What is a prospect is looking for when selecting enterprise software?
What information are they researching?
What content do they engage with?
It can be hard to determine exactly what content companies are receptive to when looking for software at the enterprise level.
That’s why we’ve researched 3,044 enterprise software projects for information on the selection process. We’ve analyzed how long software buyers spend shortlisting software, the topics prospects were most interested in, and the seniority level of those leading the selection project in our enterprise software Demand Generation Report 2022.
Here is a summary of our key findings:
1. On average, only 41% of companies purchasing software are replacing an existing system
Companies with 50-499 employees were more likely to already be using enterprise software. Interestingly, most companies regardless of size were implementing a system for the very first time.
Smaller businesses, with 0-49 employees, were most likely to be implementing a software for the first time. One of the most popular reasons businesses of this size were implementing enterprise software was to support business growth which suggests scalability is a key requirement during the selection process.
The significant portion of companies looking at software for the first time indicates these prospects would be ideal candidates for middle of funnel nurturing campaigns as they are only beginning to gather basic knowledge of systems and narrow down their needs. Prospects are in the consideration stage and are ready to engage with relevant content allowing marketers to develop credibility and authority.
Which topics are prospects most interested in when it comes to software?
2. Prospects were most interested in comparison and pricing topics when researching software
Our audience’s main areas of interest focused on content relating to comparison and pricing data. Lots of prospects were currently in the consideration stage for selecting a system as evidenced by their interest in discovery and shortlisting.
The variance in topic interest suggests that companies are invested in thoroughly researching and comparing enterprise software options before starting a conversation with a potential vendor.
At Prospect Path, we use topic interest data to segment our content based on our audience needs. This allows us to provide prospects with content to match their specific needs and determine their level of purchasing intent. From our data, almost 90% of surveyed companies fell into a high purchase intent segment resulting from their engagement with relevant content, which enables us to understand when they will be receptive to outreach from our sales teams to discuss their needs in more detail.
3. C-level and VPs were the most common senior-level employees leading software selection
The majority of those involved in software selection were senior-level employees.
The most popular position for those leading software selection was C-level and VPs, followed by those who fell into the managers. C-level, VPs, managers, and owners accounted for over 65% of the project leads in enterprise software selection projects.
We also noticed a number of specialists including consultants, generalists, and executives leading more selection projects. The presence of this category suggests a significant percentage of those leading software projects are outside of high seniority positions; this is potentially a missed opportunity for software vendors who prioritize leads based on the seniority level who, without these leads, would miss out on almost 20% of the enterprise software market share.
This suggests that selecting software is a priority for senior management and they are actively involved in the selection process. Furthermore, those involved are decision-makers who are actively searching for solutions in the enterprise software space, with the seniority to move the project forward.
4. Most companies looking for enterprise software favored the cloud
The majority of companies searching for a new system were searching specifically for a cloud-based solution. However, it’s important to note that a significant percentage of prospects were neutral regarding the hosting method of their new software. This suggests that platform isn’t a significant deciding factor that most prospects consider when selecting their software.
Learn more unique insights on what enterprise software buyers are searching for in our Demand Gen Report 2022.
Thanks for taking the time to read some of the insights from our Enterprise Software Demand Generation Report, if you’d like to share your thoughts on our data, I’d love to hear from you. You can email any of your thoughts to me directly at: megan@prospectpath.com
