COVID-19 Impact on B2B Research Trends
The world is reeling from the effects of the ongoing coronavirus epidemic, which less than two months ago was mainly known as the Wuhan virus. Its spread across 150 countries has now caused over 7,500 deaths and infected 189,000 others.
Key Findings
- Total B2B Research by businesses is stable to slightly up during the spread of COVID-19 and the ensuing shift to work-from-home.
- Some topic themes have seen declines of 15-40%, while others, ‘Healthcare’ and ‘Finance’ have seen increases in interest.
- With the week ending April 27, these declines have stabilized and interest levels across multiple categories have increased slightly.
- The impact of COVID-19 on Company Surge data: While overall content consumption volume is consistent, specific categories have been disrupted
How Has COVID-19 Affected B2B Research Tech Spending?
The growing trend towards remote working has increased business spending on remote operations software. Over 40% of all businesses in a study done in April said that they would increase software spending allocations. The urge to spend on software is however countered by the effect of the epidemic on revenue generation and brand positioning.
Most businesses, therefore, have to decrease spending as a recession looms. 44% of Marketing and 36% of IT support departments, for instance, will have their software budgets reduced. Task and project management technology will also have fewer allocations to spend on what is now termed as “non-essential” software spending.
The COVID-19 economy does require collaboration, web conferencing, and remote desktop technology tools. Consequently, 30% of all businesses in a study said that they needed web and video conferencing apps, while 23% of them were acquiring remote workforce tools.
These new acquisitions will also be beneficial post the epidemic as businesses begin to adapt to new normal’s. Spending on security software is also up 41%, signaling an increased need to create secure remote working conditions.
How is B2B research affected by COVID?
Total B2B Research has increased over the past three weeks. However, as the pandemic and shift to work from home (WFH) spread, interest in many categories declined, while logically, interest in ‘Healthcare’ and ‘Finance’ topics increased.
What is happening right now?
Businesses are still researching the products and services they were before and resuming some of their normal or expected activity. Over the most recent week, interest levels have increased across multiple categories.
Spend. While companies are generally reducing spending, a sizable number are increasing or maintaining it, with rates depending on company size, sector, and—more than any other factor—location in the world.
Digital. Looking forward, B2B companies see digital interactions as two to three times more important to their customers than traditional sales interactions.
Remote. Almost 90 percent of sales have moved to a videoconferencing (VC)/phone/web sales model, and while some skepticism remains, more than half believe this is equally or more effective than sales models used before COVID-19.
About the Author:
Ratnadeep Patil is a Quality Analyst / Project Coordinators at Facile Services Pvt Ltd (Binary Demand), With over 6 years of experience. An astute and inspiring superior.
He has B2B and Quality expertise in the Market B2B Research, Service Industry, and BPO verticals. Previously he was with Ziff Davis Sale build (ZDSB), Tata Teleservices Ltd, and Karvy Digikonnect.
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