Gen Z makes up 9% of B2B software buyers, according to TrustRadius’s 2025 Buyer Research Report — outnumbering Boomers (6%) for the first time. And as Zoomers continue to enter the workforce and rise in the ranks, they’ll become an even more important segment to market to. For software vendors that means, among other things, leaning heavily into generative engine optimization (GEO) and social proof.
In AI We (Possibly) Trust
While 40% of the 2,058 technology buyers surveyed considered AI a helpful research tool, a larger percentage — 55% — of Gen Z respondents felt the same. Similarly, 45% of respondents overall said AI had no impact on their buying decisions, but among Gen Z that percentage fell to 29%.
Gen Z also has greater faith in AI content than other generations do. Thirty percent of Zoomers said they “always” or “very often” trust AI content, compared with 20% of survey respondents overall. For this reason, vendors need to prioritize creating content that appeals to large language models in addition to maintaining their SEO practices.
But that doesn’t mean the youngest software buyers, or buyers as a whole, trust AI blindly. Roughly 90% of Gen Z and overall respondents alike said they clicked at least one link in a Google AI overview to confirm the truth of the content.
“Folks are saying that they trust AI sources more, but there’s more fact-checking,” says Katie Allison, Senior Manager, Research and Insights at TrustRadius, an HG Insights company. “The more frequently they use AI, the more they fact-check.” Among all respondents, 28% who said they use AI “a lot” while researching software claim to “always” fact-check, compared with 19% who use the technology “a little bit.”
Allison believes Gen Z is more comfortable with AI because it’s not new to them. Unlike the older cohorts who had to learn the technology on the job, she notes, they grew up using the tools prior to entering the workforce.
Social Proof — a Priority
Gen Z’s trust in AI tools might seem at odds with what a CEO interviewed for the report described as the generation’s “highly tuned BS filter.” That skepticism is a major reason 83% of Zoomers looked at user reviews during the purchase process, compared with 77% of all respondents. And while 24% of all buyers surveyed said confidence in user reviews was a key reason for making a purchase, among Gen Z respondents that rose to 35%. Another characteristic that set them apart from other generations was how they view relationships: Only 24% rely on previous relationships with vendors, compared to 31% of all buyers.
Gen Z was also slightly more likely than their older colleagues to speak with users of the software being considered: 57% have interacted with actual product users — often outside vendor-supplied references, relying on communities like Slack, LinkedIn or Reddit — compared with just 49% of Boomers and 52% of Gen X.
ROI and Transparent Pricing
Gen Z’s complaints about the buying process were largely the same as those of older survey respondents. They were slightly more concerned about being able to easily show ROI (37% versus 33% overall). More significantly, 62% of all respondents wished vendors had transparent pricing, while 54% of Gen Z buyers said the same.
“This is purely my opinion, but I think it is likely because of where they are in their career,” Allison says. Gen Z is “doing a lot of the grunt work. They’re okay with not knowing the price immediately because they know they’ll have to go back to the vendor for the full research anyway.” Conversely, older and more experienced buyers who have sat through multiple product demos and pitches are more inclined to want to cut to the proverbial chase, she says.
Because Gen Z buyers are relatively new to the buying process, “it’s important to give them that confidence to make the recommendation to the rest of the buying committee,” Allison adds. “It’s a really big deal if you’re the lowest man on the totem pole and you make a mistake.” Software vendors that provide social proof, demonstrate ROI and prove themselves trustworthy to these buyers now will find the effort paying off not only in the current sales cycle but also as Gen Z rises in the ranks and becomes even more influential on future purchases.
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