Drowning in B2B choices
Buyers don’t need more options—they need trust & confidence.
The last time you were looking for a product, where did you turn for advice?
The amount of software available to B2B companies keeps growing, and it’s not slowing down.
Just look at this:
Explosion of software tools - In 2024, there are over 14,100 MarTech solutions, doubling from 7,040 in 2019. (Statista)
SaaS overload - The average company now juggles 112 SaaS applications, even as they try to cut back. (Statista)
Decision fatigue - 77% of B2B buyers say their last purchase was “very complex” or “difficult.” (Gartner)
Yes, your B2B buyers are in the same boat—overwhelmed with options.
But they don’t want more choices. They want more confidence in the choices they make.
People trust people
Now, more than ever, B2B buyers trust peers they know, not brands.
Whether it’s peer-to-peer or community-based, they’re looking for people with similar roles, responsibilities, and experiences.
Think Slack groups, WhatsApp chats, LinkedIn DMs - where real conversations happen in places you can’t track.
Not so much product review sites like G2, TrustRadius, or even the Gartner Magic Quadrant anymore.
These platforms still exist, but they’re no longer the go-to source for trust. Buyers are becoming more skeptical, seeing them as more marketing and sales-driven than true peer validation.
But you can’t track it
Most of these peer-driven conversations aren’t happening in places you can measure.
This is often called "dark social"—the content and recommendations shared through private channels like Slack groups, WhatsApp chats, and LinkedIn DMs.
These interactions don’t leave a trace in your analytics because they happen outside of trackable platforms.
But what really matters is that they drive buying decisions.
And even if you can’t track dark social directly, you can identify the signals that show it’s at play, like:
An increase in branded search and direct traffic.
More inbound leads mentioning they heard about you from a peer.
Content being widely shared online without attribution data explaining the sudden buzz.
Instead of worrying about what you can’t measure, focus on fueling the right conversations because that’s what actually moves the needle.
So how do you make sure you’re part of such conversations?
Give them what they want
You need to focus on building trust and confidence in the places where decisions actually happen.
Here's how you can do it with your GTM:
→ Turn your happiest customers into your best marketers through word-of-mouth.
→ Engage in the right discussions where you help buyers solve key business challenges.
→ Build a product that delivers on its promise because you can’t market a bad product.
→ Encourage direct connections between prospects and customers for unfiltered feedback.
→ Create good content that really answers their questions & concerns, and connects to the business process they want to improve.
At the end of the day, buyers aren’t just looking for a product but also confidence, trust, and validation before making a decision.
Give them that, and they won’t just consider you - they’ll choose you.
Between the lines
Recently, I saw people on LinkedIn talking about Noble, so I checked it out.
They’ve built a platform that connects your prospects with your happiest customers, automating referrals and facilitating backchannel conversations where buyers ask:
"Have you used this? What do you really think?"
If you ask me, that’s a smart way to productize word-of-mouth (WoM) marketing.
And we all know that WoM is one of the best levers for building trust, shortening sales cycles, and winning more deals.
Just to clarify, I have no affiliation with them. I just love their approach and think it’s worth sharing.
Thanks for reading & see you next Saturday!
Alon
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