2023年客户参与研究：识别跨代IT买家的内容与参与需求转变

Identifying the shiftingcontent and engagement needs In an industry that seems to change weeklyfollowingthe bombshell release of ChatGPT in late 2022, one of thefew constants has been how IT decision-makers (ITDMs) Foundry’s 10th Customer EngagementStudy of 843 IT decision-makers (ITDMs)found some notable and even dramaticdifferences in the attitudes of the youngestIT buyers compared to their more seniorpeers. Older buyers expressed more express in some areas deserve the attentionof technology marketers, who might want Over the years, little has changed abouthow customers evaluate, select andconsume the content assets vendorsprovide. The good news is that customers The most concerning statistic fortechnology marketers is that ITDMs saidonly 44% of the work-related content they Whether these preferences will persist asthe influence of these early-career buyersgrows is an open question. Still, the starkly 2022 although up from 41% in 2021 and30% in 2019. While 90% said they are willingto register/share their information with atech vendor to gain access to content, 87%said it is challenging to find the content Older respondents are more likely to citechallenges to finding high-quality contentand rate the content’s value significantlylower than their youngest counterparts.Just 36% of Baby Boomers (born 1946–1964) said downloaded content provides Asked what frustrates them in their questfor useful content, 39% said too muchmarketing hype/empty buzzwords (upfrom 35% in 2022 but down significantly One encouraging trend is that 22% ofrespondents hesitate downloading contentbecause they don’t want sales follow-up. That figure steadily dropped from IT professionals are notable outliers on thisquestion. While 44% of IT executives and43% of business managers said findinghigh-quality information is extremely Content marketing isn’t a luxury, judgingby the 72% of ITDMs who said they aremore likely to consider an IT vendor that 2022. Failure to supply educational materialis perceived as a negative by 71% ofrespondents, which is also consistent with resonates more loudly with executive Broken down by age, other contrastsemerge. Just over half of Gen Xrespondents (born 1965–1980) said producttests and reviews are important comparedto 30% of Gen Z. A similar contrast was Preferred content types Over the years, a key feature of CustomerEngagement research has been identifyingthe content types that ITDMs find mostuseful throughout the buying process.The top five categories have remainedunchanged since 2017: product tests/ of ITDMs report that if avendor does not supplyeducational content during Different titles have different contentpreferences. For example, fourtimes as many executive IT decision-makers rely upon technology news Also remaining unchanged over theyears is the type of content usedduring each of the seven stages of the will integrate with other productsand services they already use. When selling a chosen product internally,demos continue to top the value list,followed by analyst research, productreviews, vendor presentations, and case One encouraging dynamic of the pastfew studies is the growing perceivedvalue of vendor presentations throughoutthe buying cycle. In this year’s study,vendor presentations were ranked in the Feature article about technologies Feature article on trends, strategies, mgmt. Not surprisingly, the topics that interestbuyers change with the stages of thebuying process. During the early phases,there is a pronounced preference for about technology. That isn’t surprisingduring this research-intensive stage. Technology demos and tests assumemore value as buyers move todetermining technical requirements Product demos ITDMs receivethe most value from gain access to content, a result that wasalmost identical to last year’s 91%. They aremost willing to register for product tests/ The art of the demo Because product demonstrations rate soconsistently high in the value equation (98%of ITDMs say they value them), we wereinterested in learning how ITDMs prefer to Regional results varied significantly on thisquestion, however. Virtual demonstrationswere the number-one pick among NorthAmerican respondents, while Europe/ When evaluating products, customer casestudies assume an elevated role. Buyersfocus on the financial considerationsof purchasing subscriptions versus Sixty percent of respondents at technologycompanies ranked limited-time, full- Overall, 90% of ITDMs said they are willingto share information with a tech vendor to The more technical focus of people atthese companies explains the contrast. 74% IT executives and professionals preferdemos of all kinds more than their business-side colleagues. There were generationaldifferences on the demo question as well; of ITDMs are more likely to respondto outreach from an IT vendorif they know the technology is To generate positive word-of-mouth, tech marketers should: 1.Provide a great customerexperience ITDMs w