Wynter

The new discovery stack: • AI gives the landscape view (84%) • Peers validate with real experience (82%) • G2 provides social proof (68%) • Google checks for red flags (89%, but often last, not first) You can't run ads to get into ChatGPT's recommendations. You can't sponsor your way into a Slack group conversation. These channels are earned through product quality, customer satisfaction, and actual market presence. (This is finding #4 from Wynter's 2026 CMO Software Buying Survey. Full report in Wynter website).

There is a massive gap between a demo that sits on a page and one that actually converts. Join Natalie Marcotullio, Head of Growth and Product Marketing at @navattic , for an exclusive deep dive into the 2026 Interactive Demo Strategy Report. Drawing from a massive dataset of over 40,000 demos, Natalie will reveal the specific patterns, placements, and design choices that separate the top 1% of performers from the rest of the pack. Register here: wynter.com/workshop/how-t…

All marketing conferences have the same problem. The best conversations happened in the hallway. At the bar. Never during the actual sessions. We built Spryng differently. We hand-match attendees before the event. Similar company stage, similar challenges, similar goals. To build even stronger connections we are adding a VIP boat experience the day before the conference. 30 people total. Two boats. Split by company size. It's a $199 add-on. But if you grab a ticket before January 31st, you get it for free.

In B2B SaaS, you're competing on your story. On whether they like you enough to pick you over the alternatives that do the exact same thing. Most companies don't know where to start with shaping a story that resonates. That's why we're bringing Matthew Dicks to Spryng 2026 in Austin this March. 1. He's giving a keynote on storytelling for business. Teaching everyone in the room how to do it. 2. Then he's picking 3 attendees from the room and creating a business story for them. Live. In front of everyone. Google "Wynter Spryng" and buy your ticket!

When we asked marketing leaders what's holding them back from doing ongoing ICP research, the top 3 reasons are: 1. Lack of access to ICPs 2. Time constraints (takes too long to do it) 3. Hard to prioritize insights over other stuff that needs to get done (resource allocation) Having this in mind, we've been working on a new thing at Wynter to make all 3 reasons become non-issues. It's a product that delivers you rich, qualitative insights from specific ICPs on a monthly basis. Without you lifting a finger. We're calling it ICP Pulse: wynter.com/solutions/icp-…

We wanted to know: when LLMs surface unknown vendors, do buyers trust it? We partnered with Omniscient Digital to find out. Using Wynter, we surveyed 100 B2B decision-makers about how they actually use LLMs during vendor research. 42% now start their search with an LLM or traditional search. Here's what happens when an unknown player surfaces: • 51% go straight to the brand's website to fact-check • 25% check third-party reviews • 14% contact the vendor directly (often knowing very little about what they do) • 13% consult their peers The customer journey isn't linear anymore. This is why brand consistency matters. You need to be showing up in AI search results and perform well in the higher-trust validation layers: peer networks, review sites, transparent website content. Read the full research: beomniscient.com/blog/from-prom…

In our new Wynter research we ran with Omniscient Digital, 42% of B2B buyers said they use ChatGPT early in their search for vendors. But almost no one trusts it to make the final call. AI helps people find options faster. Then they double-check everything, on Google, review sites, vendor websites, and with peers. The new buying loop is AI for speed and humans for trust. Buyers bounce between AI, search, and people as they narrow down options. Our report digs into what’s really happening, how buyers use AI, where trust breaks down, and how to show up credibly in both AI and human searches. Showing up in AI matters but trust still closes the deal. Read the full report: beomniscient.com/blog/from-prom…

Buyers changed how they buy. Marketing strategies haven't caught up. Using Wynter we surveyed 300 B2B SaaS CMOs, CTOs, and CFOs at $50M + companies. Here's what we found: On AI: 20% of executives now use AI for vendor research, up from 0% last year. But 99% of brand strategies still focus only on traditional awareness channels. Just one person mentioned LLM optimization. On retention: 86% of marketers don't connect brand to customer loyalty, even though every executive type told us peer recommendations are how they discover vendors. We're underfunding the exact mechanism buyers actually use. On measurement: Half of marketing teams don't measure if they're on buyers' shortlists. Of those who do, most don't trust the data. Zero feel confident about what they're seeing. One marketer explained: "I can't justify measurement tools without ROI. Can't prove ROI without measurement. Can't get budget without ROI." But CFOs told us something different: "CFOs don't dislike spending, we dislike wasting money. Speak in financial outcomes, not marketing metrics." There’s a gap between what executives need and what marketers deliver. Between how buyers research and where brands show up. Between what you could measure and what you actually do. The buying process changed. Strategy needs to catch up.

Here's what actually happens when someone decides to buy your software, according to 300 B2B SaaS CMOs, CFOs, and CTOs at $50M+ companies. First, the team researches 3-5 vendors based on features and price. Then, the executive double-checks everything. 79% of CMOs review the team's shortlist. 56% of CFOs run their own verification. CTOs check technical decisions. Finally, 78% of financial leaders do a third round of checking. This includes: calling references and questioning assumptions (including ROI). Your product gets scrutinized at least three times by three different people looking for three different things. Teams care about daily usability and integrations. Executives care about strategy and whether the vendor is stable. Finance leaders care about total cost and whether your ROI claims hold up. One VP of Finance put it this way: "I rely on the teams to give me their analysis, but I view it with professional skepticism and ask probing questions." By the time you're doing a demo, you've already survived two rounds of elimination you never saw. Most vendors focus on the team’s evaluation. The best prepare for all three levels of scrutiny.

In last year's Wynter research on "How B2B SaaS CMOs Buy Software", zero CMOs told us they used AI to research vendors. This year: • 24% of CMOs use ChatGPT or Perplexity for vendor research • 20% of CTOs do the same • 12% of CFOs are using AI tools One CTO told us: "It used to be Product Hunt or Reddit. Now it's always ChatGPT." They're using AI to understand categories, compare features, and filter out marketing communications. They're building shortlists in conversations you can't see or track. At this rate, more than half of executives will use AI for vendor research by next year. The companies that nail AI discovery and GEO now will capture buyers before competitors even know they're looking.

Most B2B marketers are optimizing for the wrong metric. In our Wynter survey with 100 B2B SaaS CMOs, 72% told us they prioritize brand awareness. 63% focus on demand generation. Only 14% connect brand to customer loyalty. Companies told us they spend 5x more energy acquiring customers than keeping them. Smaller companies are worse, just 3% mention retention. Even scaled companies with established bases dedicate only 10% of brand focus to it. Across our other Wynter surveys of CMOs, CFOs, and CTOs, they told us peer recommendations dominate how software gets discovered. Happy customers are the primary channel. One CFO said it clearly: "The better our brand, the greater market pull and less reliance on marketing push." That only happens when customers become advocates, and when they're sending out your name unprompted in private Slack channels. But 86% of marketers aren't connecting brand investment to that outcome. Growth feels expensive because it is expensive when you treat every customer as a one-time acquisition instead of a compounding asset. The companies that get this right let their customers organically do the heavy lifting.

In yesterday's Wynter Workshop, Liza Adams showed us how to stop treating AI like a question-answer machine and start integrating it into your team structure, where people and AI work together on complete processes. She walked through building AI versions of executives to review your work, training tools to think critically instead of generically, and connecting multiple AI teammates to handle full projects from content creation through promotion. Watch the full workshop here: youtube.com/watch?v=VS83Tg…

We all know that most B2B SaaS brands look and sound the same. If you cover the logos on five competitor websites, they're hard to tell apart. Using Wynter, we surveyed 100 marketing leaders from $50M+ B2B SaaS companies. 94% said their brand messaging barely stands out from competitors. When buyers can't distinguish you from competitors, you end up competing mainly on price and features. Sales cycles get longer and you need more touches to close deals. Most of them know what would help. They have ideas for differentiation and they understand their unique value. But they're stuck between hitting quarterly numbers and taking creative risks. One CMO put it this way: "When everything is measurable, everything converges." It's clear we've optimized our way to similarity. The data tells us what works, so we all follow the same patterns. The full research digs into why this happens and what the 6% who stand out actually do differently: wynter.com/post/b2b-brand…

Companies have moved AI from the testing phase into everyday use. The problem? Most teams are stuck at individuals using ChatGPT. They can't figure out how to build AI into how their whole company operates. Join Liza Adams for a behind-the-scenes look at a real marketing team's six-month transformation. Liza will share the playbook her team used to scale from 20 to 100+ AI teammates working alongside 25 humans, delivering measurable results without requiring technical expertise. Join us this Wednesday for a 30-minute masterclass led by Liza Adams revealing: • How team members can evolve from AI users to builders • The step-by-step process for building and orchestrating AI tools that solve real marketing challenges, designed by marketers for marketers • Live demonstrations of custom GPTs you can use across your marketing workflow The free online workshop is this Wednesday, October 22nd, 10:00am CT. Register here: wynter.com/upcoming

AI isn't replacing B2B marketers. It's just making them faster. Using Wynter, we surveyed 100 Marketing Directors at $50M+ B2B SaaS companies to see how they're actually using AI. Here's what we found: • 68% use it for first drafts Emails, blog posts, landing pages. AI gets them to version one 10x faster. Humans still edit, refine, and publish. • 24% use it for visuals, custom images for decks and campaigns instead of generic stock photos. "We wanted to stop looking like every other vendor." • 16% use built-in AI features HubSpot, Asana, Microsoft Copilot. The pattern across all high-performing teams? They're asking "Where are we wasting time?" Then they find AI that solves that specific problem. AI handles the prep work. Humans focus on strategy, relationships, and brand building. One director put it simply: "AI eliminates the need to start from a blank canvas." That's the whole point. Less time generating, more time refining. Bottom line: AI works when it solves actual problems. It fails when you're just using it to say you use AI. Read the article: wynter.com/post/why-ai-is…

52% of B2B marketers have given up on brand measurement entirely. The other half are making decisions based on data they know isn't trustworthy. Using Wynter, we surveyed 100 B2B marketing leaders and learned zero feel confident in their brand data. The breakdown: • 43% actively distrust their metrics • 20% have no idea if their metrics mean anything • 26% have "some" confidence at best "It's difficult to justify adding spend beyond doing what 'feels' directionally correct." Most spend under $10K/year trying to measure brand (and leadership doesn't buy in anyway). "I'm tired of educating leadership over and over again on how marketing works." The 26% with any confidence? They stopped waiting for perfect data. "We measure what we can, acknowledge what we can't, and invest anyway." Read the full article: wynter.com/post/trust-gap…

Using Wynter, we surveyed 100 B2B SaaS marketing leaders at $50M+ companies. Here's what they told us about what's actually been driving pipeline for them. While marketers obsessed over AI tools, some are turning back to old school methods and in-person events are suddenly cutting-edge again. "With ad costs rising, AI content overload and general digital fatigue, in-person presence creates a competitive advantage that algorithms can't replicate." Translation: When everyone's hiding behind screens and AI-generated emails, showing up in a room becomes your advantage. Meanwhile, the great channel purge is happening. Marketing teams aren't optimizing underperforming channels anymore. They're killing them entirely. 24% stopped paid social outside LinkedIn. One team said Facebook was "just worthless ROI." Another killed their content syndication because vendors were "sending bogus leads that didn't actually download our content." It's clear channel diversification became channel dilution, now the winning approach is choosing to dominate one platform than be forgettable across five. And the AI revolution? It's mostly just faster first drafts. 68% use AI for content creation. Beneath the hype and you'll find AI isn't replacing marketers. It's filling gaps so humans can do what machines can't: think strategically and build real relationships. Here's the insight that changes everything: 92% of buyers purchase from their Day-1 shortlist. By the time they're ready to talk, the decision is already half-made in their heads. Your job isn't to convince people in the moment. It's to already be there when the problem hits. When their CFO says "we need to fix this," you want to be the first name that comes to mind. Read the report: wynter.com/post/whats-wor…

79% of B2B SaaS CMOs say brand recognition influences their vendor shortlist. In our Wynter study of 100 CMOs at $50M+ companies, 45% called brand fame a major factor in their buying decisions. Still, the first step isn’t Google. 72% start by asking peers in private communities. Word of mouth leads the shortlist. If you're not a household name, here's how you break in: • Get peer-recommended. Be active where your buyers hang out. Happy customers in Slack groups put you on the radar faster than ads. • Clear compliance early. Security checks are non-negotiable. Have your documentation ready. • Let them try it. 38% said unknown vendors need an easy trial. Show the real product, not just a demo video. • Solve what big players ignore. Find the gaps and innovate there. • Prove ROI fast. Lower pricing won't win alone, but combined with clear outcomes, it's a tiebreaker. • De-risk the decision. Prove you understand their problems and can solve them. Big brands start ahead but smaller players catch up through peer recommendations and delivering results. Read the article: wynter.com/post/what-actu…

In our recent research with PartnerStack, we discovered mid-market and enterprise companies are getting 35% of their pipeline from partners. Using Wynter, we asked B2B SaaS leaders how much of last quarter's pipeline came through partners. The gap between company sizes was striking. Larger companies are seeing partners drive a third of their new deals. Smaller companies? Much less. The difference isn't partner quality. It's tracking. Most companies in our survey are measuring partner impact. But the ones who aren't? They have no idea if partnerships are working. You can't improve what you don't measure. And if you're not tracking which deals partners touched, you're probably undervaluing the channel. The companies pulling in 35% partner-influenced pipeline didn't get there by accident. They built systems to see partner impact clearly. Read the full report: partnerstack.com/resources/rese…

Most companies think partnerships = referrals. They're missing the bigger picture. Using Wynter, we surveyed B2B SaaS leaders with PartnerStack about where they actually use partners in their go-to-market strategy. Turns out, it's everywhere. 80% use partners for strategic alliances and channel sales. 74% bring them into customer expansion and retention. 63% use partners to speed up active deals. Partners are helping close deals faster, expand accounts, and keep customers around longer. The companies seeing the best results? They're not limiting partners to one motion. They're weaving them throughout the entire buyer journey. If you only think of partnerships as a lead source, you're using about 20% of what they can do. Read the full report: partnerstack.com/resources/rese…