The analysis, which included about 1,400 employed millennials (ages 20-35), shows the younger the millennial, the stronger the preference for digital channels. Significantly for professionals ages 20-24, 19%identify social media as the most important when researching a new tool. On the whole, 85% of millennials use social channels to research products and services for their company. Facebook is the preferred choice for 40%, the survey shows.
Businesses should also consider improving mobile efforts, as 82% of millennials consider mobile devices important in the research process.
Video is also preferred by 29% of millennial buyers, as opposed to more traditional marketing collateral of case studies, white papers and brochures. Having practical product information, such as training and demos (39%) and product news (29%), do well with millennials.
Nearly half of respondents in a March 2015 survey of B2B researchers by Millward Brown Digital and Google said they use their mobile device to do product research at work. About 91 percent of them use smartphones throughout the path to purchase.
The survey also found an increasing involvement of millennials in the business buying decisions. Approximately 46% of potential B2B buyers in 2014 were millennials, up from 27% two years prior.
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