ON24 Research Finds That Digital Engagement is Preferred by B2B Buyers and Sales and Marketing Teams

January 05, 2023 at 06:00 AM EST

In “The 2022 Digital Engagement Landscape” report, 70% of B2B buyers surveyed prefer to engage with brands through digital channels

Forrester finds that post-pandemic, B2B buyers require 58% more interactions to make a purchase decision than they did in 2019. To further investigate this trend, ON24 (NYSE: ONTF) partnered with B2B marketing agency, Heinz Marketing, to produce The 2022 Digital Engagement Landscape, a survey-based research report that examines which channels and tactics are most effective at engaging B2B buyers and how sales and marketing teams can optimize their impact.

“B2B companies must think differently about driving revenue growth in 2023,” says Callan Young, Chief Marketing Officer, ON24. “As the industry’s trusted advisor in scaling buyer engagement through digital experiences, our goal for this research is to help sales and marketing organizations take a critical look at their marketing mix and understand which channels and tactics have the greatest potential to cost-effectively drive results.”

After separately surveying three respective groups of B2B buyers, marketers, and sellers, ON24 and Heinz uncovered that digital engagement channels are preferred by each cohort. In fact, 70% of B2B buyers stated they prefer to engage with brands virtually or in a hybrid format rather than attend an in-person event and 90% have seen an increase in their digital event participation levels. Marketers are following suit – more than half of those surveyed ran more webinars and digital events in 2022 compared to the year prior, and of those that did, nearly 75% saw improved outcomes. When sellers were asked about the importance of digital engagement channels for prospecting and closing deals, 95% confirmed that virtual and hybrid events are highly valuable.

The research also explored the way sellers and marketers are using the data generated by digital engagement channels and found that both groups have opportunities to improve. Despite 88% of the marketers surveyed agreeing that digital engagement data provides valuable insights into the buying journey, less than one-third of marketers are using that data to personalize their next interaction with audiences. And, of the sellers surveyed, the majority do not receive detailed digital engagement data and nearly one-third feel that a lack of digital engagement data in CRM systems is one of their biggest challenges to personalizing their outreach.

“Our research affirms that a digital engagement strategy is critical for businesses to successfully drive revenue growth today,” says Young. “We know that top-performing sales and marketing organizations leverage the insights that digital engagement provides to deliver a personalized and differentiated B2B buying experience.”

ON24 partnered with Heinz Marketing to field three surveys to uncover expectations about digital engagement, personalization and data usage. To download the full report, visit The 2022 Digital Engagement Landscape.

About Heinz Marketing

Focused on helping clients drive predictable growth via a revenue responsible focus, Heinz Marketing helps B2B marketing teams elevate their impact and contribution to business outcomes that matter. Their proven Predictable Pipeline methodology has been successfully customized and implemented at countless organizations, changing the trajectory of marketing work, careers and lives. The Heinz Marketing team is made up of full-funnel experts who speak the language of sales, empowering clients with strategy and tools for success.

About ON24

ON24 is on a mission to re-imagine how companies engage, understand and build relationships with their audience in a digital world. Through our leading sales and marketing platform for digital engagement, businesses use our portfolio of webinar, virtual event and content experiences to drive engagement and generate first-party data, delivering revenue growth across the enterprise – from demand generation to customer success to partner enablement.

ON24 powers digital engagement for more than 2,000 customers worldwide, including 3 of the 5 largest global technology companies, 3 of the 6 largest US banks, 3 of the 5 largest global healthcare companies, and 3 of the 5 largest global industrial manufacturers, enabling organizations to reach millions of professionals a month for billions of engagement minutes per year with all the first-party data being captured, generated and integrated from one place. ON24 is headquartered in San Francisco with global offices in North America, EMEA, and APAC. For more information, visit www.ON24.com.

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