SMB Marketing

Purchase Influencers
SMB05-C04

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Small-Business Purchase Influencers

Identifying and Targeting Consulted Sources
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The highly fragmented nature of the small-business Research Topics

market has created uncertainty among vendors about • Market Segmentation
sources decision makers consult when making major • Purchase Influencers
purchase decisions.
November 16, 2005

Key Questions
Lead Analyst
• What are sources small businesses consult when making
Joe Wilcox
major purchase decisions?
• Why are trusted lay services including nontechnical
Contributing Analyst
professionals, such as accountants and lawyers, important
Zori Bayriamova
influencers vendors should target?
• Why should vendors working with chambers of commerce Research Director
shift investments to other purchase influencers? Michael Gartenberg

Key Finding
Small businesses typically consult many sources when
making purchase decisions, with search engines ranking
as top consulted sources for technology (40 percent) and
nontechnology (47 percent) purchases. Some sources are
more knowledgeable than others are regarding accurate
product or purchase information. Vendors should focus
marketing resources on sources they can influence, such as
search engines or manufacturers’ Web sites.

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and projections are based on
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 Small-Business Purchase Influencers: Identifying and Targeting Consulted Sources

•2•

Search Engine Tops Consulted Sources for Small-Business Purchases

Fig. 1 Primary Sources Consulted

47%
for Small-Business Search engine
40%
Purchase Decisions
24%
Manufacturer's Web site
35%

28%
Publications
24%

27%
Information Source

Business associate
22%

18%
Local retailer
21%

7%
Small-business portal
16%

20%
Friend, relative
14%

12%
Accountant
Question: When making major technology 11%
purchase or deployment decisions, which
resources do you primarily consult? 4%
Chamber of commerce
(Please select up to three.) When making 4%
major nontechnology purchase decisions,
which resources do you primarily consult? 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
(Please select up to three.)
Percentage of Small-Business IT Decision Makers
Source: JupiterResearch Executive
Survey (4/05), n = 260 (SMBs, US only) Nontechnology purchases
© 2005 JupiterResearch, a division of Technology purchases
Jupitermedia Corporation

According to a recent JupiterResearch survey, search engines are the top source small
businesses (i.e., fewer than 250 employees) consult when making technology or nontech-
nology purchases. According to the same JupiterResearch survey, 33 percent of small
businesses also found their most recent purchases of $250 or more by clicking on online
ads or using search engines. Vendors selling technology and nontechnology products to
small businesses should purchase appropriate search keywords. Moreover, vendors
should bid on product-specific keywords or brands. Fifteen percent of small businesses
found their most recent technology purchases by typing the brand name in search
engines, and 15 percent, by typing the kind of product in search engines.

Target Sources Vendors Can Influence

Some sources are more knowledgeable or more capable than others are regarding
provision of accurate product or purchase information. JupiterResearch presumes
vendors have comparatively more direct ability to disseminate accurate product or service
information through sources for which they can exert some marketing influence: search

© 2005 JupiterResearch, a division of

Jupitermedia Corporation/SMB05-C04
COPYRIGHT STRICTLY ENFORCED
 Small-Business Purchase Influencers: Identifying and Targeting Consulted Sources

•3•

engines, vendors’ Web sites, local stores, small-business portals, or trusted professionals
(e.g., lawyers, accountants). Vendors’ control over other sources (e.g., business
associates, friends, relatives) is limited, despite their enormous purchase influence on
small businesses.

Vendors can influence their own Web sites and small-business portals. Vendors’ Web sites
should clearly link to small-business products and services from landing pages. (Dell and
Office Depot provide good examples.) Yahoo! Small Business brings together search
and small-business–specific information in one place. Throughout 2005, Yahoo! made
numerous improvements to its small-business Web site for vendors and small-business
customers. In March 2005, the search engine launched Yahoo! Small Business Resources,
offering site visitors basic business information. Vendors reach small businesses through
advertising, with typical search engine marketing capabilities.

Cultivate Accountants and Lawyers as Purchase Influencers

Fig. 2 Small-Business Sources

Consulted for Recent Typed brand in search engine 15%
Technology Purchase
Typed kind of product in search engine 15%

Trusted professional
Consulted Source

12%
recommended product

Peer or coworker
10%
recommended product

Typed in familiar Web address 7%

Question: Thinking about the last time
your business made a technology
Saw off-line ad 6%
purchase of $250 or more, how did you
find the product you bought? (Please
select one.) Trade association Web site,
5%
e-mail, or publication
Source: JupiterResearch Executive
Survey (4/05), n = 260 (SMBs, US only)
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
© 2005 JupiterResearch, a division of
Percentage of Small-Business IT Decision Makers
Jupitermedia Corporation

Vendors—particularly technology, financial services, and business services providers—

should cultivate accountants and lawyers as purchase influencers. According to a recent
JupiterResearch survey of small-business decision makers, these trusted professionals
ranked second only to search engines as the most common means of finding small
businesses’ most recent technology purchases of $250 or more.

In interviews, many vendors—particularly those selling technology products—viewed

accountants as important purchase influencers. These vendors typically treat lawyers and
accountants as nontraditional marketing channels, providing free or discounted software,
special options (e.g., free technical support), and other incentives for professionals to use

© 2005 JupiterResearch, a division of

Jupitermedia Corporation/SMB05-C04
COPYRIGHT STRICTLY ENFORCED
 Small-Business Purchase Influencers: Identifying and Targeting Consulted Sources

•4•

technology products and recommend their use to clients. Especially regarding software,
for which seamlessly sharing files and information is important, professionals’ use of
products may be the only necessary influence on small-business clients.

Corel works with law associations and has created a WordPerfect program for
evangelizing lawyers as small-business influencers; law offices make up one of
WordPerfect’s three strongest market segments. Intuit and Microsoft offer different
programs for similarly evangelizing accountants for QuickBooks and Office Small
Business Accounting, respectively. In May 2005, about four months ahead of Office Small
Business Accounting 2006’s release, Microsoft established the Professional Accountants’
Network, providing accountants with free, advance copies of the software.

Focus on Consulted Sources Significant to the Small-Business Segment

When survey responses are segmented by number of employees, tenure, or decision
maker, small-business preferences reveal various marketing opportunities:

• Among businesses with 50 to 249 employees, vendors’ Web sites (50 percent) are the top
technology sources consulted, even more so than are online search engines (41 percent).
The same segment also is highly likely to directly purchase technology products from
manufacturers. (See SMB Channel Strategies: Identifying Direct and Indirect Technology
Marketing Opportunities, SMB Marketing, July 6, 2005.)
• Small businesses with three years’ to 10 years’ tenure are about as likely to consult vendors’
Web sites as they are online search engines for major technology purchases. Search
keywords or vendors’ Web sites should lead to small-business product and purchase pages.
Intuit’s QuickBooks Web site offers product information and immediate buying options for
seven small-business verticals. The company also provides an online version of the software.
• For small businesses with fewer than five employees or operations in which business owners
are decision makers, books and magazines are the number-two sources typically consulted for
nontechnology purchases, following online search engines. Unlike many other segments,
off-line advertising and small-business articles are important means of getting purchase
information to business owners.

Limit Investment in Chambers of Commerce

Local chambers of commerce are poor small-business purchase influencers for technology
and nontechnology products, and vendors should limit their marketing investment in the
channel. Of 14 sources small businesses consult for major technology and nontechnology
purchases, chambers of commerce ranked last. In interviews, however, many vendors said
they believed local chambers of commerce were important conduits for disseminating
product or services information to small businesses. For example, in April 2005, Microsoft
started disseminating Windows security information to small businesses through the US
Chamber of Commerce. Vendors should shift investments to comparatively stronger
purchase influencers.

© 2005 JupiterResearch, a division of

Jupitermedia Corporation/SMB05-C04
COPYRIGHT STRICTLY ENFORCED