Forrester Reports, COVID-19 Pandemic Dramatically Altered B2B Buying Behaviors

According to new research unveiled at Forrester’s B2B Summit North America, the pandemic has dramatically changed B2B buying behaviors. The number of interactions required to make buying decisions significantly increased in the past two years: from 17 in 2019 to 27 in 2021, indicating a new level of attention and due diligence for purchases during the pandemic. Additionally, many technology purchases, especially software, affect a broader swath of functions and departments, so more stakeholders and influencers are part of the decision-making process. As a result, today 60% of purchases have four or more people involved (compared with just 47% in 2017).

Forrester’s new research outlines frameworks, models, and actionable insights to help B2B marketing, sales, and product leaders understand and act on these new buying behaviors and changing buying process expectations. New research — released in conjunction with the announcement of the Forrester Decisions product portfolio — will equip B2B leaders to define their goals, apply best practices, and ultimately achieve business outcomes faster. According to Forrester, organizations that successfully align marketing, sales, and product functions report 19% faster growth and 15% greater profitability.

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Noteworthy research introduced at B2B Summit includes:

Building Trust

The B2B Imperative.

Despite 92% of businesses viewing themselves as trusted by their customers, firms must work harder to restore and grow trust with customers. Forrester’s new risk-reward framework helps determine how and where to make trust a B2B imperative. It is based on seven measurable levers: accountability, competence, consistency, dependability, empathy, integrity, and transparency.

The Forrester 2021 B2B Buying Study

In the final six months of 2020, a demand for more content and more digital and personal interactions throughout the B2B buying journey made the purchasing process more intense. Forrester’s research details how leaders can successfully address B2B buyer needs in the new normal.

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Step Up To B2B Marketing’s New Destiny

Fifty-four percent of B2B organizations struggle to activate their brand purpose.

This research explains how B2B leaders can fulfill marketing’s new mandate in the post-pandemic era — identify opportunities that relentlessly focus on delivering value to existing and future customers.
The Optimal Path To Revenue. B2B marketing, sales, and product leaders can use a new framework — the Forrester B2B Revenue Waterfall — to prioritize buyer engagement and maximize deal conversions to accelerate revenue growth.

The Five P’s Of Sales That Will Power Success In The Future

With the selling profession at a critical crossroads, this research will feature best practices for sales leaders to be purpose-driven, precise, personalized, productive, and profitable to earn, retain, and grow customers.

Routes To Market: A Means To Strategic Advantage

Today’s B2B environment requires leaders to regularly reassess how they reach, sell to, and support target buyers. This new research outlines how B2B leaders can adapt and optimize their route-to-market decisions to gain a competitive advantage.

“The pandemic has disrupted the way we do business,” said Sharyn Leaver, senior vice president of research at Forrester. “With completely transformed customer and buyer behaviors, Forrester’s new research, frameworks, and data will help B2B marketing, sales, and product leaders address their most pressing priorities in the post-pandemic era to ensure greater success and profitability in 2021 and beyond.”