LinkedIn Tech Marketer's Event - Tech Research
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Elisa Koch, LinkedIn’s Insights Lead for AUNZ, shared the key insights and learnings from LinkedIn’s Tech research “Taking a Deeper Look at Today’s Empowered Tech Buying Process”.
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LinkedIn Tech Marketer's Event - Tech Research
- 1. 1 Taking a Deeper Look at Today’s Empowered Tech Buying Process Beneath the Surface Elisa Koch Insights Lead, AU & NZ
- 2. 2 2.3+ million APAC LinkedIn members who influence IT decisions across departments and seniorities
- 3. 3 We surveyed 3,800+ technology decision-makers globally So, what’s beneath the technology purchasing surface?
- 4. 4 Hardware for End Users Hardware for Data Centers Software for Data CentersSoftware for End Users We looked at 4 key technology subverticals. The decision making process journey The key influencers on the process The areas of interest and motivation The content they want, when and where they’re looking for it…
- 5. 5 Complication #1: The buying process is competitive and long. Complication #2: Technology buying touches all aspects of business. Complication #3: The buying group each have their own agenda. What we learned: It’s complicated.
- 6. Complication #1: The buying process is long, complex and competitive.
- 7. 7 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% Needs Specs/Funding Vendor Choice Implementation Management Renewal Hardware for End Users Software for End Users Hardware for Data Centers Software for Data Centers Engaged Directly with Vendors – Last 3 Months (% among buyers recently participating in each stage) Engagement is constant throughout the long journey… Bases: Technology decision participants (last 3 months) in 11+ person companies across 11 major markets in each market who recently participated in each stage Hardware for End Users n=140-173, Software for End Users n=163-199, Data Center Hardware n=142-162, Data Center Software n=132-167 12 months+
- 8. 27%25% 8 It’s more competitive than ever, but opportunities do exist. Most Competitive Most Open Hardware for End Users Software for Data Centers Hardware for Data Centers Software for End Users Technology buying ranges from extremely to very competitive (% who shortlisted a “new” vendor) 21% 42%
- 9. Complication #2: Technology buying touches all aspects of business.
- 10. 45% 52% 59% 51% 62% 50% Needs Specs/Funding Vendor Choice Implementation Management Renewal 1010 4+ functions (% among buyers participating in each stage) 4+ functional groups can be involved at each stage.
- 11. 11 Hardware for End Users Hardware for Data Centers Software for Data CentersSoftware for End Users …but the full committee is a complex group * Each function’s’ importance was ranked across four measures: 1) perceived leadership in six stages of buying; 2) likelihood of being cross-functional partner to a leading role; 3) propensity to be a formal decision maker; and 4) perceived influence on vendor opinion among those involved in Vendor Choice. Gartner source: http://my.gartner.com/portal/server.pt%3Fopen%3D512%26objID%3D202%26mode%3D2%26PageID%3D5553%26ref%3Dwebinar-rss%26resId%3D1871515 IT Engineering Operations Prog. and Proj. Mngmnt Finance Bus. Development Support Accounting Marketing Purchasing Sales Research Consulting/Ext. Consultant Extremely Important 1 Very Important/ Important 2Importance to the decision process* 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
- 12. Complication #3: The buying group each have their own agenda.
- 13. What motivates this diverse group of decision-makers? Proj. Mgmt. Finance Accounting Top Factors Driving Willingness to Engage IT Engineering Bus. Dev. Operations Purchasing Sales Support Bases: N=32-598, recent technology buyers (last 3 months) in key functions In general, how important are the following factors in your willingness to engage with sales professionals and other employees of [technology type] vendors? 13 Subject Matter Expertise Consultation/Education/Tools Business Model Costs/Business Impact User Adoption Know/Trust Product /Service Tier 1 audiences Tier 2 audiences In general, all Audiences in Australia prioritize interacting with sales professionals they know/trust more so than other countries
- 14. 14 Top reasons vendors make the short list (% among those considering “new” vendors) Base: n=122 Base: n=107 Base: n=86 Base: n=148 Bases: Technology decision process participants (last 3 months) in 11+ person companies across 11 major markets who shortlisted a company that is “new” (i.e., their company never worked with it) Hardware for End Users Cost-Price-Terms Quality-Product Reputation-Reviews Support-Service Hardware for Data Centers Cost-Price-Terms Subject Matter Expert- Consult. Quality-Reliability References-Trust Software for Data Centers Subject Matter Expert- Consult. Features-Functionality Cost-Price-Terms Ease of Doing Business Software for End Users Fit Requirements Materials-Case Study-POC* Ease of Doing Business User Experience
- 15. 15 Meet David • David is part of the decision making process for Data Centre Software • He is an Information Technology Manager working in a High Tech Company
- 16. 16 A bit about David… • 17 years in industry covering information technology, engineering and operations Project Management Skills Business Analysis Change Management B. Science or Commerce Considering MBA Edu
- 17. 17 David is using LinkedIn to connect with experts and engage with relevant content Website page views 2X Company Follows 3X 30% more Content over jobs 7X Mobile vs. DesktopConnected on LinkedIn 4X Source: Eccolo Media, “2015 B2B Technology Content Survey Report: Volume 1,” Dec 16, 2014 What is David doing on LinkedIn? Influencer Follows 2X
- 18. 18 When is he seeking out content and for what needs? David consumes 2 to 4 distinct pieces of content at each stage of the buying cycle7 7 16 7 16 7 Needs Specs Vendor Selection Implementing Managing Renewing Hours spent researching at each stage – Last 3 Months
- 19. 19 What sort of content is he looking for on LinkedIn? He is actively seeking content to become a better informed decision maker Cloud Computing DB2 XML Information Security IT Service Mgmt Mobile Computing Scalability Test Automation
- 20. 20 So what does this all mean? Using the information he finds on LinkedIn, David is creating his shortlist 1 Subject Matter Expert- Consultation Top reason data centre software vendors make the short list: 2 Features-Functionality 3 Cost-Price-Terms 4 Ease of Doing Business
- 21. 21 What else is he seeing on LinkedIn? David is a popular profile Industries sponsoring content to profiles like David’s in last 6 months Growth in number of companies targeting profiles like David’s in last 6 months alone Computer Software Information Technology & Services Higher Education 100+ 39% Top 3
- 22. 22 So what are you doing to reach David? Know your audience Take action Engage with relevance
- 23. Thank you
Editor's Notes
- A little background on the evolution of this research. First version of research fielded three year ago. This is our 3rd iteration. From previous versions, we’ve learned that: Tech buying is different than any other B2B purchasing process It’s different because there is a technology buying committee instead of a single buyer – a diverse group that not just influences but holds the purchase decisions This version was about going deeper – understanding more about who exactly is in the buying committee and what their motivations are
- When we look at this group on our platform today in APAC: There are more than 2.3 million LinkedIn members in APAC alone who influence the IT purchase decisions on the platform right now and over 10 million globally 9 out of 10 of the tech buyers on LinkedIn told us that they are in the market for an IT solution in the next 12 months In Australia, size of active IT Committee audience is 368K (1/4 of them SMBs, ¾ from Enterprise)
- So, this year we surveyed more than 3,800 technology decision makers globally. Of these, over 1,100 were from our APAC region. This was not a 3rd party study – b/c we have the IT decision makers on the platform and we know who they are and how they behave, we were able to field an internal study
- When it came to getting deeper under the surface – the first thing we wanted to understand was if “tech” purchasing was a homogenous process or if distinct products and services required different approaches Therefore, we’ve taken the lens of four key subverticals: Hardware for end users - laptops and mobiles Software for end users - operating systems and CRM Hardware for data centres - networks, storage, servers Software data centres – security, cloud, virtualisation etc With this research, we’ve been able to get deeper than ever before into: the decision making process the players involved what they want, when they want it, and where they are looking for it
- So what did we find? At a high level, what we discovered was that there are similarities AND differences among the 4 groups…But really, we’ve confirmed something I’m sure you already know, the tech buying process is really complicated! Three key complications we’re going to explore in a bit more depth is that the buying process is: Competitive Long It touches all aspects of the business And all the functions and people involved have different motivations So let’s go a bit deeper on some of these complications…
- The tech buying journey is not for the faint of heart – it is long, complicated and very competitive What do we mean by long? Across ALL sub verticals, there are no shortcuts Buyers are spending on ~4-6 months navigating each stage of the purchase cycle. This is shorter for user hardware, slightly longer when data centres are involved. Either way, the median time required to complete the entire journey is more than 12 months when you consider some of these activities occur in parallel So, let’s look at the buying process in a little more detail
- We often hear that buyers are not engaging with vendors until it’s time to make a decision. Well this is blatantly not the case. Some key findings: We asked at each stage of the purchase cycle if they engaged with a vendor in some way: attended a vendor event, spoke to or emailed support, requested information – basically had a touchpoint with a vendor (not specifically a person). We discovered that across all 4 subverticals – decision makers are actually engaging with vendors throughout the process, with peak times where we might expect like vendor choice and of course ongoing management of the solution. It’s interesting to note that in APAC, respondents were more likely to have had engagement with a vendor at all stages compared to the global sample we surveyed: The market here is clearly hungry for information and interaction, no matter what stage of the purchase cycle they are at Key insight: Tech buying never sleeps, so neither should tech marketing. How can Microsoft maintain a presence and relationship for the long-haul at all stages of their journey
- The tech purchasing market is more competitive than ever Only 21% to 42% of buying committee members said they’d consider adding a new vendor to the short list. Interestingly, the APAC region was more open to new entrants compared to global peers, with India the most open market and Australia the most competitive This means that the overwhelming majority of tech purchases are going to vendors the buyer is already working with. What we also know from a previous version of this research is that the average shortlist is only 2-3 brands The insight here? Winning new business is difficult. Tech buyers are prone to stick with their incumbent vendors So what are you doing as a marketer, not only to break onto that shortlist but care for their needs post purchase
- Complication #2 – What we wanted to learn this year is how much of the organization is involved in the buying process… Interestingly over 50% of our sample discussed their decision making process with end users and a whopping 70% with peers in another organisation Right now we’re going to focus on the internal influencers. So who is involved when?
- How prevalent is the buying committee throughout the purchase cycle? The committee is present and active throughout the purchasing cycle – This is the percentage of respondents that said that 4 or more FUNCTIONS were involved in each stage This is functions – not people – this could mean that for every function there are multiple people or roles involved In the past, we knew the influence committee was broader, but we wanted to get into specific functions as to what is most critical.
- Now, what you are about to see is a fairly complex visual and will get a little freaky with some animations here. But bear with me – this is where it starts to get interesting Respondents ranked the importance of various functions to the decision making process based on being a cross-functional partner to a leading role and perceived influence First we can see your primary audience - the core members of the buying committee that I’m sure you are all aware of. What we see for the first time is that Finance is a Tier 1 function, especially in the Data Center Hardware vertical where we are talking about very large investments But the tier 2 audience is where it starts to get interesting. The decision makers are now a cross-functional team of individuals representing a range of departments including Marketing, Finance, Sales, Operations and even External consultants Marketing is a key function in Software for End Users as key corporate software purchases are CRM-related Now we see WHO is part of the IT committee – what functions beyond IT play an important to extremely important role in the decision process
- Which takes us to complication #3 – Each of these new players are different and has different needs in their decision making journey It is now vital to understand each of their motivations
- So what do all these players care about? They all want your sales team to be: Subject Matter Experts AND offer…Consultation/Education/Tools When it comes to your tier 1 audiences, Engineering and IT guys really want to make sure that they know you and trust you Plus they want to know that you understand User Adoption and how to ensure they’re a success These are the teams on the front end of the technology implementation – so they’re going to feel the most heat from users In general, all Audiences in Australia prioritize interacting with sales professionals they know/trust more so than other countries Then for many others – especially our non IT folks in Finance, Accounting and Operations – they also want to be sure you understand their business model and how it impacts their bottom line Finally, Purchasing Sales and Support want to make sure you’re well versed on your products and services and can arm them with the product information required to make a good decision. Remember: Engaging different functions requires understanding their priorities. This additional information can help give you an edge when talking directly to this audience – and can help inform your content strategy
- This then ties in neatly to the key factors that the committee considers when forming their shortlist. What’s interesting in this slide is that there are some key similarities between subverticals: Expertise and to know that you can consult them Cost-price terms and ease of doing business
- Meet David - From our data, we know that David is a typical persona of a key player in the data software centre decision making process However we also know from Kelly’s research that he is part of a larger IT buying committee He is an INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MANAGER and works in a SMB-size company in the high tech sector here in Australia By the way if you’re curious, David has been scientifically generated. We found that there are more David’s in Australia than any other name who are a part of the Data CENTRE SOFTWARE DECISOIN MAKING PROCESS
- A little more background on David… He has ~17 years of experience. During this time, he’s moved between 3 functions, including IT, engineering, and operations, which we know are core functions in the B2B IT decision making process He has a diverse skillset, covering change and project management and business analysis He’s well educated, graduating with bachelor’s degree in Science, and like half our member’s on the platform in Australia, is considering further education, in this case an MBA
- What we also know is that David is a highly engaged user of LinkedIn. Compared to the general Australian population, he is 2x more active in terms of page views and has a much larger connected network David has more connections outside Australia than the average Australian member, showing the interconnectedness of the Asia region in his industry He’s on the move, with David and his peers are 30% more likely to be accessing LinkedIn via a mobile device He’s also engaged because he’s looking for content. And when I say content, I don’t mean jobs, he’s viewing 7x more content related to his profession and industry compared to job or career content He’s also following more companies and influencers in order to stay up to date and educated What does this all mean - David and his peers are highly engaged, influential and form a well-connected group of technology players on the LinkedIn platform
- David is also a great model of an empowered buyer. He spends a lot of time doing his own research from a wide variety of sources, including blogs, forums, case studies, social media and of course vendor websites often accessed through the LinkedIn platform As you might suspect, he spends the most time at the vendor choice and management stages with more detailed content However, we found that respondents like David engage with at least 2 to 4 distinct pieces of content at EACH STAGE of the buying cycle As tech marketers, this is important because we now know that buyers are engaged with content throughout the ENTIRE purchase cycle and therefore vital to have an always on strategy to reach David wherever he is at the purchase cycle
- In terms of the content David is looking for using one of our proprietary tools called Trending Content, we can see the different types of content David has searched for at different stages of the buying cycle In this case, we’ve looked at the types of content David is engaging with at the vendor choice stage It’s an interesting mix covering deep subject matter material like cloud computing and XML, but also some more general topics about his industry Using our tools, we can do this for each of the subverticals at each of the purchasing stages
- David is then taking all the information and content he’s researched and is creating his short list for data centre software vendors: And here are the key factors that David is considering in his vendor shortlist: He wants to know he can consult experts in the space Features and functionality are a key differentiator He is also looking for solid cost/price terms as well as ease of doing business Getting on that shortlist is critical and for David and know it’s not just about product & price
- What is also important to know is that when David is on LinkedIn, it’s not just the content David finds on his own There is an active group of companies trying to provide valuable information to David in the form of sponsored content In the last 6 months, companies from over 100 industries have tried to reach profiles like David and the number of companies trying to reach out to decision makers like David has grown by 39%, with the highest share of voice being commanded by brands from: Computer Software Information technology & services Higher education So know that if you’re not engaging with David, your competitors are already and it’s with information we know David wants
- So how can you cut through the noise and effectively reach and engage David? With the power of LinkedIn’s data, let us help you understand your audience in detail – who they are, what they’re doing, and what types of content they want to be engaged with Take action today and engage with relevance at every stage So based on Kelly’s research combined with knowledge of platform behavior, I hope you have gained a better understanding of the tech buying process today. Thank you