G2: 49% of Buyers Are Increasing Spend, But 47% Are Going Less Than Annual

So G2 has its latest Buyer Behavior Report for 2023 out here, sourced from 1,700+ buyers.

A few great takeaways:

#1. 49% of G2’s Buyers are Increasing Spend in 2023. 42% are holding spend flat (or say they are), and only a tiny 9% are actually cutting spend. This is consistent with all my data and experience. Almost no one is cutting SaaS spend other than overfunded startups.

#2. 47% of Deals Are Less Than 1 Year in Length. Of course, this is very sensitive to the specific vendor, type of buyer, etc. Most enterprise deals in general IMHE are 1+ years in length. But super interesting to see that across all G2’s buyer base, 47% of deals are 6 months or less, and that exceeds 50% outside the U.S. Let folks buy the way they want to buy, and more folks buy.

#3. 55% of Buyers Think Spending Will Increase Again in 2024. It likely will be even higher in my experience,

#4. 86% of Buyers Require a Security Audit. This is a very helpful statistic. You gotta do it, folks. The earlier you get good at this, the earlier you go SOC-2 and more, the easier it will be with bigger buyers.