IDG Communications explores the role of content consumption and sales enablement during the technology purchase process in the 2018 Customer Engagement research.
The majority of organizations (93 percent) have digital business plans, with most finding themselves in the exploratory phase, making tech investments a key priority. Unfortunately, technology vendors are often missing the mark in their content development; only 40 percent of content downloaded by IT decision-makers (ITDMs) is considered valuable.
IDG’s 2018 Customer Engagement Survey was conducted among the audiences of eight IDG brands (CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, ITworld Macworld, Network World and PCWorld) representing IT and security decision-makers across multiple industries.
The survey was fielded online with the objective of understanding the various types and volume of content consumed throughout the purchase process for major technology products and services. It also looks to gain insight into the preferences of IT decisions-makers with regard to IT solution provider contact and follow-up during the purchase process. Results are based on 1,200+ global tech decision-maker respondents.
Over the past six months, 92 percent of ITDMs have registered for tech content, and insights on security, cloud and IT services have topped the list in their searches. With a remarkable amount of content available, 93 percent of ITDMs prefer content that is tailored for them: 54 percent would like the content tailored based on their industry; and 49 percent by technology platforms already installed in their organization.
When content is considered valuable, additional steps in self-education are taken, including research on technology content sites (64 percent), visiting the vendor website (63 percent), and participating in a product demo (50 percent).
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While content can introduce prospects to a company or product, and lead them through the purchase process, it can also cause them to abandon their research of a specific vendor.
Factors leading to abandonment issues include, promotional/self-serving content (51 percent); not enough content available to do research on their own (48 percent); content is not clear (47 percent); too many requirements to download (44 percent); and level of expertise in content is not at the right level (42 percent).
“Content and educational tools can both positively and negatively impact the likelihood of a sale,” said Julie Ekstrom, SVP, IDG Communications, Inc. “Vendors need to invest in content that navigates tech decision-makers through the purchase process. If they do not, they risk negatively impacting the impression of their organization for three-quarters of decision-makers.”
ITDMs still rely on traditional content formats like product demos/literature, product tests and reviews, and tech news, but as more ITDMs are watching webcasts (96 percent) and listening to podcasts (74 percent), it increases the importance of a multi-channel content approach. Not all webcasts are valued the same, as 51 percent of ITDMs prefer webcasts on-demand, aligning to their busy and changing schedules.
Additionally, 60 percent of ITDMs prefer to download podcasts to listen to later. To keep them hooked, podcast producers should consider interactive formats such as panel discussions or interviews.
Social media continues to be a channel ITDMs use to learn about tech topics, with 93 percent of tech professionals using social media for work. LinkedIn continues to hold the top ranking; however, YouTube has shown significant growth with 67 percent of ITDMs using this channel, compared to 46 percent in 2017.
LinkedIn and YouTube are not just the top used social channels, they are the social channels where content is most often consumed. However, when it comes to sharing and posting content, LinkedIn and Facebook rank the highest.
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