Gartner: 77% of B2B buyers say their latest purchase was "very complex or difficult" (CSO Update 2019)

Claim: Per Gartner (CSO Update 2019), 77% of B2B buyers stated their latest purchase was "very complex or difficult."

Source: Gartner — https://www.gartner.com/en/sales/insights/b2b-buying-journey

Confidence: Verified (Gartner-attributed industry consensus).

Implication for IA: The site has to help buyers reduce complexity. Specific tactics that lower the perceived-complexity dial:

• Clear vertical entry points (the buyer doesn't have to translate their problem into your service vocabulary)
• Decision aids (comparison tables, "which service is right for me" pages, calculators)
• Trust signals at the point of friction (case studies on pricing pages, not just on a separate /case-studies/ page)

This is the empirical anchor for why "make the site do something" beats "ship a brochure." The buyer is already overwhelmed — the IA that reduces their cognitive load earns the relationship. See Research brief: What makes a marketing site do something (piece on brochure vs platform).