* Bitpipe survey shows majority of tech pros say product marketing material influenced their purchasing decisions
As an IT executive, your in-box is probably crammed with a deluge of product marketing material from vendors eager to make a sale. Whether you pass this along to a staff member or are closely involved with IT buying, the quality and content of this product literature plays a large role in IT buying decisions, according to a survey from Bitpipe.
Bitpipe, a provider of syndicated IT vendor content, surveyed 238 technology pros about the impact of vendor product literature on buying decisions. More than 81% of respondents said product literature influenced their purchasing decision.
The results show that 71% of respondents typically use product literature to obtain preliminary information about vendors and products, compare products as part of the competitive analysis process, and identify technical features that apply to their specific applications.
What do your colleagues do with all that material? After reading vendor information, more than 69% of those surveyed contact a vendor for more information, 62% filed it for future reference, 60% passed it along to a colleague, and 46% sent it to a superior with a recommendation.
Somewhat surprisingly, 81% of tech pros said it’s difficult to find relevant product literature, broken down by 3% “extremely difficult,” 30% “difficult” and 48% “somewhat difficult.” Using Internet search engines is the top method of finding this data, as identified by 95% of the survey respondents. Next, 77% visit vendor Web sites, 50% visit IT portals, 47% visit publication web sites, 17% visit conference Web sites, and 13% visit training web sites.
Quality counts for these IT buyers, as 72% said high quality product literature gives them a positive perception of the vendor.
