A couple articles analyzing recent Enquiro research on B2B buyer behavior. The great thing about this research is that it looks at the different phases of purchase and how buyer behavior shifts.
Here is the juiciest bit of data:
Navigation to a Vendor vs. Industry Site via Search
| Life Cycle Phase | Vendor Site | Industry Site |
| Awareness | 12% | 55% |
| Research | 30% | 34% |
| Negotiation | 15% | 31% |
| Purchase | 17% | 19% |
I think the article by Jessica Bowman gives a pretty in-depth analysis of the results. No real surprises here: Google rules, but don’t ignore the B2B sites.
The Business Case for Expanding B2B SEM by Jessica Bowman
“B2B Vertical search engines ‘definitely have a place in the purchase process’ as well, according to the study. While general search engines (Google, Yahoo! and MSN) are used initially, buyers increase their use of B2B search as they move from basic awareness into the research, negotiation, and purchase phases.”
How do B2B Buyers Search? by Kevin Newcomb
“In the awareness phase, 65 percent of users said they would start their research with a general search engine. That number dropped to 52 percent in the research phase, 42 percent in the negotiation phase, and 42 percent in the purchase phase.
The study found that in the researching phase, a purchaser is five times more likely to turn to a generic search engine for information than a B2B search engine. As purchasers enter the later research phase and start compiling information to begin the actual negotiation, many rely on B2B vertical search engines, such as Business.com, KnowledgeStorm, or Thomasnet, to help gather the detailed information they require. B2B search engines were the first choice of 22.1 percent of respondents in the negotiation phase, and 18 percent of respondents in the purchase phase.”