On July 6th, KnowledgeStorm and SiriusDecisions released the results of a new study on lead generation. The important finding: White papers were the most appealing tactic among prospective clients that were in the early stages of a sales cycle. The study’s 1000+ respondents (managers and up) ranked white papers as most valuable as indicated by 65% of respondents, followed by trials/demos (55%), analyst reports (51%) and Webinars (43%). For more information see the KnowledgeStorm study (requires registration) and this press release.

This confirms a 2005 study by ITtoolbox which found that nearly 80 percent of IT professionals stated that white papers were the most significant online information source to aid in purchasing decisions (Source:2005 IT Purchasing Cycle Survey).

It has long been understood that white papers are excellent lead generation tools for prospects that are in the research stage.

The KnowledgeStorm study also mentioned the following interesting observation: “A majority of executives enter the buying cycle late in the process and, therefore, are most often looking to confirm the recommendations they have received from their internal teams. Third-party validation of their team’s choice carries a lot of weight. These executives ranked industry analyst reports as their most preferred campaign tactic. Trials/demos ranked second, followed by white papers, live events, online events and trade shows.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 6th, 2006 at 9:16 pm and is filed under Lead Generation, Statistics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.