As we say farewell to 2021, we take a deep dive into the areas captivating B2B Tech Buyer’s attention as marketers seek to perfect the all-important B2B marketing plan.
What are their most pressing pain points? Who do they trust when undertaking their B2B research? How many sources of information do they rely upon when deciding on a new technology purchase?
We’ve pulled together 24 of the best Tech Buyer Insights to help guide tech vendors in where they should be focusing their efforts as we head into 2022. These unique B2B insights come from our first party research comprising 1,500 senior professionals within our Insights for Professionals (IFP) community.
Check out this easy-to-digest infographic for the latest B2B market research right at your fingertips…
Reading time: 4 minutes
Which insights will help you plan for even greater success next year?
- Over a quarter of IT tech buyers intend to invest up to $1 million in Digital Transformation.
The area they plan to spend the most is Digital Technology Integration (73.71%). Digital Transformation requires businesses to shift to new operating models and so successfully integrating new and diverse technology across all areas to enable convergence, promote a positive cultural change, drive customer value and facilitate operational agility, can be tricky. Solutions which promote a smooth integration should therefore attract your optimal in-market buyers.
- Half of marketing buyers, 48% of HR buyers and over a third of IT buyers rely on 11-15 sources of information when researching a topic before making a purchase decision.
New tech purchases require careful decision making for the level of sophistication they entail, that’s why B2B tech buyers across the board wish to be fully informed from multiple sources before committing to a final decision. 11-15 information sources has the majority vote, indicating a need to have ample amounts of knowledge available, across a range of trusted mediums.
- Over 50% of Cloud Management specialists consider Cloud Security their greatest challenge.
With remote working at its highest, most businesses now hold some form of sensitive data in the cloud, leaving them vulnerable to cybercriminals. It is therefore unsurprising to see Cloud Security also remains a clear focus for businesses moving into 2022, with over 80% of IT professionals looking to invest in this area.
- 43% of C-Suite marketers operating in the field of Customer Experience identify Customer Services as their most significant threat compared to just 8% of Senior Managers.
Over two-thirds (72.41%) of marketing tech buyers plan to invest between $100,000 and $500,000 on Customer Experience. It is clear that significant investment is put aside for the Customer Experience as a whole, with each element going hand in hand. Solutions empowering users to take a holistic approach are therefore most likely to attract the attention of B2B marketers.
- 39% of HR specialists plan to invest between $250,000-$500,000 in Workforce and Human Capital Management over the next 18 months.
Talent Management (32.88%) is the greatest obstacle identified by HR professionals operating in the Workforce and Human Capital Management market. This continues to highlight the need for effective HR management to be able to create strong talent initiatives and schemes to help boost morale, motivate employees and create a diverse workforce which feels as one.
- Over 40% of IT professionals working in Cybersecurity cite Data Protection as their biggest obstacle.
This matches up with their 2022 investment intentions, with a staggering 84.88% of IT buyers operating in the Cybersecurity market looking to invest in Data Protection over the next 18 months. Businesses now fully expect their data to remain secure at all costs and B2B tech vendors are only too aware of this, especially as competitors ramp up their data security offerings.
- 72% of professional marketers plan to invest between $100,000 and $500,000 on Customer Experience over the next 18 months.
Within this field, there appears to be no great difference between the focus areas for investing; Customer Services (61.21%), Customer Loyalty (56.9%), Customer Retention (51.72%), Customer Journey (47.41%) and User Experience (UX) (44.83%). Getting every part of the customer experience right, starting with customer services which oversee the whole experience, is therefore paramount.
- Cloud Security is the greatest challenge for all seniority levels operating in Cloud Management, with 61% of Senior Managers identifying this as a prominent issue.
It’s no wonder Cloud Security is considered the biggest barrier to success for over half (54.95%) of IT tech buyers specializing in Cloud Management as a whole – the most pressing area of concern for them by a long shot with Cloud Migration coming in second at just 16.22%.
- CI/CD Tools are the top barrier to success for 43% of IT tech buyers operating in DevOps.
This reflects our B2B market research findings; the top area of DevOps that IT buyers plan to invest is CI/CD Tools, with over two-thirds (69.44%) sharing this mindset.
- 70% of HR professionals look to invest $100,000+ in Learning and Development.
Our first party intent data indicates that Learning and Development is the top topic of research interest within the HR community, with 76% planning to research around this subject. L&D also sees a 38% month on month increase in intent tag, confirming what our first party B2B research is telling us.
- Over a quarter of marketing professionals operating in Digital Analytics consider Social Media their biggest pain point.
Over a fifth (21.95%) of B2B marketing professionals specializing in Marketing Automation also consider Social Media a significant obstacle. This links up with over two-thirds (65.85%) of them saying they intend to invest in Social Media over the next 18 months.
- 37% of Heads of within the field of Cybersecurity consider Malware the top pressure point compared to just 12% of Directors.
It is interesting to note, however, analysis of our first party intent data reveals a change in month on month intent sub tag with an 88.95% decrease in ‘Malware’ for IT professionals. This suggests that while there is recognition of Malware as a key challenge, research into solving this issue has not reached maturity.
- Over 54% of Workforce and Human Capital Management specialists look to invest over $250,000 in new technology.
Health and Safety (68.49%) is the greatest area of planned investment for HR professionals working in the Workforce and Human Capital Management market, closely followed by Talent Management (58.22%) and Wellbeing (53.42%). This is very reflective of the key pain points experienced in the HR community, whereby 32.88% found Talent Management their main struggle, while 22.6% cited Health and Safety.
- Within the world of Digital Transformation, 62% of VPs and 60% of C-Suite identify Digital Technology Integration as their pivotal challenge.
When it comes to writing and optimizing content to capture this real-time trend, it’s worth noting the average number of words in blogs for Digital Transformation companies is just 987. This falls short of the recommended range (1200-2000), providing great opportunity to optimize content to ensure it is within the ideal limit and gain competitive edge by ranking higher on search engines.
- Almost half of IT professionals specializing in Digital Transformation cite Digital Technology Integration as their biggest challenge.
Digital processes and technologies such as the cloud are increasingly sophisticated, meaning successful integration requires the digital know-how and capabilities – which is not always easy to come across. What’s more, changes in month on month intent data indicate an 83.55% increase in the ‘Digital Transformation’ sub tag, proving its significance in the 2022 marketing strategy.
- 40% of HR VPs consider Time and Attendance their greatest obstacle while 0% of C-Suite consider this a concern.
46% of HR C-Suite instead cite Health and Safety as their top pressure point, indicating clear conflicts of interest as to the challenges that hold the greatest significance across seniority levels. Interestingly, only 15.75% of HR buyers specializing in Workforce and Human Capital Management consider Time and Attendance a threat.
- 83% of marketing tech buyers say they will invest in the region of $100,000-$500,000 in Marketing Automation.
Email Marketing looks set to remain an integral role in the marketing channel mix, with 59.35% of B2B marketers intending to spend in this area. The drive towards 1-1 personalization at scale could be a potential driving force for the acquisition of marketing automation solutions that support Email Marketing, along with the rise in nurture strategies leveraging email automation to deliver comms throughout the full demand generation spectrum.
- HR Management is a top area of concern for 42% of Heads of and 41% of C-Suite compared to half that amount of VPs (21%) specializing in Employee Engagement.
59.85% of HR professionals plan to invest in HR Management over the next 18 months, placing it joint second with Employee Recognition. Employee Experience (61.36%) comes out top, suggesting solutions which provide benefits to these core areas will meet current demand.
- 38% of HR tech buyers operating in the field of Recruitment find Diversity and Inclusion the main barrier to success.
This matches up with where HR professionals look to invest their resource, with over half (52.99%) intending to invest in Diversity and Inclusion over the next 18 months, followed closely by Onboarding and Offboarding (52.24%) and Employee Value Proposition (49.25%). Focusing on these key areas in your 2022 marketing plan is likely to engage your in-market Recruitment buyers.
- The recommended optimal blog length is 1,200-2,000 words. Yet, Digital Transformation companies average at just 987 words.
How well does your business measure up against industry leaders? Using our Natural Language Procession (NLP) capabilities we have crawled and collated insights on all of the top performing companies operating within IT, Marketing and HR to provide you with essential benchmark analysis to drive competitive intelligence…
Learn more about our market research services.
- 79% of IT professionals cite Information Security as their main area of research interest as they plan for 2022.
According to our first party Intent data, tag ‘Security’ sees a 74% month on month increase; the greatest within the IT market. Likewise, ‘IT Security’ has experienced a 207.77% month on month increase across sub tags – placing it near the top at 13th in the list, backing what our first party research panel are saying.
- Almost 30% of HR professionals recognize HR Management as a key challenge.
In terms of Technical SEO, our AI powered competitor analysis platform reveals vendors tackling the field of HR Management lies could really do with improving their average load time. It is currently at an average of 0.945 seconds, while the target load time is under 0.5 seconds. Improving this will help keep visitors on your site and deter them from exiting so quickly.
- Social Media is the core pressure point for 37% of Heads of working in Marketing Automation, yet just 16% of C-Suite would agree.
The greatest increase in our first party intent tag category is also Social Media, at 60.41%. While there is a differing stance on Social Media between levels of seniority, the fact remains Social Media is a hot topic being researched right now.
- 37% of IT professionals look to invest between $250,000-$500,000 on Cybersecurity in the next 18 months.
30.73% of IT professionals look to spend above this, coinciding with the main area of concern for Cybersecurity experts, Data Protection (84.88%). As cybercriminals are constantly savvy to the latest hacking techniques, the need for strong data protection only continues to grow into 2022.
2022: The year your B2B marketing plan excels…
You’re now fully equipped with an array of the top B2B insights from our first party research surrounding tech buyer intentions for 2022. With this market research behind you, your 2022 marketing strategy will be fueled by highly accurate, credible and timely insights to truly engage and attract your in-market buyers. Plan your targeting techniques accordingly to boost your competitive market intelligence and drive real competitive advantage.
For further B2B Buyer insights, download the full research report here: B2B Tech Buyer Behavior: Unique Insights for 2021/22
