01.
About this research

This report presents findings from Wynter's third annual survey on how B2B SaaS CMOs buy software. We surveyed 101 CMOs from mid-market B2B SaaS companies, asking 14 open-ended questions about their vendor discovery, evaluation, and purchasing processes.

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02.
AI Has Fundamentally Disrupted Vendor Discovery

84% of CMOs now use AI/LLMs (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity) for vendor discovery — up from 24% in 2025 and zero in 2024.

This represents a 3.5x increase in just 12 months. In our 2025 report, we predicted AI usage would "more than double." It tripled.

But the real story isn't just adoption — it's when AI enters the buying process. **68% of CMOs now start their searches with AI tools before traditional search engines.** They're asking ChatGPT and Perplexity to map the category landscape before they ever type a query into Google.

LLM recommendations now rank #4 in consideration factors — ahead of Google research, supplier content, supplier ads, and cold outreach. The tools mentioned most frequently: ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity.

03.
Word of Mouth Dominates — Scaled Through Private Communities

Ranked #1 consideration factor by 42% of CMOs

This isn't new — peer recommendations have always mattered. What's changed is the scale and infrastructure. Private communities have become the de facto buyer guides for B2B software.

65% of CMOs start their vendor searches in peer communities.

Meanwhile, cold outreach ranked dead last. Only 2% ranked it #1.

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04.
Buyers arrive educated — sales calls are for validation, not discovery

• 80% of CMOs arrive at sales calls at least moderately familiar with the vendor
• 48% arrive "very familiar" with deep prior research (up from 22% in 2025)
• Only 12% arrive with minimal familiarity
• 8% said they only take calls with vendors they already know well

The "very familiar" segment more than doubled in one year. This isn't incremental change — it's a fundamental shift in buyer behavior.

05.
Methodology

All responses were collected using Wynter's Target Customer Survey product. Unlike typical surveys with pre-set multiple choice options, we asked open-ended questions and thematically coded responses — counting how many respondents mentioned each theme, then calculating percentages. Ranking questions were weighted by position. This approach captures authentic buyer language and behaviors rather than forcing responses into predetermined categories.

Sample: 101 B2B SaaS CMOs from mid-market companies ($50M+ revenue). Survey conducted January 2026.

06.
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