Contents
Introduction .3
Top 10 Findings ......4
Survey Findings ....5
Engineers’ Content Preferences ....5
Engineers’ Search and Online Preferences .......11
Engineers’ Buying Journeys ..........16
Appendix ...21
Age ........21
Company Size by Number of Employees .........22
Primary Job Function.........23
Company’s Primary Industry ........24
Geographic Location ..........25
Purchase Authority......26-28
Methodology .......29
About IEEE GlobalSpec 30
About TREW Marketing 30
IEEE GLOBALSPEC AND TREW MARKETING
2019 SMART MARKETING FOR ENGINEERS
PAGE 2GlobalSpec/advertising|sales@IEEEGlobalSpecTREWMarketing|info@trewmarketing
IEEE GLOBALSPEC AND TREW MARKETING
2019 SMART MARKETING FOR ENGINEERS SURVEY
GlobalSpec/advertising|sales@IEEEGlobalSpec
TREWMarketing|info@trewmarketing
Introduction
Today’s industrial marketers are tasked with not only understanding the industry’s shift towards
online and content marketing, but also how to use these new tactics to efectively reach engineers.
They need to understand what content engineers consume, why they look for it, and how they fnd it.
While research exists in the consumer and broad B2B marketing space, there is a gap in taking
a deeper dive into this area to educate and inform marketers looking to target highly technical
audiences.
Therefore, TREW Marketing and IEEE GlobalSpec partnered to conduct a survey in major regions of
the world to learn critical marketing information from technical professionals such as:
Where and when they seek information for products, services, and technologies.
The type of content they prefer.
If vendors’ “generosity” with content correlates to their consideration of the vendor in a purchase
process.
How many pages deep they will go in an online search to fnd what they need.
If their perception of vendors’ websites correlates to their consideration of the vendor in a
purchase process.
What portion of their buying process happens online.
Their willingness to complete lead forms online, and which felds they’re most likely to complete.
How they use content throughout the buying process.
When they prefer to speak to a salesperson, and how many interactions they have with them.
PAGE 3
IEEE GLOBALSPEC AND TREW MARKETING
2019 SMART MARKETING FOR ENGINEERS SURVEY
GlobalSpec/advertising|sales@IEEEGlobalSpec
TREWMarketing|info@trewmarketing
Top 10 Findings
1. Engineers’ preferred content types are datasheets, case studies, and product/how-to videos.
2. Engineers value online content sources most, primarily vendor websites and search engines.
3. Nearly 50 percent of engineers subscribe to two to three e-newsletters.
4. Over 90 percent of engineers surveyed are more likely to do business with companies that
regularly produce new and current content.
5. For the majority of engineers, a company’s website has considerable impact on their brand
perceptions.
6. The four felds engineers are most likely to complete on a web form are work email address,
company, frst name and last name.
7. Over 40 percent of engineers expect to be contacted within 24 hours after completing a form
on a vendor’s website. Younger engineers have even higher expectations, with 82 percent
expecting to be contacted within 48 hours.
8. Nearly 60 percent of the buying process happens online for the majority of engineers.
9. During the buying process, engineers are doing many activities online, from early research to
vendor qualifcation and even narrowing down a short list of vendors for consideration.
10. Most engineers have three to four interactions with a vendor before communicating with them
directly.
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