More than eight of ten – 84% – of technology buyers begin their research for information on one of the major search engines, according to a new study from KnowledgeStorm and MarketingSherpa: “Connecting Through Content, Issue Two: Content Distribution – Where Information Intersects With Interest.”
The study was designed to examine how technology buyers search for content and how B2B marketers deliver content to them. Two concurrent surveys were fielded in April 2007 to more than 3,000 technology buyers and B2B marketers.
Among the study’s key findings related to search:
- 56% of technology buyers when using a search engine use complex searches of three or more words.
- 53% of buyers scan, on average, 3-5 pages of search results. Only 11% stop at the first page.
- Sponsored links are read by 53% of buyers “frequently” or “sometimes”; 34% click on a link “frequently” or “sometimes”:
- 14% of technology buyers said they frequently read sponsored links and 6% frequently click on them.
- 39% claim to “sometimes” read the sponsored links and 28% “sometimes” click on them
- 65% of marketers use a paid ad strategy to place their content on search results
- 66% of marketers have a strategy for ensuring high organic/natural placement on search engines
Some other key findings from the study:
- 80% of technology buyers say offline marketing, such as magazine ads or direct mail create, “sometimes” or “frequently” lead them online to seek information.
- More than 50% of buyers say they give a valid name, email address, industry, job title and company name when registering for tech content online.
- However, less than 40% provide accurate phone numbers, 43% provide valid personal email addresses when registering for content.
- Nearly eight of ten technology buyers say they would register for a whitepaper – also the top content type for which marketers require registration.
- However, just 38% of buyers say they would register for a demo and 31% for a webcast, whereas 77% and 64%, respectively, of marketers require registration for the two content types.
- When technology buyers are asked to register for content, 74% want to see at least a one-paragraph content overview when deciding to register.
- However, only 48% of marketers offer that level of content detail.
A copy of the study is available here.