Different audiences adopt discovery tools at different speeds. B2B software research offers one lens, but its behaviour should not be assumed for every category. Ask customers how they formed their shortlist and compare that evidence with the content you provide.
Bring the idea into your business.
Start with the customer decision you want to support. Gather the questions people ask, the alternatives they compare and the reasons they choose. Map those needs to the information you currently provide. This turns a broad trend into a focused decision about what your business should improve next.
Make the review concrete.
Use “follow your buyers, not an average” as a prompt for your next review. Choose one customer journey, collect the relevant pages and observations, and write down the gap you want to understand. Keep the original evidence so you can explain the decision to someone who was not involved.
Decide what would change your mind before making the update. A useful review includes evidence that challenges the idea as well as evidence that supports it. If the signal is unclear, narrow the question or gather a better sample before extending the work.
A practical exercise
Investigate your own shortlist process
Choose a customer segment and ask how buyers identify and compare providers. Note the criteria, sources and people involved. Compare the findings with your current content. If buyers need implementation detail but the site only describes features, that is a concrete gap to address without assuming your audience behaves like another industry.
Put it into practice
Choose one useful next step.
Apply the idea to a real customer question. Record what you see today, make a focused change and compare the evidence before broadening the work.