71% of B2B Buyers Start Research with Generic Search Query
B2B marketers could be missing out on the acquisition of valuable additions to their marketing pipeline, according to data from Google this month.
The search engine has revealed a series of key trends including the astonishing fact that 89% of business to business buyers use Google for pre-purchase research. The data also revealed that B2B companies are unprepared for the rise in mobile and video usage.
Almost one in five B2B researchers watches an hour of B2B-related video content. This shift in behaviour is driven predominately by the increase in video content and ease of accessibility from mobile devices since the widespread introduction of 4G networks in the UK.
B2B Companies Need Better Marketing
But B2B companies are failing to engage with prospective buyers. By dismissing video content and ignoring mobile users, the needs of many B2B prospects are being ignored by UK businesses.
Research shows that 74% of users are more likely to return to a mobile-friendly website. It’s a shock to learn that in a recent data mining exercise by leading content delivery network Akamai, only 18.7% of the 10,000 top-tier websites analysed was mobile responsive.
With a reported 300% growth in mobile search queries from B2B researchers, companies would do well to invest in a mobile-ready website.
B2B Marketing and Video
QliQ analysed data from various sources to find a similar story for video. Google’s survey data show that 48% of B2B researchers watch at least 30 minutes of video when conducting pre-purchase research, yet only a handful of the companies we spoke to invest in any video marketing at all.
With video consumption expected to rise, it’s clear that more needs to be done to make budget owners aware of the opportunities.
The good news is that it doesn’t have to be expensive or time consuming to engage with prospects as they research for services. The pre-purchase research path for most B2B buyers often starts with a search query; according to the survey findings, 71% of B2B buyers start their journey with a generic search query.
If you’d like to know more about how to find, engage with and entice new prospective buyers (and researchers) contact QliQ for free professional advice.
