2024 Buyer Experience Study: Financial Services Takeaways

saraboostani

Hey all,

I'm a Market Research Analyst here on the 6sense Research team led by former VP and Principal Analyst with Forrester, @Kerry . Together, we research all things B2B. One of our favorite areas to study is the buying process. Over the past two years, we’ve heard from nearly 3,500 recent B2B buyers, learning a lot about the realities of how buyers buy.

Here’s what we know about B2B buying behavior in general: The typical journey spans 11.5 months, with a team of 11 individuals evaluating an average of 4.6 vendors and logging over 800 interactions across content and direct engagements. Importantly, most buying teams wait until they’re about 70% through the journey to engage with sellers. By then, 85% have fully or mostly defined their requirements, and more than 80% have already chosen a preferred vendor.

Since we've released this year's Buyer Experience Report just a couple weeks ago, a common question has been how these key findings vary across industries. Financial Services buyers share many patterns with other industries. In the table below, we compare key findings from buyers in Financial Services to all other buyers in our survey (spanning Tech & Software, Professional Services, Business Services, and Manufacturing).

Financial Services buyers typically evaluate 4.8 vendors, have 12-member buying teams, and average 19 interactions per person, per vendor. Their buying cycle also lasts a bit longer than other industries (12.6 months versus 11.5 months). On average, they connect with sellers 67% of the way through their journey, initiating contact 78% of the time. By that point, 81% have mostly or fully defined their requirements. Additionally, 73% bring in analysts or consultants for guidance, and 84% ultimately purchase from the vendor they ranked highest and contacted first on their shortlist.

@crista.messenger