G2 at 2025 Value Creation Summit

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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