How B2B Buyers Really Use ChatGPT to Pick Software (2026 Data)
AI search builds the shortlist, and humans still pick the winner. Why the 2026 buyer numbers look contradictory, and what connects them.
AI search builds the shortlist, and humans still pick the winner. Why the 2026 buyer numbers look contradictory, and what connects them.
Where the data comes from: the G2, TrustRadius and Forrester research the post names, each figure carrying the survey year or date the post gives for it.
- Medium post: How B2B Buyers Really Use ChatGPT to Pick Software (2026 Data)
- RankControl, an AI SEO and AEO platform
- Google Sites page: What signup forms miss about AI shortlists
Buyer numbers in the post
| Number | What the post says | Source | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| roughly half | “research circulated by G2 put AI chatbots at the start of the journey for roughly half of software buyers, ahead of search engines and review sites” | G2 research | spring 2026 |
| 68% and 20% | “In its 2024 survey, 68% said generative AI tools had no impact on how they bought, and only 20% called them helpful.” | TrustRadius, Bridging the Trust Gap | 2024 survey, published April 2025 |
| 63% | “By TrustRadius’s January 2026 survey, 63% of buyers had used AI during their purchase.” | TrustRadius, Beyond the Hype | January 2026 survey |
| 72% | “In TrustRadius’s 2025 survey, 72% of buyers said they’d run into those Overviews.” | TrustRadius | 2025 survey |
| 94% | “94% of the AI users in TrustRadius’s 2026 survey fact-check them at least some of the time” | TrustRadius | 2026 survey |
| 94% | “94% of business buyers said they use AI somewhere in their buying process” | Forrester | Not dated in the post |
| at least 1 in 5 | “It expects at least 1 in 5 B2B sellers to be dealing with AI-powered buyer agents during 2026” | Forrester | during 2026 |
| G2, Capterra and Gartner | “Before it writes a word, it goes looking at G2, Capterra and Gartner reviews, sometimes with site-specific queries.” | People in r/SaaS who opened up ChatGPT’s query fan-out | Not dated in the post |
Three checks the post suggests
| Check | Source | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Add an explicit AI option to your “how did you hear about us” field. | The post’s “How to measure your own buyers” | Not dated in the post |
| Check a fixed panel of your category’s buying prompts on each engine every week. | The post’s “How to measure your own buyers” | Not dated in the post |
| Segment AI referrals in analytics, and read that line as a floor, not the full count. | The post’s “How to measure your own buyers” | Not dated in the post |
- Reference: https://rankcontrol.github.io/images/native-002-b2b-ai-search-stats-info-t3-wm.jpg
- Reference: https://medium.com/@thesearchshift/how-b2b-buyers-really-use-chatgpt-to-pick-software-2026-data-af4bdc8098be
- Reference: https://rctrl.com
- Reference: https://sites.google.com/view/search-shift-notes/signup-forms-ai-shortlists
- Reference: https://www.trustradius.com/blog/bridging-the-trust-gap-b2b-tech-buying-in-the-age-of-ai
- Reference: https://www.trustradius.com/blog/beyond-the-hype
- Reference: https://www.forrester.com/blogs/b2b_buyers_make_zero_click_buying_number_one/
Write a comment