Shifts in Today’s Software Buyer Behavior
Kai Mitsushio Sr. Manager, Investor Alliances
Table of Contents
1
G2 Overview
Software buyer & vendor marketplace data
2
Shifts in Software Buyer Behavior
Key changes driven by AI at every stage
3
Action Items
What action can software vendors take
G2 is where you go for software. Trusted by buyers and sellers alike
37M+ North America
26M+ Europe
27M+ Asia
3M+
100M+ From around the world ANNUAL BUYERS
150K+
Trusted with quality B2B USER REVIEWS
Across 2,100+ categories PRODUCTS
G2 has the largest and fastest growing community of software buyers
BUYER TRAFFIC G2 VS COMPETITION
G2 Everywhere
G2.com
Gartner Capterra GetApp
Peerspot Trust Radius Software Advice
2022
2023
2024
2. Shifts in Software Buyer Behavior
AI now stands for Always Included. It’s a consistent ingredient along the software buying journey, and for
sellers, it should become their primary focus if they want to succeed in this new reality.” Buyer Behavior Report 2025
Tim Sanders VP of Research Insights at G2
7
The buyer journey has changed at every stage
Buyers research on LLMs, not Google
1) Research
Shortlists are continuing to get shorter
2) Evaluation
Voice of customer confirms AI insights
3) Decision
Customers are churning for better AI
4) Renewal
2025 Buyer Behavior Report
Source: G2 April 2025 Survey
B2B software buyers are making the leap to AI Search
30% “I’m more productive with AI search than traditional search.”
79% “AI Search has changed how I conduct research.”
29% “I start research with AI search more often than Google.”
2025 Buyer Behavior Report
Source: G2 April 2025 Survey
Sources that influence vendor shortlisting
17.1%
GenAI Chatbots Peer Review Sites Vendor Site
15.1%
12.8%
10.6%
Market Research Firms Independent Content Peers/Colleagues Vendor Salesperson Int. Supplier Portal Independent Forums None of the Above Other
9.7%
8.9% 8.8%
8.1%
7.6%
0.9%
0.5%
2025 Buyer Behavior Report
Source: G2 April 2025 Survey
LLM popularity is driving new search behavior.
-25% Estimated Traffic Loss from AIO Presence on SERP
https://www.conductor.com/blog/ai-overviews-impact/
Google AI Overviews
+10% Conversion rate growth from AI enabled website features
https://www.barrons.com/articles/black-friday-shopping-cyber-monday-d3114 4da
May 2025
AI Search Sources G2 is a number 1 source for genAI search of software comparisons, beating out all other software marketplaces.
48454
Source: Profound
8M +
32 % AI crawler visits
AI visits per month
G2’s growing influence in the LLM ecosystem
LLM crawlers visit G2 to learn about software industry trends to provide accurate responses to LLM users.
AI crawlers account for 32% of the total crawlers on G2.
26K +
1.2M +
Conversions to G2
Indexed pages
Empowering vendors to thrive in a marketplace led by LLM-driven buyer journeys.
Over 26,000 LLM users click G2 citations within LLM responses and visited G2 directly each month.
LLMs have indexed over 1.2 million web pages on G2, recognizing them as high-quality content.
Source: Agent analytics from Profound.com
The buyer journey has changed at every stage
Buyers research on LLMs, not Google
1) Research
Shortlists are continuing to get shorter
2) Evaluation
Voice of customer confirms AI insights
3) Decision
Customers are churning for better AI
4) Renewal
2025 Buyer Behavior Report
Source: G2 April 2025 Survey
When it’s decision time, which sources do buyers trust most?
Top trusted sources - N. America
EMEA
APAC
GenAI Chatbots
17.2%
15.8%
19.2%
13.4%
Software Review Sites
13.1%
12.4%
Peers/Colleagues
13%
12.4%
11.9%
12.6%
Vendor Sites
11.4%
13%
Market Research Firms
12.6%
9.7%
11.6%
Vendor Salesperson
9.3%
11.7%
8.7%
Independent Forums
8.4%
8.1%
8.3%
Industry Influencers
7.9%
9.7%
7.6%
Int. Supplier Portal
5.5%
8.1%
6.1%
2025 Buyer Behavior Report
Anticipated software & tech spend change (next 12mo)
2024
2025
57%
57% of buyers anticipate their org will spend more on tech and software over the next year.
49%
42%
39%
5%
9%
Increase
Remain the same
Decrease
2025 Buyer Behavior Report
The IT department is taking back decision-making power
Who is the ultimate software purchase decision maker?
24%
22%
20%
16%
9%
5% 4%
1%
Source: G2 April 2025 Survey
The buyer journey has changed at every stage
Buyers research on LLMs, not Google
1) Research
Shortlists are continuing to get shorter
2) Evaluation
Voice of customer confirms AI insights
3) Decision
Customers are churning for better AI
4) Renewal
2025 Buyer Behavior Report
Source: G2 April 2025 Survey
New AI products and categories are flooding the market
+28% YoY
+52% YoY
+66% YoY
79,981 Reviews on AI Products
41 AI Categories
3,730 AI Products
Source: G2 Marketplace as of April 2025
Review Form Questions
Any product with any Gen AI Feature Question turned on gets asked AI ROI questions in the review form.
Have you used AI features as part of this product?
1,019 Products with Generative AI
741 AI Feature Use Questions Answered in the last month
G2 Marketplace - Data Pulled on 4/21/25
21
Review Form Questions
Approximately how much of your time is saved by utilizing this product’s artificial intelligence (AI) at the task at hand?
Has the return on investment (ROI) you’ve experienced from the artificial intelligence (AI) features in this product matched up against your expectations?
G2 Marketplace - Data Pulled on 4/21/25
22
3. Actions to Take
3 actions to adapt your go-to-market for the new buying journey in age of AI
1. Build out your GEO practices to show up in LLM searches
2. Earn your way to the shortlist by investing in your brand
3. Disrupt yourself before you’re disrupted by an AI-first company
>> ai.g2.com
Thank You.
Kai Mitsushio Sr. Manager, Investor Alliances @ G2 kmitsushio@g2.com LinkedIn:
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