Blogs and Online Sources Influencing Tech Buyers

Telecom service providers need to be monitoring what is said about them on the Web and learning from what they read in order to reach out to technology buyers in a positive way, said one author of Hill & Knowlton’s annual Tech Decision-Makers Study. That study, now in its fourth year, shows that consumer-generated content increasingly influences other tech buyers’ purchasing decisions.

“That is our number-one recommendation for telecom providers,” said Joshua Reynolds, global technology practice director for Hill & Knowlton. “What they read online might not be true, but it is true perception.”

While superior products and services (cited by 94%), superior customer service (91%) and a positive reputation (91%) remain key influences in determining which customers make a buyer’s short list of prospects, more than one third of tech decision-makers either always or frequently turn to blogs or online discussion boards before making a purchase, the study shows. The Tech Decision-Makers study also found that word-of-mouth and industry analyst opinions finish second only to prior personal experience when it comes to making buying short lists.

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