Free Research Report

The B2B SaaS Buyer's Journey
Through AI Search

How modern B2B buyers actually use ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini to evaluate vendors. 320 buyer interviews, mapped to the six stages of AI-mediated purchase decisions.

320+ Buyer Interviews
6 Journey Stages Mapped
42 Pages of Research
Free Always
Inside the Report

Six chapters. The full buyer journey.

Every chapter is built from real buyer interviews. No generic frameworks. No theoretical funnels. Just what buyers told us they actually do.

Chapter 01
The New 6-Stage AI-Mediated Buyer Journey

The classic funnel is dead for B2B SaaS. We replace it with the 6-stage AI journey mapped from 320 buyer interviews, with handoff points, intent signals, and the new shortlisting layer.

Chapter 02
Discovery: First Awareness Through AI

How buyers first hear about your category, and how they hear about you specifically. Discovery now happens inside an AI answer, and the rules of being named are very different from being indexed.

Chapter 03
Evaluation: The AI Comparison Layer

Buyers no longer build comparison spreadsheets from G2 reviews. They ask AI to compare you to two competitors. We map the prompt patterns and the signals AI weighs to rank you in those answers.

Chapter 04
Validation: The Cross-Check Behavior

After AI recommends you, 71% of buyers cross-check with at least two sources. We document where they go, what they look for, and how to make sure your validation surfaces tell a consistent story.

Chapter 05
The Trigger to Demo: From Interest to Action

What actually moves a buyer from "this looks interesting" to "book the demo." It is not pricing transparency or a great hero animation. It is something specific, and most B2B SaaS sites miss it.

Chapter 06
Vendor Selection in an AI-First World

The final selection stage is where AI matters least and human factors matter most. We close the report with the post-demo behaviors that decide deals and how to support them.

Key Findings

What 320 buyers told us

Three findings from the full report. The rest are inside.

0%
of B2B buyers use AI platforms during the active evaluation phase, not just initial discovery

AI is not just a top-of-funnel tool any more. Buyers use it to compare shortlists, draft RFP questions, and validate vendor claims before booking a single demo.

Buyer Behavior
2.4
vendors named per AI query on average. This is the new shortlist.

When buyers ask an AI for vendor recommendations, they get a tight list of two to three names. If you are not one of them, you do not enter the consideration set at all.

Shortlisting Reality
0%
of buyers say AI recommendations changed their final shortlist versus what they would have picked alone

More than half of B2B buyers now defer to AI on their own shortlist composition. Brands AI does not know are functionally invisible to them, regardless of brand strength elsewhere.

Decision Impact
Who This Is For

Built for three kinds of readers

Each chapter ends with a direct takeaway for the role most affected by that stage. No generic advice.

B2B SaaS Founders

You feel pipeline slowing and traffic shifting and you cannot fully explain why. This report explains exactly where your buyers went and how to meet them in the channels they actually use now.

  • The new 6-stage buyer journey replacing the SaaS funnel
  • Where pipeline is leaking and which stage to fix first
  • The shortlist mechanics that decide whether you get demoed
CMOs and Demand Gen Leaders

You need to redirect demand-gen spend toward the channels that match how buyers actually behave. This report gives you the data, the new attribution map, and the spend reallocation framework.

  • The attribution model for AI-mediated touch points
  • How to measure AI share of voice at each journey stage
  • The 5 spend categories that are now misallocated
Sales Leaders and AEs

By the time a buyer hits your demo form, they have done research you cannot see. This report tells you what that research looked like, what they already believe, and how to adapt your demo accordingly.

  • The 3 things buyers already know about you before the call
  • The AI-generated objections you need to be ready for
  • Discovery questions that surface AI-influenced beliefs
Free Download

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42 pages of original buyer interviews, attribution mapping, and journey-stage frameworks. No paywall. Just your name and email and it is yours instantly.

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