Gartner: B2B buyers complete "six buying jobs" in non-linear "looping" order
Claim: Per Gartner's B2B buying journey research, B2B buyers complete six buying jobs in non-linear / "looping" order — not a sequential funnel:
- Problem identification
- Solution exploration
- Requirements building
- Supplier selection
- Validation
- Consensus creation
Source: https://www.gartner.com/en/sales/insights/b2b-buying-journey
Confidence: Verified (Gartner primary).
Implication for IA: A linear funnel-shaped site (Home → Services → Pricing → Contact) assumes a sequence buyers don't follow. The IA should support mid-funnel re-entry from any page — e.g., a buyer in the "validation" job lands on a case study, then jumps back to "solution exploration" on a vertical page. Cross-links between vertical pages, case studies, and services pages enable the loop. See Gartner: real B2B buying journey looks "like a big bowl of spaghetti" (pull quote) for the canonical metaphor and Gartner: typical B2B buying group is 6-10 decision-makers; ~95% revisit earlier decisions (CSO Update, 2019) for the group-size finding.
Referenced by (5)
- reference Gartner: real B2B buying journey looks "like a big bowl of spaghetti" (pull quote) depends-on
- reference Gartner: typical B2B buying group is 6-10 decision-makers; ~95% revisit earlier decisions (CSO Update, 2019) relates-to
- reference Gartner: 77% of B2B buyers say their latest purchase was "very complex or difficult" (CSO Update 2019) relates-to
- rule RULE: Expose Industries and Services as two orthogonal axes in the top nav. Don't hide one behind the other. depends-on
- reference Research brief: Information architecture for service businesses with multiple verticals (piece 6 of 15) relates-to