Whether your users are knowledge workers busy with deadlines or car mechanics who rarely leave the garage, connecting with folks who buy and use B2B software products is challenging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cB2B is definitely more complex,\u201d says Hannah Shamji, <\/a>former psychotherapist and current B2B research specialist. \u201cThere are so many stakeholders involved in any type of decision. Having to juggle all of those, it’s just much more of a web.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tools needed throughout the workday are specialized\u2014whether for accountants, mechanics or marketers\u2014so your participant pool is smaller by design. But it\u2019s not just the size of the total addressable market that makes the research challenging. It can be hard to compel B2B users and decision-makers to participate in a study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve heard numerous examples of \u201chard to compel\u201d users:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s no incentive that you can pay that would buy their time,\u201d says Benson Low, a 20-year veteran of UX Research and a board member of ResearchOps. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n In Low\u2019s experience, compelling those who make a B2B purchase decision (often c-suite executives) with financial incentives alone doesn\u2019t work. \u201cThey\u2019re not going to care if you\u2019re paying them $1,000. They probably wouldn’t give you their time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Researching in the enterprise space adds another layer of complexity to the recruitment process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou can almost play the same playbook in small to medium-sized businesses\u2014same research methodology, approach, even recruitment,\u201d says Low. But, in large organizations, the approach will look quite different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen it starts getting difficult is when your organization has an account management team supporting specific businesses. That\u2019s where you have to work with that account management team first before you even reach out to customers.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n We talked to four experts with a combined 80+ years of experience in product about how they circumvent the challenges of B2B research. Although their approaches varied, one theme was clear: their path to meaningful B2B research has been through relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s about relationships, ultimately.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Overcoming the challenge<\/h2>\n\n\n\n