How do B2B buyers actually pick vendors in 2026? Increasingly, they don't browse — they ask. G2's April 2026 research report, "The Answer Economy: How AI Search Is Rewiring B2B Software Buying" , puts hard numbers on it, and the numbers should make every B2B vendor uncomfortable: most buyers now let an AI chatbot reshape their shortlist before a single salesperson knows they exist. This post digs into what G2 actually found, what a review platform's incentives are in telling this story, and what a B2B vendor — software or services — can practically do about it.
What this covers
- What G2 actually measured
- The three numbers that should worry (or excite) you
- 1. AI changed the outcome for 69% of buyers
- 2. One in three bought from a vendor they'd never heard of
- 3. Being cited is itself a trust signal — for 85% of buyers
- Traditional funnel vs answer-economy funnel
This is a technical summary. The full guide — with the data, tables and worked examples — is on our site: *G2's 'Answer Economy': What AI-Assisted Buying Means for B2B Vendors (2026)*.
LeadsNow AI builds pay-per-result AI lead generation and answer-engine-optimisation systems in Australia.
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