competitor’s.
In 2022, 72% of B2B buyers have experienced frustration over a vendor/supplier’s resistance to changing their operations to better fit buyer needs.
The leading pain points are:
Moreover, these steps have become more challenging over the past year:
Here are the top six deal-breakers when buyers are vetting possible suppliers:
Moreover, B2B buyers rate understanding product specifications and configurations as their top challenge at the research state, and this is unchanged over the past three years.
What can sellers do to make the buying experience more positive? The respondents answer:
Avionos surveyed 150 U.S. employees involved in purchasing at B2B organizations with over $250 million in annual revenue. They were divided equally across the financial services, manufacturing and CPG (45) industries.