10 Things B2B CMOs Need to Know About Today’s Tech Buyers
In the age of AI, distrust, and disappearing attention spans, B2B tech buying has gotten a whole lot weirder. Fortunately, TrustRadius dropped a data-rich report that offers clarity amid the chaos. Here are 10 things every B2B CMO needs to know right now—served cold, like a penguin’s martini.
1. AI Doubters Are Now the Minority
“In 2024, 68% of buyers said AI had no impact. In 2025, that’s dropped to 45%.”
AI is finally doing what it promised: making the buying process smoother. The number of buyers who find AI helpful doubled year over year (from 20% to 40%). The naysayers are melting faster than an ice cube in the Sahara.
For CMOs, this means two things: 1) AI-generated summaries may be the first thing buyers see about your product, and 2) if your content isn’t AI-indexable, you’re invisible. It’s time to write for both humans and machines.
2. Buyers Fact-Check the Bots
“90% of buyers who see AI-generated summaries click through to cited sources.”
AI might be writing the intro paragraph, but buyers are still doing their homework. That means citations are king. Want to show up in AI Overviews? You need to earn backlinks, own topical authority, and land on reputable review sites.
Marketers who ignore SEO and site structure are going to miss the AI train—and this train doesn’t wait. It’s already halfway to your buyer’s shortlist.
3. Experience Trumps Everything
“52% of buyers say their own prior experience is the top resource consulted.”
Not analyst reports. Not customer references. Not your beautifully designed eBook. Their own experience. Which means if you blew it the first time, chances are you’re not getting a second.
Retention is your best lead-gen strategy. Make your product unforgettable—for the right reasons—or you’ll be permanently benched.
4. Sales Reps Are Losing Influence (and That’s Okay)
“Only 13% said a demo ‘blew them away’... and just 24% cited reps as a reason to buy.”
Buyers still talk to reps, but fewer are swayed by them. The human pitch is no longer your closer—it’s your filter. Buyers already know who you are before your AE opens their mouth.
Your website, your reviews, your community presence? That’s the real sales team. Your rep is just the one taking the order (if you're lucky).
5. Trust is Crowdsourced—Not Controlled
“User reviews (47%) and product demos (48%) are more consulted than vendor sites (45%).”
Buyers aren’t asking you to explain your product anymore. They’re asking each other. Reviews, communities, Reddit threads—if you're not enabling customers to talk, you’re probably being talked about.
And let’s be honest: Most buyers trust someone who uses your tool more than someone who markets it.
6. A-Rated Vendors Play a Different Game
“A-rated vendors underindex on sales reps and overindex on user reviews, customer references, and account-based marketing.”
Turns out, the best vendors don’t just do more—they do different. They build systems of trust. That means activating customers, elevating real voices, and targeting accounts with laser precision.
CMOs chasing vanity tactics need to ask: are we building brand or just burning budget?
7. Price Transparency Isn’t Optional Anymore
“45% of buyers wish all vendors had transparent pricing.”
Opaque pricing is the fastest way to lose trust—and possibly the deal. The days of “talk to sales” as a pricing strategy are fading faster than TikTok trends.
If your buyers can’t figure out the cost within five minutes on your site, your competitor just got bumped to the top.
8. Analyst Reports Have Left the Building
“Only 14% of buyers use analyst rankings and reports—down from 35% in 2022.”
That’s a 60% decline in just three years. CMOs who keep shelling out for badges and pay-to-play MQs should ask: Is it for the buyers… or your board?
The market’s trust has shifted to peer voices, product experiences, and yes, even AI summaries. Time to realign your trust budget.
9. Your Website Is Training the Bot
“79% of vendors believe their website content is used to train AI models.”
Which means your copy isn’t just for buyers—it’s for Gemini, GPT, and every LLM in between. If you’re not optimizing for structured data and topically relevant depth, you’re training the bots to skip you.
AI is the new front door. Time to make sure yours doesn’t squeak.
10. Your Biggest Barrier? Reaching Real Buyers
“35% of new product vendors say finding and reaching in-market buyers is their top challenge.”
Spray-and-pray is out. Targeted, trust-driven, in-context influence is in. That means account-based everything. And maybe a little penguin-powered community magic.
The hard truth: If you're not in their search, their feed, or their Slack group, you're not even in the race.
Wrapping Up
Today’s buyers are savvy, skeptical, and AI-assisted. They trust peers over vendors. Experience over hype. Transparency over tactics. And penguins—always penguins.
If you’re a B2B CMO looking to build trust in 2025, stop dawdling and start enabling. Because the buyer already knows more than you think. And now, so do you. For your copy of TrustRadius's 2025 Buyers Guide (Bridging the Trust Gap: B2B Tech Buying in the Age of AI), click here.