The news: B2B buyers are leaning on AI tools for vendor selection, raising the stakes for surfacing in AI results.

• 80% of global B2B buyers in the tech industry use genAI as much as traditional search when researching vendors, per Responsive’s Inside the Buyer’s Mind report.
• 40% of all buyers use genAI and traditional search options equally.
• 22% use genAI more than traditional search when researching vendors.

Why it matters: Market research and discovery is the most time-consuming aspect of vendor selection for three-quarters of buyers, making AI-driven efficiencies a key strategy.

• Nearly half (47%) of B2B buyers use AI for market research and discovery, and 38% use it for vetting and shortlisting vendors.
• This stands in stark contrast to the 18% of general B2B marketers who are using AI to research vendor websites, per Anteriad.

If vendors aren’t surfacing in genAI answers, they risk disappearing entirely from buyers’ research process.

Digging into the data: Gen Z buyers are leading this shift. They rely on AI more heavily than other generations, a reflection of their tech-savviness and growing trust in AI’s recommendations.

• 15% of Gen Z software buyers report using AI “a lot”—nearly double the 8% of millennials, Gen Xers, and baby boomers that use it a lot, per TrustRadius.
• Over half (55%) of Gen Z buyers think AI is helpful and easily provides information, up from 37% in 2024.

Optimizing credibility signals, such as maintaining a presence on multiple social media platforms and structuring review sections, could help brands stay visible in the vendor discovery journey.

The buyer journey: AI is collapsing the search funnel as buyers move from research to shortlisting in fewer steps, and with less hands-on exploration. Brand discovery, evaluation, and comparison now happen in a single chatbot window.

CMOs should rethink how brand voice and product details are encoded in owned channels, such as on first-party websites, to stand out in AI answers.

Our take: B2B marketers can insert themselves early in buyers’ discovery, vetting, and selection process by focusing generative engine optimization (GEO) efforts on controllable platforms. Ensure website information is structured and easy to parse by publishing clear FAQ pages with information on pricing, use cases, and product offerings.