Mustard’s Richard Walker explains why B2B research isn’t special. It’s just research done properly.
There’s a persistent myth in market research that B2B research is somehow a different beast. More complex. More specialist. More “technical”. Something only a small number of specialist agencies can really do.
I’ve never quite bought that.
Yes, B2B research comes with its own challenges. Decision-makers are harder to reach. Fieldwork can take longer. Incentives are usually higher. Calendars are tighter. But the idea that B2B research follows fundamentally different rules to consumer research misses something important: businesses don’t make decisions. People do.
People are the common denominator in everything we do. Our job is to help the people in our client organisations better understand the people they’re hoping to do business with or influence. Whether they’re buying Adidas trainers or tungsten-carbide drills. Whether they’re saving £5 a month in an instant access account or signing off a £50 million contract, the people involved are driven by remarkably similar things.
Whether you subscribe to more linear or more circular decision-making models, most consumer marketing theory applies just as well to B2B decision-making. People explore, evaluate, assess risk and reward, seek reassurance, and look for justification. They rarely make decisions in a purely rational vacuum.
Sure, some decisions will be more analytical than others. Some will involve greater perceived risk, scrutiny or accountability. But the job of research doesn’t change. It’s still about understanding people: their priorities, pressures, motivations and emotions.
Behavioural economics consistently shows that even high-stakes, professional decisions are shaped by emotion, habit, social norms and cognitive shortcuts. People seek reassurance, justification and safety as much as optimisation. They look for options that feel defensible to others and to themselves. Our role as researchers is not to assume rationality, but to understand how people actually make decisions in real-world contexts.
Good research is good research
At Mustard, we’ve always believed that good research is good research, regardless of audience. Somewhere along the line, B2B research gained a reputation for being technical, senior-focused and, dare I say it, less exciting. B2B equals rational. B2C equals emotional.
Briefs arrive in the Mustard inbox and, if we’re honest, there’s often more buzz when the audience is “Gen Z” rather than “FD”.
But why should that be the case?
Regardless of the audience, our job is to understand people and share insight through compelling storytelling. The fundamentals don’t change. If you want good data and useful insight, you still need to:
- Ask interesting, relevant questions
- Show participants you value their time and opinions
- Respect their context and pressures
- Make the experience engaging, not transactional
That’s as true for a CEO, a CFO, a medical professional, an accountant, a solicitor, an insurance broker, an architect or a lab scientist as it is for a grocery shopper.
Another B2B myth to bust
One of the biggest misconceptions is that B2B respondents want a more “serious” or “formal” research experience. In reality, many B2B participants are busy, time-poor and juggling competing priorities. But then again, so are many consumers.
If anything, this raises the bar for the experience researchers need to create. A well-designed B2B interview or survey should feel like:
- A chance to step back and reflect
- A conversation, not an interrogation
- Something that respects expertise without flattering it
- A use of time that genuinely feels worthwhile
We often hear participants tell us that a good depth interview was “the most interesting conversation I’ve had all week” or that it made them think differently about their role. Many volunteer to take part again in future. That doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when research is designed with empathy and curiosity, not just objectives.
Yes, there are differences. But they’re not the point.
Of course there are practical differences. B2B fieldwork often takes longer. Recruitment needs more care. Incentives need to reflect opportunity cost. Scheduling matters. Gatekeepers exist.
But these are executional considerations, not strategic ones.
What doesn’t change is the need to understand what really matters to people in their role, what pressures they’re under, what success looks like to them, what keeps them up at night, and what trade-offs they’re willing or unwilling to make.
All “people” questions.
Don’t research the business. Research the human.
So my advice is simple: aim to make that B2B research interview the highlight of their working day. Show genuine interest in their world. Treat participants as collaborators, not data points. Be human, not formulaic. Leave people feeling listened to, not processed.
When you design research around the human, response quality improves. Engagement improves. Depth improves. And clients feel it in the outputs.