Understanding the enterprise software buying journey in India
UX Research | Generative Research | B2B
OVERVIEW
This research study explores how Indian enterprises evaluate and purchase software solutions, focusing on buyer motivations, decision-making structures, content preferences, and cultural nuances that influence vendor selection and trust.
GOAL
To identify region-specific buyer behaviors, needs, decision criteria, and pain points in order to inform localized go-to-market (GTM) strategies for enterprise software solutions in India.
OUTCOME
A mapped step-by-step journey of enterprise buyers. Actionable recommendations to improve vendor engagement and decision support. Regional nuances documented to inform localization strategies. Buyer personas synthesized to guide product, sales, and marketing teams.
USERS
Senior-level decision-makers (C-Suite, Senior directors) from large and mid-sized Indian enterprises in sectors like BFSI, retail, manufacturing, and healthcare. Job functions included Sales, IT, Marketing, eCommerce, and Service.
ROLE
UX Researcher - Data collection, data analysis, data synthesis, reporting
TIMELINE
4 weeks | Jan 2025
TOOLS
Adobe Illustrator
Google Slides
Google Docs
TEAM
UX Researcher + UX Manager (Oversight)
METHODOLOGY
1:1 in-depth interviews | 60 mins each
SAMPLE SIZE
15 participants
Challenge
Navigating the Indian market is difficult because buyers expect personal relationships, prefer face-to-face interactions, and are very cautious about price and compliance — all of which heavily impact how they make buying decisions.
Research objectives
Understand key steps, decision points, roles involved, emotional states, and challenges faced by enterprise buyers.
Understand the software buying journey
01
Identify what sparks the buying process, how internal approvals are secured, what decision criteria are used, and how content, demos, and interactions shape vendor perception.
Explore how buyers evaluate & select vendors
02
Focus on understanding how cultural nuances, local expectations, and market maturity impact the purchase process and outcomes.
Identify regional differences in buyer behavior
03
Market Landscape and Competition
Based on the 1:1 in-depth interviews we conducted, we mapped these six enterprise softwares that companies use, based in the Indian market on a 2x2 matrix. The matrix was created in the context of the perceived value vs trust in the market presence for these softwares.
We then did a competitive study with the help of a segment matrix & blue ocean strategy to analyze in depth their objective, customer segment, product offerings.
Blue Ocean Strategy
The Blue Ocean Strategy helped compare competitors across buyer-relevant criteria, reflecting how vendors are differentiating from each other in the Indian enterprise software market.
Current state - Enterprise software vendors in India
Stakeholder Map
The stakeholder map helped align the relationships of all actors within the enterprise software buyer journey.
Our focus was mainly on gathering insights from the core actors which play a crucial role in the decision-making process during the purchase of the software.
We conducted 1:1 in-depth remote interviews with 15 participants which included senior enterprise software decision-makers and influencers in roles such as IT, Marketing, Sales, and Service. Titles include Sr. Director to C-Suite.
Sofware Buying Journey
What people have to say about the software buying experience
After conducting all 15 interviews, these were some of the significant findings that stood out at different stages of the buyer journey.
Pre-shop stage (Catalyst & approval)
Internal misalignment across departments
“The primary challenge at this stage is to validate the business case internally. Different teams want different outcomes from the same solution.”
— Senior IT Manager
Vendor pricing structures
“The pricing feels rigid. Indian teams need flexibility because of how budgeting happens here, but that’s not accounted for.”
— Finance Controller
Exploration & Evaluation stages
Demos lack contextual relevance
“Too many demos feel generic — they don’t reflect our industry’s specific workflows. We end up doing a lot of internal translation.”
— Department Head (Marketing)
Vendors lack compliance and regulatory knowledge
”Compliance isn’t well understood by most vendors. We had to explain our data governance needs three times.”
— Procurement Head
Lack of stakeholder inclusivity by vendors
“There’s a gap in understanding the buying committee — vendors only talk to IT or Sales, not the mix of people actually involved.”
— Cross-Functional Team Lead (Retail)
Selection & Post-purchase stages
Loss of trust due to delays in implementation
“It’s hard to trust that post-sale support will be strong. We’ve had instances where implementation was handed off and delayed.”
— Director of Operations (Fintech)
Disconnected communication from vendors
”Once the deal was signed, it felt like we were passed around — the people we worked with during sales were nowhere in the picture during implementation.”
— Senior Manager (Healthcare)
Inefficient training
“Training was rushed and didn’t cover how our teams actually work. We had to do a lot of self-learning and internal alignment later.”
— IT Lead
User Insights
After mapping the buyer journey and synthesizing all our data, we discovered key insights that helped us derive the problem statement and HMWs.
Post-sale handoffs break trust due to
lack of continuity
Buyers experience gaps between the sales
pitch and actual implementation. Poor onboarding support and skill mismatches
erode credibility after the contract is signed.
High friction in business case creation
Stakeholders face internal pressure to validate ROI, align departments, and present
convincing justification to CXOs, often with minimal support from vendors.
Generic demos and content fail to connect
Vendors frequently deliver one-size-fits-all presentations that fail to address specific pain points, industry context, or stakeholder roles, especially during exploration and evaluation.
Lack of clarity on compliance, integration,
and pricing drives vendor elimination
Hidden costs, unclear integration paths,
and inadequate handling of data privacy/compliance are top reasons for
vendor rejection.
Enterprise software buyers in India struggle to progress confidently through the buying journey due to a lack of tailored, ROI-focused engagement, fragmented stakeholder alignment, and inconsistent vendor support — resulting in distrust, delays, and vendor rejection.
Problem Statement
How Might We ?
Help buyers build stronger internal alignment and ROI justification?
How to win:
Provide editable ROI calculators and business case templates.
Share vertical-specific success stories with quantified outcomes.
Offer a business case alignment toolkit for internal champions.
01
(Focuses on enabling the buyer)
Ensure demos and content are tailored to each buyer's context?
How to win:
Run discovery sessions to tailor every demo.
Use domain experts to lead presentations by role (Eg. IT, marketing).
Present use-case driven demos tied to current tools and workflows.
02
(Focuses on the vendor’s delivery)
Build trust through a seamless sales-to-implementation experience?
How to win:
Introduce implementation leads during the sales cycle.
Share a detailed onboarding plan before contract signing.
Set expectations with named support contacts.
03
(Focuses on trust across stages)
Address deal-breaking concerns early and transparently?
How to win:
Provide a compliance-readiness checklist and integration architecture.
Clearly outline total cost of ownership.
Host pre-RFP workshops to address IT and legal questions.
04
(Focuses on the risk mitigation)
Expected Impact
Based on the analysis and recommendations, we expect there to be the following impact upon implementation:
Improving relevance, transparency, and continuity across the software buying journey will significantly increase buyer trust, reduce decision delays, and improve conversion and onboarding success rates.
Higher conversion rates
Buyers are more likely to move from demo to contract when content and pricing are aligned to their needs.
Shorter decision cycles
Improved internal alignment &tailored ROI tools reduce back & forth across stakeholders.
Greater buyer confidence and trust
Seamless handoffs &proactive risk mitigation reduce anxiety during high stakes decisions.
Improved post-sale satisfaction and retention
Clear onboarding expectations & ongoing support lead to faster time-to-value and long-term loyalty.
Fewer late stage vendor eliminations
Early resolution of compliance, integration, and cost concerns keeps vendors in consideration longer.
Process and Methodology
Lessons Learned
Buyers don’t just need information, they need internal alignment support: I assumed buyers mainly needed feature clarity, but I learned that the biggest blocker is getting everyone on the same page internally. They need help justifying ROI and convincing CXOs, which is something vendors don’t often think about supporting.
Generic demos do more harm than good: I believed demos were the most persuasive moment in the journey. But I learned that when demos feel generic or misaligned, it actually reduces trust. Tailoring demos by role and pain point is critical.
A great sales pitch means nothing if onboarding fails: I realized that buyers judge vendors not just on pre-sale interactions, but also on how smooth and supported the implementation is. The transition between sales and delivery is often broken, and this can undo all the early trust.
Compliance, integration, and cost clarity aren’t “details”, they’re deal-breakers: I overlooked these as “technical” or “legal” things, but they emerged as top reasons for vendor rejection. Buyers want to feel safe, not just excited, so addressing these concerns early is key to being taken seriously.
Themes mean nothing unless they’re mapped to the journey: I learned that organizing pain points and insights by journey stage makes them actionable. Without that structure, they’re just floating quotes. The journey map helped us connect behavior to strategy.