We’re closely tracking the changing ways b-to-b decision-makers are finding and evaluating products. One new “media consumption” study we conducted last month revealed a few surprises, such as when we asked how buyers find information, and what information they find most credible. Frankly, we didn’t expect we’d find this:
* Top sources for finding information: Company web sites, search engines, shows and white papers.
* Top sources for credibility: Company web sites, colleagues, articles, online trade magazines, shows and white papers.
* It’s astounding that company web sites score so highly in both questions. We would have assumed that they would be discounted as biased information sources, but that’s not the case. OUR TAKEAWAY: your site needs to be deep and detailed.
* We were surprised to see relatively little difference in the ways people in different age groups gather information and what they believe. We expected greater disparity.
* We were surprised to see both print and online magazines continue to be ranked so highly as a prime information source.
