B2B Buyer Journey Statistics 2026: Research, Committees & AI

Buyers first engaged a seller 61% of the way through the journey, down from 69% (6sense, Feb 2026, vendor data). 67% of B2B buyers say they prefer a rep-free experience (Gartner, Mar 2026). The typical buying decision includes 13 internal stakeholders and nine external influencers (Forrester, Jan 2026).

The year’s shift is AI: 51% of B2B software buyers now begin their software research with an AI chatbot (G2, Apr 2026, vendor data). Below are 45+ B2B buyer journey statistics from original publishers, checked in November 2026. Every number is free to cite.

Key B2B Buyer Journey Statistics

These B2B buyer journey stats hold one number per category, with its scope and label in the Source cell.

Category	Statistic	Source
Buying cycle length	About 11.3 months fell to 10.1 months: the average B2B buying cycle, 2024 to 2025	6sense, Feb 2026, vendor data
Share of the journey done before the first seller contact	Buyers first engaged a seller 61% of the way through the journey, down from 69%	6sense, Feb 2026, vendor data
Rep-free preference	67% of B2B buyers say they prefer a rep-free experience	Gartner, Mar 2026
Buying group size	The typical buying decision includes 13 internal stakeholders and nine external influencers	Forrester, Jan 2026
Vendor in mind at the start	41% of buyers report having a single vendor in mind when they first begin the purchase process	Forrester, Jun 2025
Day-One shortlist	The winning vendor was already on the Day 1 shortlist in 92% of journeys	6sense, 2026, vendor data
Favourite vendor wins	The vendor buyers prefer before engaging sellers wins 80% of deals	6sense, Nov 2025, vendor data
Purchases that stall	86% of B2B purchases stall during the buying process	Forrester, Dec 2024
AI use in buying	51% of B2B software buyers now begin their software research with an AI chatbot	G2, Apr 2026, vendor data
Shortlist size	The average shortlist held 2.7 products, and 3.2 at high purchase prices	TrustRadius, Jul 2026
Review-site use	74% of buyers use reviews to inform their purchase decisions	TrustRadius, Jul 2026, vendor data
Opportunity-to-closed-won rate	The median team wins 21% to 30% of its opportunities, opportunity to closed-won	Belkins, 2026, small sample

Every number comes from its original publisher, checked in November 2026, with data from 2023 or later. Vendor data, predictions and small samples are labelled in the Source cell, and our own calculations are marked as such.

B2B Buying Statistics: The Numbers That Matter in 2026

Six questions follow in the order a reader asks them, from the stages to the sales success rate.

What Are the Stages of the B2B Buyer Journey?

G2’s survey frames the B2B buyer journey stages as research, evaluation and decision, and asks buyers which stage takes longest (table below). For the B2B buying process, 6sense splits the buying journey into a Selection Phase and a Validation Phase (6sense, Feb 2026).

Selection is where buyers form a shortlist and pick a preferred vendor. Validation is where that vendor must prove the choice safe and justifiable.

Stage	What buyers do	Statistic	Source
Research	Buyers learn about the problem and the options on their own, roughly 6sense’s Selection phase (our mapping)	36% of buyers name research the longest stage	G2, Jun 2026, vendor data
Evaluation	Buyers compare options and test vendors, the rest of 6sense’s Selection phase (our mapping)	40% of buyers name evaluation the longest stage	G2, Jun 2026, vendor data
Decision	Buyers confirm the choice and get it approved, roughly 6sense’s Validation phase (our mapping)	22% of buyers name decision the longest stage	G2, Jun 2026, vendor data
Whole journey, problem to final decision	The full buying cycle as 6sense measures it in completed purchases	About 11.3 months fell to 10.1 months: the average B2B buying cycle, 2024 to 2025	6sense, Feb 2026, vendor data
Before the first seller contact	Buyers research on their own first, so the seller joins a journey already under way	About 6.2 months of a 10.1-month cycle pass before the first seller contact	Our calculation from 6sense, Feb 2026 figures

Takeaway: More than half the cycle passes before a seller is involved, so a sales-cycle figure starting at first contact misses most of the journey. The benchmarks table below gives the seller’s own cycle in days.

How Much Do B2B Buyers Research Before Contacting Sales?

The split between independent buyer research and seller engagement moved from 70/30 to 60/40 (6sense, Nov 2025, vendor data).

What it measures	Statistic	Source
Share of the journey complete when the buyer first engages a seller (6sense, 2025)	Buyers first engaged a seller 61% of the way through the journey, down from 69%	6sense, Feb 2026, vendor data
Share who prefer an overall rep-free buying experience (Gartner, survey wave of 2024)	61% of B2B buyers prefer an overall rep-free buying experience (earlier survey wave)	Gartner, Jun 2025
Share who state they prefer a rep-free experience (Gartner, survey wave of 2025)	67% of B2B buyers say they prefer a rep-free experience	Gartner, Mar 2026

Takeaway: 6sense’s 61% is a share of the journey, Gartner’s 61% a share of buyers. Gartner asked whether B2B buyers prefer rep-free experience in two waves, 61% then 67%, so quote the question with each number.

What Is the Average B2B Buying Committee Size?

No single average B2B buying committee size exists. Gartner finds buying groups of five to 16 people across as many as four functions (Gartner, May 2025). Roles shift too: Finance involvement in the software buying committee jumped from 31% to 46% in a year (G2, Jun 2026, vendor data).

What it counts	Statistic	Source
Internal stakeholders plus external influencers on a typical decision	The typical buying decision includes 13 internal stakeholders and nine external influencers	Forrester, Jan 2026
People in a software buying group, as respondents count them	G2: the once-dominant five-to-eight member software buying group is shrinking as smaller groups rise	G2, 2025, vendor data
Stakeholders seen in tracked B2B customer journeys (platform data, not a survey)	The typical B2B buying journey involves 10 stakeholders, up from 6.8	Dreamdata, Mar 2026, vendor data
Everyone who influences an IT purchase (a reader survey, so the widest count)	On average 26 people are involved in an IT purchase process	Foundry, 2025

Takeaway: Each estimate counts a different group, from a designated buying team to everyone who influences a purchase. Pick the one that matches your deal, and never average them.

How Early Is the B2B Vendor Shortlist Set?

92% of buyers had a shortlist when they began the purchase process (Forrester, Jun 2025).

Measure	Statistic	Source
Buyers with a single vendor in mind at the start	41% of buyers report having a single vendor in mind when they first begin the purchase process	Forrester, Jun 2025
Winner already on the Day-One shortlist, 2025 wave	The winning vendor was on the Day-One shortlist 95% of the time, against 85% in earlier waves	6sense, 2025, vendor data
Winner already on the Day-One shortlist, 2026 report	The winning vendor was already on the Day 1 shortlist in 92% of journeys	6sense, 2026, vendor data
Products on the average shortlist	The average shortlist held 2.7 products, and 3.2 at high purchase prices	TrustRadius, Jul 2026
Vendor preferred before seller contact wins the deal	The vendor buyers prefer before engaging sellers wins 80% of deals	6sense, Nov 2025, vendor data
Winner was the first vendor contacted (order of contact, not preference)	The winning vendor was the first vendor contacted in 76.6% of journeys	6sense, 2026, vendor data

Takeaway: Forrester’s 92% counts buyers with any shortlist, 6sense’s 92% counts journeys where the winner was on it. The two 6sense waves ask the same Day-One question a year apart, so read them as two waves, not a decline.

How Do B2B Buyers Use AI Search and Review Sites?

AI search is now where many B2B buyers start. The share starting with an AI chatbot rose from 29% in April 2025 to 51% in March 2026 (G2, Apr 2026, vendor data).

Question as asked	Statistic	Source
Uses AI anywhere in the buying process	94% of business buyers use AI in the buying process, up five points from 89%	Forrester, Jan 2026
Used AI to research a software purchase	63% of buyers used AI to research their software purchase	TrustRadius, Jul 2026, vendor data
Begins software research with an AI chatbot	51% of B2B software buyers now begin their software research with an AI chatbot	G2, Apr 2026, vendor data
Used GenAI during a recent purchase	45% of B2B buyers used GenAI during a recent purchase, mostly to gather vendor and product information	Gartner, May 2026

Shortlist sources show where those buyers look next.

Source and survey	Statistic	Source
Source influencing which vendors make the shortlist (March 2026 survey)	AI chatbots (54%) were the most-named shortlist influence in G2’s 2026 survey of software buyers	G2, 2026, vendor data
Top sources influencing shortlist decisions (June 2026 survey)	Review sites (38%) and AI chatbots (37%) were the two most-named shortlist influences among G2’s 2026 respondents	G2, Jun 2026, vendor data
Use reviews to inform purchase decisions	74% of buyers use reviews to inform their purchase decisions	TrustRadius, Jul 2026, vendor data

Takeaway: AI-use shares vary widely because the questions differ, so read the wording column before comparing. G2’s two surveys also rank shortlist sources in a different order, and neither corrects the other.

What Is the Average Success Rate for B2B Sales?

The average success rate for B2B sales depends on what is counted. The median team wins 21% to 30% of its opportunities, opportunity to closed-won (Belkins, 2026, small sample).

Measure	Statistic	Source
Average close rate, all industries (denominator not confirmed)	HubSpot’s 2024 survey puts the average sales close rate across industries at 20%	HubSpot, Aug 2026, vendor data
Median conversion between funnel stages	Median MQL-to-SQL and SQL-to-opportunity conversion are both 11% to 20%	Belkins, 2026, small sample
Purchases that stall during the buying process	86% of B2B purchases stall during the buying process	Forrester, Dec 2024
Biggest delay between choosing a vendor and completing the purchase	39% of software buyers name IT security review the biggest delay after choosing a vendor	G2, Jun 2026, vendor data

Takeaway: Belkins counts opportunities, HubSpot does not state its base clearly, and the stall and delay rows are not win rates. Check how your own number is built before you compare it with any of them.

B2B Sales Cycle Length and Buying Group Size by Deal and Company Size

Every row ties to a deal or company size band, and one seller’s pipeline is a reference, not an industry average.

Segment	What it measures	Statistic	Source
Deals under $5k, $5k to $20k and $20k and above	Days to close, one seller’s closed-won deals	Closed-won deals took 15 days (under $5k), 29 days ($5k to $20k) and 64 days ($20k and above)	Storylane, Oct 2026, small sample (n = 75 deals)
All buyers and enterprise buyers	Share of purchases completed within six months	87% of buyers completed purchases within six months, and 65% of enterprise buyers	TrustRadius, 2024, vendor data
Small and mid-sized businesses against enterprise	Most common buying group size, designated group only	Small and mid-sized businesses most often have two- to three-person buying groups; enterprise peaks at four to five	TrustRadius, 2024, vendor data
Organizations with 1,000+ employees against smaller ones	People influencing an IT purchase	Average team size is 30 at organizations with 1,000+ employees against 19 at smaller ones	Foundry, 2025
SMB, mid-market and enterprise accounts	Decision-maker titles sellers list per deal, not people counted	SMB-focused sellers list 4.6 decision-maker titles per deal, mid-market 5.6 and enterprise 6.0	Belkins, May 2026, vendor data

The rows differ because the clocks start at different points and the groups count different people, so none is averaged with another.

What to Do If Your Buyer Journey Numbers Look Like This

Each row turns a B2B buying trends finding into a signal you can check in your own data.

Signal	What to do first	The stat behind it
Your first-touch-to-closed-revenue time is longer than the platform average	Check that your clock starts at first touch, then compare your median days with this figure, and with the deal-size bands in the benchmarks table if your deals are not average-sized	The average B2B customer journey runs 272 days, up from 211 days a year earlier (Dreamdata, Mar 2026, vendor data)
Buyers first reach you late, or arrive with a ranked shortlist	Put your proof where buyers research before they contact anyone: comparison pages, review-site profiles and pricing	Buyers bought from their end-of-Selection favourite 77% of the time (6sense, 2025, vendor data)
Only one or two contacts from the buying account are engaged	Map the roles on the account, find the functions that have not joined a call (finance first) and ask your champion to bring them in	In Storylane’s own deal data, the average sales call has 2.3 people on it (Storylane, Oct 2026, vendor data)
You are missing from AI answers, or buyers say a chatbot sent them	Ask the chatbots your buyers use the questions they would ask and read what they say about you	64% of buyers encounter inaccurate AI chatbot recommendations often or very often (G2, Apr 2026, vendor data)
Your opportunity-to-closed-won rate is under 21%, the low end of the median range	Check how your number is built (leads, opportunities or deals) before comparing it with a published rate	The median team wins 21% to 30% of its opportunities, opportunity to closed-won (Belkins, 2026, small sample)
Deals stall after a verbal yes	Put the security review and budget approval into the plan on the first call	64% of teams say a deal’s close date typically slips two or more times (Belkins, 2026, small sample)

Start with 1,000 marketing-qualified leads. At the median ranges, 110 to 200 become sales-qualified, 12.1 to 40 become opportunities and 2.5 to 12 close (our calculation).

We multiplied the low and high ends of three median ranges (Belkins, 2026, small sample). They are 11% to 20% for MQL to SQL, 11% to 20% for SQL to opportunity and 21% to 30% for opportunity to closed-won.

B2B Buying Stats You’ll See Quoted That Don’t Hold Up

These statistics circulate in roundups and fail when traced to the original page. The table includes the B2B buyers social media claim.

The statistic	Where it circulates	What the trail shows
“Buyers are 57% (or 67%, or 70%) of the way through the journey before contacting a seller”	dadsgrowthlab.com, tomba.io, omnibound.ai	The 57% comes from a CEB and Google survey of 1,500 business buyers, and the 67% and 70% versions trace to Forrester and SiriusDecisions posts that no longer open. Data from 2012, outdated.
“75% of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free experience (Gartner, 2024)”	dadsgrowthlab.com, growthmethod.com	Gartner’s 2025 release prints 61% and its 2026 release 67%, and neither prints 75%; the only Gartner 75% is a prediction about 2030 on a different claim. Misquoted, 2025.
“33% of buyers prefer a rep-free experience; 44% of millennials”	omnibound.ai, tomba.io	Both numbers come from Gartner’s 2020 release, and its later releases measure 61% and 67%. Outdated, 2020.
“Gartner predicted 80% of B2B sales interactions would be digital by 2025, and it came true”	omnibound.ai	Gartner’s 2020 release is a forecast, and no Gartner or McKinsey page measures the 80%. A prediction passed off as a result, 2020.
“B2B buyers spend only 17% of their purchase time meeting potential suppliers (Gartner); 5 to 6% with each supplier when comparing several”	tomba.io, omnibound.ai, dadsgrowthlab.com, growthmethod.com	The Gartner page that tomba links no longer carries the 17%, and the earliest copy found is a 2020 post from Documill. No Gartner study behind it, 2020 or earlier.
“75% of B2B buyers use social media to research vendors / to make purchasing decisions”	mezzaninegrowth.com and 2014 trade copies	Mezzanine gives no source, and the number matches IDC’s Social Buying Study of February 2014 with no later edition found; SurveyMonkey’s 2026 survey (70%) is the current figure. Outdated, 2014.
“B2B buyers spend 5 hours in AI search per 1 hour with sales”	einpresswire.com, tennessean.com	A marketing agency derived it by crossing an older Gartner time-share figure with G2’s 2026 survey; shares of time are not hours, and G2’s 71% counts buyers. No study behind it, 2018 basis.

What the 2026 Numbers Say

Three findings stand out in the 2026 numbers. Most of the journey is done before the first seller contact. The vendor buyers prefer before engaging sellers usually wins. AI answers and review sites now sit inside the research.

At what point does your pipeline report first see a buyer?