Insights into SMB Buyer Behaviour

The Australian SMB market is large and fragmented. With over 820k business’ having less than 100 employees, vendors do struggle to cost-effectively sell to this market. It is not cost effective to develop a relationship and to understand every SMB’s pain points. However according to IDC this market represents 25% of the total ICT pie.

As a result many vendors turn to mass marketing to communicate their message. Unfortunately mass marketing is often challenging because the message does not penetrate deep enough to resonate with their unique challenges.

Google commissioned Jigsaw Strategic Research in August to interview over 1,100 SMB decision makers and find out how they research and purchase technology products. The results of this research provide us with some insight into how brands can connect with this audience in order to convert them into customers.

In this study we answer the following questions from SMB purchase decision makers:

- What are the triggers and how long does it take them to decide?
- What influences their decision?
- What is the role of the web and search in purchasing?
- What is the ideal way they want us to connect with them?
- How willing are they to purchase online?

The technology categories covered in this study include computers, printers, software, fixed phone line/ data services, mobile handsets and services.

Business' were segmented into small (1-19 employees) and medium (20-99 employees), covering metro and regional Australia and a cross section of industries.

To view the detailed results and key take-aways, please click here.