50 B2B Buying Stats That Every Sales Team Should Know 2026 Edition

The former is measured in numbers (e.g. the number of purchases a customer makes per month). It’s important to exclude brand queries when doing this because you want to identify potential buyers who aren’t yet aware of who you are. Your prospect is often identified by the type of queries they’re making such as what, who, where, when, why, and how (e.g. “How to tie a bow tie”).

And if you need more guidance on writing SEO-friendly pages and posts, then this is the guide for you. To make this happen, you’ll need a solid SEO plugin like AIOSEO or Yoast to optimize your pages and posts so they can be found by the right people. It’s all about showing how your product or service can make their life better, right here, right now. These decisions aren’t made overnight, so focus on building solid relationships through every interaction. It's not just about listing features; it's about showing real, tangible benefits and the kind of return on investment businesses care about. While businesses prioritize logic, strategy, and return on investment, consumers often make choices based on personal needs and emotions.

AI tools can dramatically reduce production time for captioning, editing, and repurposing. For B2B production teams operating with limited headcount, AI tools represent a way to increase output without proportionally increasing costs. 63% of video marketers have used AI tools to help create or edit marketing videos, up significantly from prior years. 93% of video marketers say video has helped increase user understanding of their product or service. 91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool in 2026, matching the all-time high. With one, ecommerce businesses can proactively identify customer needs and provide them with information that helps them progress to the next stage—ultimately becoming a loyal customer.

• B2B and B2C buyer journeys can vary, as prospect motivations and sales cycles differ by industry.
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• The sales funnel is company-centric, showing your process for converting prospects into customers.
• 80% of B2B decision-makers trust industry blogs as a primary source of research (HubSpot)

Can I explore data specific to my industry or region?

It’s important because it flips the focus from how you want to sell to how your customers actually make decisions. Think of it as your shortcut to clarity — no jargon, no guesswork, just a practical way to connect with your audience and guide them to “yes.” Having been in the marketing industry for years, I’ve seen platforms come and go, algorithms rise and fall, and trends explode overnight — only to fade just as quickly. By registering, you confirm that you agree to the processing of your personal data by Salesforce as described in the Privacy Statement. I understand that these countries may not have the same data protection laws as the country from which I provide my personal information.

What This Data Means for B2B Marketers

The customer journey, on the other hand, follows on from this, referring to the steps businesses can take to build relationships with existing customers. That means it’s all about buyer’s journey persuasion and influence aimed at brand new customers. The various buyer’s journey stages describe the path along which people move towards making a purchase.

The dark funnel refers to all the buyer research, peer conversations, and content consumption that happens outside trackable channels — private Slack groups, review platforms, community forums, and AI tools. Modern B2B purchases involve an average of 6–10 decision-makers across IT, operations, finance, and end users. B2B buyers prefer self-service tools over interacting with sales representatives and want to complete part or all of their purchase process independently (Business Dasher). Instead, they’re talking to peers, reading user reviews, and consulting independent experts. 94% of B2B buyers are using AI tools like ChatGPT during their buying process (6sense).

Buyer's journey stages (high level first)

By carefully building these personas, you can create personalized experiences that smoothly move buyers through their path, to ultimately lead to stronger engagement and higher conversions. A buyer persona is a detailed representation of your ideal customer, including demographics, behavior patterns, pain points and decision-making factors. With these foundational elements in place, you’ll be set to create a strategy that enhances engagement and drives results. This can help to make the decision feel simple, secure and that they’re making the right choice.

Data on how buyers are self-educating

If you find the buyer is engaging with awareness content like a blog post, for example, create a promo for a newsletter signup in the post to encourage continued engagement. As part of this, you’ll want to gently introduce your product — while keeping the focus on the solution it offers, not the features it includes. Typically, this research involves online research or conversations with others dealing with similar problems/needs. Each stage factors in the psychological state of the buyer, including their needs, behaviors, and decision-making processes. This includes their behaviors and attitudes toward your brand and how they interact with your marketing and, eventually, your product or service. Discover how Agentforce Sales uses data and AI to help you manage your pipeline, build relationships, and close deals fast.