Have machines disrupted brand loyalty? Unpacking Babel’s Mental Av-AI-lability Matrix with Sapio Research
Have machines disrupted brand loyalty? Unpacking Babel’s Mental Av-AI-lability Matrix
In the latest episode of Babel’s Back to Brave podcast, our Head of B2B Marketing, Ash Lockett, sat down with Andrew White, CEO and co-founder of Sapio Research. Together, they got stuck into discussing the findings from Babel’s newly launched research - The Mental Av-AI-lability Index.
Initially setting out to unpick the relationship between B2B tech buyers’ bias towards human memory (otherwise known as brand fame, or loyalty) vs. their more recent reliance on algorithmic recommendation, the report kicks off a vital industry conversation - is it more important to be recommended by machines, or remembered by the humans that lean on them? Research from Forrester found that 94% of B2B tech buyers now use AI in at least one part of their buying journey, meaning this question needed answering, and fast.
But how? Like any big idea, there was an element of risk associated with this research. What if it didn’t show anything interesting? What if, while we were conducting the research, someone else pipped us to the post and answered our question first? That’s how we knew we were on the right track. Because that's the ultimate reference point for being unique, feeling the fear and doing it anyway - with the right data and thought behind the idea, of course!). So, we backed our own brave and got stuck in.
Together with Sapio, Babel surveyed 400 B2B tech decision-makers from across the UK and the US, within our three specialist sector groups - Telco, Cyber Security and Enterprise tech. The results were a brilliant reality check. Perhaps reassuringly, we found that 87% of buyers ultimately purchased from a vendor they were already familiar with. When push comes to shove, human trust and established brand fame still heavily influence the final B2B buying decision.
However, the machines are rapidly gaining ground. Okay, that bit isn’t exactly news, but wait for it…for buyers who did end up choosing a NET NEW vendor, a staggering 32% used an AI tool to find them. In fact, our research showed that AI is now soundly beating traditional search engines (26%), analyst reports (19%), word of mouth (13%), AND industry events (8%) for new vendor discovery. As Ash said, “considering AI was pretty much in its infancy, like two years ago. That's a huge leap, and something that we should really bear in mind as marketers”.
Survey data locked down and analysed, we mapped our featured brands into four distinct quadrants (our matrix). Here’s the low-down on how we’ve displayed our findings:
- The Titans: These are the dominant market leaders ranking highly for both human mental availability and AI recommendations.
- Algorithmic Disruptors: These niche wildcards have lower mental availability but are highly recommended by AI, making them prime candidates to sneak onto RFPs.
- Sleeping Giants: These are massive brands with high mental availability (brand fame) but low AI visibility - often because their product portfolios are too broad for the highly specific, ‘niche answer seeking’ AI tool. As Ash puts it, they're suffering from “algorithmic dilution, because they didn't have that (same) focus” as some of the newer, more agile brands.
- The Untapped: Brands currently flying under the radar on both fronts, though still placing in the top 10 (which is important to remember).
So, what does this research mean for brands, and what can marketers and comms professionals reflect on now to support brand visibility with both humans and machines?
Our research showed a number of quick-fix interventions that can save brands from obscurity and even elevate them across quadrants. You can check out our recommendations here.
And, the advice from our podcast gurus?
“You really need to hone in your messaging and your positioning and make sure that you're discoverable in the right place, and for the right reasons. Actually, research can be crucial here. Particularly when you're looking at market segments and who you're looking to target (which, as marketers, we absolutely should be).” Ash Lockett (Head of B2B Marketing, Babel)
“Look at your category entry points. Find your “white space”. Move away from generic brand sentiment and drill into specific, unmapped use cases. You need to be adding value to the industry conversation”. Andrew White (CEO & Co-Founder, Sapio Research)
Curious about how your brand’s stacking up? Click to find out more: The Mental Av-AI-lability Index. And don't forget to listen to the full episode of Back to Brave. You can find us on your favourite podcast platform!
