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New G2 Research: Half of B2B Software Buyers Now Start Their Research With AI Chatbots

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CRM Mentioned as a company that trusts G2 to influence discovery, build brand credibility, reach in-market buyers, and accelerate revenue growth. The article focuses on AI chatbots changing B2B software buying, which could impact how companies like Salesforce reach customers. IBM Mentioned as a company that trusts G2 to influence discovery, build brand credibility, reach in-market buyers, and accelerate revenue growth. The article's focus on AI chatbots impacting B2B software buying could be relevant to IBM's software offerings. SAP Mentioned as a company that trusts G2 to influence discovery, build brand credibility, reach in-market buyers, and accelerate revenue growth. The article's focus on AI chatbots impacting B2B software buying could be relevant to SAP's software offerings. ADBE Mentioned as a company that trusts G2 to influence discovery, build brand credibility, reach in-market buyers, and accelerate revenue growth. The article's focus on AI chatbots impacting B2B software buying could be relevant to Adobe's software offerings.

New G2 Research: Half of B2B Software Buyers Now Start Their Research With AI Chatbots CHICAGO, April 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- G2, the world's largest and most trusted data source for B2B software, today published The Answer Economy: How AI Search Is Rewiring B2B Software Buying, a new research report revealing that 51% of B2B software buyers now begin their purchasing process in an AI chatbot rather than a traditional search engine — and buyers increasingly return to AI chatbots at every stage of their journey.

Shift to AI chatbots as the starting point for software buying increases since G2's last report, influencing vendor selection, and accelerating decisions

Based on a March 2026 survey of 1,076 B2B software buyers and decision-makers, G2's report highlights how AI chatbots have accelerated software research, helping buyers achieve stronger outcomes. Sixty-nine percent of buyers indicated they chose a different software vendor than they initially planned based on AI chatbot guidance, and one-third purchased from a vendor they had never heard of before.

G2 first began tracking this shift to AI search in its April 2025 Buyer Behavior Report. Eleven months later, the trend shows no signs of plateauing — just 3% of buyers now report that AI chatbots haven't meaningfully changed their research habits.

"We're watching the third compression era of the buyer journey unfold in real time," said Tim Sanders, Chief Innovation Officer at G2. "The Yellow Pages compressed the market into the big book. Google compressed it into the first page of results. Now, AI chatbots are compressing it into a single answer. Buyers have moved from reference to inference. Instead of gathering sources and synthesizing the data themselves, they trust AI chatbots to return the shortlist in a single prompt. That disrupts how software vendors need to think about their presence."

Key findings on AI search and B2B buying behavior

The buyer journey increasingly starts with AI chatbots

G2's research shows that AI chatbot research has crossed a decisive threshold.

AI chatbots are deciding which software vendors get considered

In the answer economy, buyers have moved from reference to inference, leveraging AI to synthesize the research process and return a shortlist. The data shows it's changing the vendors that win consideration.

Software review sites are the trust layer in AI search

Buyers trust AI chatbot recommendations enough to change their purchasing decisions, but citations from software review sites are the signal that makes them confident enough to act.

B2B software buyers aren't experimenting anymore

Today's software buyer is sophisticated — increasing their time with AI chatbots at work, running head-to-head comparisons, creating Deep Research reports, and using Thinking mode for high-stakes evaluations.

About the Report

G2 fielded an online survey among 1,076 B2B decision makers responsible for, or influencing, purchase decisions for departments, multiple departments, operating units, or entire businesses. Respondents had job titles ranging from individual contributor to manager, director, vice president, or higher.

To maximize differentiation for vendors, this survey defines small-medium business (SMB) as a company with 1-250 employees, mid-market as a company with 250-1,000 employees, enterprise as a company with 1,000-5,000 employees, and large enterprise as a company with 5,000+ employees. The survey was conducted in March 2026 and includes a global pool of respondents across North America, EMEA, and APAC.

Qualitative research was conducted via 39 interviews with B2B software marketers through G2's AI Custom Research (AICR). Generative AI reasoning models were used to define the study's focus areas, optimize survey design, and analyze results to inspire writing and data visualizations.

G2's report, The Answer Economy: How AI Search Is Rewiring B2B Software Buying, is available now at g2.com/answereconomy.

About G2

G2 is the world's largest and most trusted data source for B2B software, helping businesses reach their peak potential by enabling confident buying and go-to-market decisions. Offering trusted data, authentic peer reviews, and real-time market intelligence, the G2 ecosystem — which includes Capterra, Software Advice, and GetApp — serves more than 200 million annual buyers, representing teams at every Fortune 500 company. As buyers increasingly shift from traditional search to AI search platforms, G2 has become the most-cited B2B software source across those AI-first channels where software discovery happens. Leading software and services companies like Salesforce, IBM, SAP, Adobe, and Clay also trust G2 to influence discovery, build brand credibility, reach in-market buyers, and accelerate revenue growth. To learn more, visit www.g2.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

SOURCE G2