B2B sales representatives spend about 28 percent of their time on selling related work. Organizations with aligned marketing and sales functions reach revenue targets at twice the rate of others. These patterns coincide with buyer expectations that place vendor websites and email at the center of journeys that stretch across multiple months.
Key Takeaways
- Sales reps spend about 28% of their time selling-related work (with remaining time on admin), which shapes engagement efficiency
- Organizations with aligned marketing and sales are 2x more likely to achieve revenue targets
- B2B sales cycles often run 6–12 months depending on industry, impacting planning for the journey length
- 81% of B2B buyers say email is still important for communications throughout the journey
- 61% of B2B marketers say improving SEO is a top priority, indicating stronger emphasis on discovery stage journey
- Using AI tools for marketing and sales is adopted by 35% of B2B organizations (latest reported survey figures)
- 64% of B2B buyers expect vendor mobile experiences to be at least as good as desktop, influencing digital journey design
- $1.4 trillion global B2B e-commerce sales in 2023 (latest available within OECD dataset timeframe), highlighting digital self-service channels in buyer journeys
- $4.2 billion global procurement SaaS market size in 2024, indicating growth context for sourcing steps
- $6.5 billion global customer data platform (CDP) market forecast for 2024, relevant to improving personalization across the journey
- 68% of organizations use content marketing because it costs less than traditional marketing (with typical reported reductions of ~40% or more)
- Up to 20% of sales time can be saved by using CPQ to automate quoting and discount approval workflows (automation benchmarking)
- 47% of buyers say they will pay more for a better buying experience, affecting cost-to-serve vs willingness-to-pay tradeoffs
- 73% of B2B buyers say vendor websites are a key source of information during the buying journey.
- 3.1% of website visitors in B2B are typically qualified leads when using average industry benchmarks for conversion effectiveness.
B2B buying journeys are increasingly digital and automated, with email and SEO still driving engagement and discovery.
Related reading
01 · Category
Market Size10 stats
01
$1.4 trillion global B2B e-commerce sales in 2023 (latest available within OECD dataset timeframe), highlighting digital self-service channels in buyer journeyshttps://www.oecd.org/sti/ind/b2b-e-commerce.htm
02
$4.2 billion global procurement SaaS market size in 2024, indicating growth context for sourcing stepshttps://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/procurement-software-market-1090008.html
03
$6.5 billion global customer data platform (CDP) market forecast for 2024, relevant to improving personalization across the journeyhttps://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/customer-data-platform-cdp-market-243402123.html
04
$15.2 billion global marketing automation software market size in 2023, underpinning digital nurture in B2B journeyshttps://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-11-12-gartner-says-global-marketing-automation-software-market-to-reach-usd
05
$1.8 billion global sales enablement software market size in 2024, connected to sales engagement and content readinesshttps://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/sales-enablement-market
06
$9.6 billion global contract lifecycle management (CLM) market size in 2023, relevant to procurement and approvals stepshttps://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/contract-lifecycle-management-clm-market
07
$25.4 billion global CRM software market size in 2023, reflecting tools used across evaluation and purchasehttps://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-06-25-gartner-says-worldwide-revenue-of-CRM-software-to-grow
08
$6.8 billion global e-signature market size in 2023, directly affecting procurement approvals and contracting stepshttps://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/e-signature-market-105344
09
$11.7 billion global identity and access management (IAM) market size in 2023, affecting security review steps in B2B evaluationhttps://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/identity-and-access-management-market-102141
10
$19.1 billion global document management system (DMS) market size in 2023, influencing information access during buyinghttps://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/document-management-market-1304.html
Interpretation
Market Size Interpretation
With $1.4 trillion in global B2B e-commerce sales in 2023 alongside fast-growing enabling markets like $9.6 billion in CLM and $15.2 billion in marketing automation by 2023, the market size data shows that B2B buying is scaling digitally and is increasingly supported by specialized software across the journey.
02 · Category
Digital Trends7 stats
01
61% of B2B marketers say improving SEO is a top priority, indicating stronger emphasis on discovery stage journeyhttps://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics
02
Using AI tools for marketing and sales is adopted by 35% of B2B organizations (latest reported survey figures)https://www.salesforce.com/blog/ai-in-sales-statistics/
03
64% of B2B buyers expect vendor mobile experiences to be at least as good as desktop, influencing digital journey designhttps://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-02-05-gartner-b2b-mobile-buyer-expectations
04
53% of B2B buyers say webinars influence their buying decisions, emphasizing live digital events in evaluationhttps://www.on24.com/resources/analysis/b2b-webinar-statistics
05
48% of B2B organizations have implemented ABM programs within the last 2 years (latest reported adoption trend)https://www.cmo.com.au/article/abm-adoption-rapidly-growing-b2b/
06
41% of B2B companies use intent data to identify buying signals, aligning marketing outreach to journey timinghttps://www.gartner.com/en/sales/insights/intent-data-uses
07
Online product demos are used by 67% of B2B buyers during evaluation, increasing demand for remote engagement assetshttps://www.brighttalk.com/resources/guide/b2b-webinar-statistics
Interpretation
Digital Trends Interpretation
Digital trends in B2B buying are being reshaped by discovery and evaluation channels, with 61% of marketers prioritizing SEO and 53% of buyers saying webinars influence their decisions, while 64% now expect mobile experiences that match desktop performance.
03 · Category
Time And Efficiency4 stats
01
Sales reps spend about 28% of their time selling-related work (with remaining time on admin), which shapes engagement efficiencyhttps://www.salesforce.com/resources/research-reports/state-of-sales/
02
Organizations with aligned marketing and sales are 2x more likely to achieve revenue targetshttps://www.forrester.com/report/The-Pipeline-Alignment-Index/
03
B2B sales cycles often run 6–12 months depending on industry, impacting planning for the journey lengthhttps://www.gartner.com/en/sales/insights/b2b-buying-journey
04
Companies that reduce friction in procurement approvals see cycle-time improvements (reported reductions of 10–20% in process lead time by workflow automation programs)https://www.ariba.com/en/resources/insights/procurement-automation-case-studies
Interpretation
Time And Efficiency Interpretation
Under the Time And Efficiency category, improving alignment and reducing process friction can meaningfully speed outcomes because sales teams spend only 28% of their time on selling while aligned marketing and sales are 2x more likely to hit revenue targets and friction cuts procurement cycle time by 10–20% even across the typical 6–12 month B2B sales cycle.
More related reading
04 · Category
Cost Analysis3 stats
01
68% of organizations use content marketing because it costs less than traditional marketing (with typical reported reductions of ~40% or more)https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2023/content-marketing-benchmarks-b2b/
02
Up to 20% of sales time can be saved by using CPQ to automate quoting and discount approval workflows (automation benchmarking)https://www.strategyanalytics.com/strategy-research/insights/cpq-automation-saves-time
03
47% of buyers say they will pay more for a better buying experience, affecting cost-to-serve vs willingness-to-pay tradeoffshttps://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2022-11-16-gartner-customer-experience-and-willingness-to-pay
Interpretation
Cost Analysis Interpretation
For the cost analysis angle, the data shows that organizations can cut marketing spend meaningfully with content marketing, with 68% reporting it costs less than traditional marketing and typical reductions around 40%, while CPQ can save up to 20% of sales time and 47% of buyers are willing to pay more for a better buying experience, strengthening the case for investing in efficiency rather than assuming lower costs always win.
05 · Category
Buyer Behaviors2 stats
01
73% of B2B buyers say vendor websites are a key source of information during the buying journey.https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/11/b2b-buyers-rely-on-digital-research-before-contacting-vendors.html
02
3.1% of website visitors in B2B are typically qualified leads when using average industry benchmarks for conversion effectiveness.https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/what-is-a-good-conversion-rate
Interpretation
Buyer Behaviors Interpretation
Under the Buyer Behaviors category, B2B buyers strongly rely on vendor websites, with 73% citing them as a key information source, yet only 3.1% of website visitors typically qualify as leads, signaling a large conversion gap to address.
06 · Category
Overview5 stats
01
AI is used in marketing by 79% of organizations for at least one marketing application, per a reported industry survey.https://www.salesforce.com/resources/articles/state-of-marketing/
02
72% of businesses say AI helps them improve marketing performance by enabling better targeting and segmentation.https://www.ibm.com/thought-leadership/institute-business-value/report/ai-marketing
03
63% of marketers say that generating traffic and leads is their top challenge, indicating pressure in the early funnel.https://www.constantcontact.com/blog/marketing-statistics/
04
In B2B lead nurturing, 20% of sales opportunities require more than 5 touches to convert, highlighting multi-touch journeys.https://www.marketo.com/content/dam/marketo/documents/whitepapers/2018-state-of-marketing.pdf
05
81% of B2B buyers say email is still important for communications throughout the journeyhttps://www.litmus.com/blog/email-marketing-statistics/
Interpretation
Industry Overview Interpretation
Across the industry overview, AI adoption and email remain central as 79% of organizations use AI in marketing and 81% of B2B buyers still value email while 63% of marketers struggle to generate early-funnel traffic and leads and 20% of opportunities take more than five touches to convert.
report visual · Breakdown
B2B buyer journey: information sources and evaluation signals
Key shares of B2B buyers rely on vendor websites for information and engage with online demos and webinars during evaluation, indicating digital touchpoints matter across the journey.
53%
53% of B2B buyers say webinars influence their buying decisions, emphasizing live digital events in evaluation
47%
47% of buyers say they will pay more for a better buying experience, affecting cost-to-serve vs willingness-to-pay trade
source-verifiedon24.com · gartner.com
Reference
Cite This Report
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APA
Kevin O'Brien. (2026, February 13). B2B Buyer Journey Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/b2b-buyer-journey-statistics
MLA
Kevin O'Brien. "B2B Buyer Journey Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/b2b-buyer-journey-statistics.
Chicago
Kevin O'Brien. 2026. "B2B Buyer Journey Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/b2b-buyer-journey-statistics.
Sources & references
31 datasets cited across this report
+10 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)