Millennials. This is a group of digital pioneers. Computers, email and some type of cellphone have all been in play since they were born, and they’ve always expected some part of their work life to be digital. We recently surveyed a big group of them, but we made sure the respondents were specific — millennial B2B buyers who are regularly responsible for B2B purchases over $10K. Marketer, millennials are a critical segment you should be targeting! Because they will soon be the largest population in the U.S., and our research confirms their B2B buying authority is gathering strength. Unsurprisingly, they also have specific buying preferences and expectations.

Some of the expectations our research found are millennial-specific. But others are more universal expectations that are shared by all segments, as we continue to see B2C experiences influencing B2B buyers.

Here’s what I mean. Like many B2B buyers today:

• Millennial buyers like to do online research before they buy. Review websites (for 49% of respondents) and web searches (for 43% of respondents) are the top resources for researching a purchase decision.
• They think buying groups take too long to make decisions and that it’s hard to get budget. 52% said they’re challenged by too many people being part of the decision-making purchase process.
• The webinar is one of their preferred content types to help gain new insights. 47% cited webinars as one of the most helpful content formats in business buying decisions.
• They want a timely response to their inquiries. 55% said the timeliness of a vendor’s response was very important.

But what are some of the NEW insights we gleaned about millennial B2B buyers? When I took a step back and looked at the big picture vs. the statistics, it appeared that the major themes we uncovered fall into three main categories.

1. They expect a digital experience. You can’t underestimate just how important their digital buying journey is … they want and expect to be able to configure, price, and possibly even buy online.
2. They need education. They are newer in their roles; therefore, they need and want information and assistance to sell your solution through to management.
3. They want a personal touch. Although they’re digital natives, millennial buyers are human, not robots. They value making connections with Sales and with other buyers like them.

For B2B marketing success, getting to know and accept today’s changing B2B buyer is of the utmost importance! So, over the next few months, we’ll explore each of these marketing areas and opportunities in more detail and with specific examples (so make sure you’re subscribed to our blog digest). If you want to dive into some of them now, download the full research report or check out this webinar that recaps the research findings. And of course, get in touch if you’re ready to start creating or modifying your B2B marketing efforts to better reach millennial B2B buyers.