Gartner identified four marketing clusters of technology buying organisations, based on key behaviours that influence GTM tactics:
- The Cooperatives: Representing 43% of buyers, these organisations said they evenly use all information types to learn more about it, including thought leadership, the product’s or service’s features, and product reviews when exploring a new product or service. Additionally, they were found to leverage self-driven search and interactions equally for both new technology and replacement technology buying decisions.
- Strict Planners: This type of buyer prefers proven technology that aligns to their strategic vision, with 55% of Strict Planners stating they rely primarily on information about the product’s or service’s features when exploring a new purchase.
- Catalysts: These companies accept the risk and costs of new technology and deploy as early as possible, but want assurances and validation that technology will meet their needs. Catalysts look to understand a provider’s offerings primarily through search within a trusted independent site, and are more likely than other enterprises to seek information through direct vendor interaction when seeking replacement tech.
- Business-led: Representing 21% of those surveyed, these buyers involve the business throughout the entire buying process, and seek to ensure that technology drives business value. Business-Leds seek specific product and service information in the form of customer references and proof points, while heavily relying on product review sites, and direct engagement with vendors.
These clusters were derived from seven Enterprise Technology Adoption Profiles (ETAs), established by the research and advisory company to assess the psychographics that drive how and when organisations make technology decisions.
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“Strategies must be built that are relevant to buyers and will engage buying committees throughout their buying and owning journeys,” said Christy Uher Ferguson, research vice-president at Gartner.
“To do so, tech marketers should determine which of the four tech buying organisation clusters aligns to their ICP and apply these as a filter or segment strategy within account-based programmes to identify accounts that fit into each buyer cluster.
“Using buying behaviour analysis, technology teams should develop personalised engagement strategies (messaging, account-based marketing programmes, content and channel mix strategies) that are relevant to each cluster and implement these into their GTM efforts.”
According to findings from Gartner, 70% of global technology buyers are exploring more ways to purchase technology this year, but vendor engagement strategies continue to under-deliver when it comes to meeting tech buyer expectations.
“Technology providers often create GTM strategies with limited insights into how an enterprise will make a buying decision,” added Ferguson.
“As the size of buying teams continues to increase, ideal customer profiles (ICPs) increase in importance. While understanding individual buyer personas is important to align messaging and content to specific role-based needs, buying teams act as an organisation, with organisation goals first and individual goals second.”
The Gartner Technology End-User Buying Behaviour Survey was conducted online from October through December 2020, among 1,500 managers or higher involved in technology evaluation and buying decisions. Those surveyed were from the US, France, Germany, the UK, Australia, India and Canada.
