Gartner reported in March 2026 that 67% of business buyers surveyed preferred an experience without a sales representative. For suppliers, that puts more responsibility on the information a prospective customer can find before making contact. A website needs to help someone assess a purchase, as well as introduce the company.
The Gartner survey covered 646 business-to-business buyers, people purchasing for an organization rather than for personal use. It was conducted in August and September 2025. Some 45% said they had used artificial intelligence during a recent purchase.
These are reported preferences and experiences. They do not establish that removing salespeople increases revenue, or that every purchase can be completed online. A buyer researching independently may still need an expert to confirm compatibility, negotiate terms or assess an unusual requirement.
The commercial task is to make that conversation more informed. If a website answers the routine questions, a salesperson can spend more time on the circumstances that require judgment.
Answer the questions that determine product fit
A prospective customer needs to establish whether a product can do the required job. Descriptions such as “flexible,” “powerful” and “built for growth” leave that assessment largely unfinished.
For software, the answers might concern supported systems, data export, user permissions and the work required to move existing records. For equipment, they might concern dimensions, capacity, installation conditions and maintenance. A service buyer may need to know the deliverables, responsibilities and limits of the contract.
Publish the requirements that commonly disqualify a purchase, too. Discovering a limitation before a meeting can save both parties time. Concealing it behind a contact form can produce more inquiries while sending salespeople conversations that are unlikely to become orders.
Comparisons should explain the circumstances in which each option fits. A table that gives every advantage to the supplier’s most expensive package makes it harder to assess the alternatives. State which features differ and which requirements make those differences relevant.
Keep the information available as readable page text, with dates or version details where specifications change. Google’s guidance for AI search features says existing search practices remain relevant, including making important content available in textual form. It does not require special AI files or a separate type of structured data for inclusion.
Accessible information can support both human research and search systems. It cannot guarantee that an AI assistant will reproduce a specification correctly. The original product page should remain clear enough for a buyer to check the answer.
Make the cost and implementation visible
A headline price may leave much of the purchasing decision unanswered. Setup, migration, training, support, minimum commitments and renewal terms can all affect the amount a customer ultimately spends.
Where a fixed price is possible, explain what it covers. Where the supplier needs a specification before quoting, describe what determines the price and what information the buyer must provide. A worked example can show the calculation, provided its assumptions and exclusions are explicit.
Implementation deserves similar treatment. A customer evaluating a new system may need to arrange staff time, obtain internal approval or coordinate with another supplier. Describe the stages, the customer’s responsibilities and any dependencies that influence timing. Do not present an ideal installation schedule as a promise for every project.
Different people inside the buyer’s organization may need different evidence. An operations manager may assess whether the product fits the workflow. A finance manager may examine recurring costs. A technical specialist may ask about security or compatibility.
Give those people information they can share internally. Keep commercial terms consistent across product pages, downloadable documents and sales proposals. An outdated brochure can leave colleagues evaluating different versions of the same offer.
Let the buyer choose when to involve sales
Self-service should leave a route to human help. Explain how to ask a technical question, request a demonstration or obtain a quote. Tell the buyer what happens after submitting a form, including whether the response will be an email, a telephone call or a scheduled meeting.
Request information needed for that next step. A long form may collect a detailed profile while discouraging someone who only needs one specification confirmed. Additional questions can follow when the buyer agrees to a more detailed assessment.
Evaluate changes using completed purchasing tasks and commercial results. Track whether inquiries meet the product’s requirements, how often salespeople repeat information already on the site, and which questions remain unresolved. Use the same definition of a qualified inquiry before and after changing a page.
Our guide to measuring additional sales explains why a recorded conversion is not automatically a sale created by marketing. Website changes need a credible comparison as well, especially when prices, advertising or demand change at the same time.
A smaller number of inquiries can be commercially worthwhile if more of them come from buyers whose requirements the supplier can meet. The measure to follow is the work won after serving those inquiries, alongside the time and cost required to win it.
