Betting big on original research

I’m totally bought in on the power of original research for marketing teams, and it turns out I’m not the only one. Jarod Greene (Vivun) and Heather Devane (Immuta) are joining me for a live session where we’ll be sharing our team’s actual playbooks for creating, launching, and getting the most out of original research projects like The Evidence Gap. Register to join us on June 3 right here. 

✍️ Why we’re all in on original research

I’m a big believer in making early investments in quality content—even when you’re operating as a full-time marketing team of two.

Especially when you’re working in B2B SaaS.

Chelsea Castle said it best on LinkedIn, “A lot of the content out there that gets attention isn’t that incredible or mind-blowingly great.”

My interpretation: a low bar makes for plenty of opportunity to step outside the norm—whether big steps or baby—and get peoples’ attention.

So, we’re trying to create good (not just more) content, get noticed, and build trust.

We’ve made original research a huge pillar of our content marketing strategy in 2024. And in 2025…I’m more bullish on it than ever before.

The Evidence Gap by the numbers

If you’ve ever wondered why original research has been getting more buzz lately, here’s why:

Original research based on unique data that your competition can’t copy or get access to.

That’s exactly what we set out to prove with The Evidence Gap report. And it worked.

• 1,000+ downloads

• Still seeing Slack alerts in our content-download channel—250 days later

• Turned into 9+ months of repurposed content

• The phrase “evidence gap” being brought up by prospects on sales calls to describe the problem they’re facing

It didn’t just fill the funnel. It fueled our entire GTM strategy.

And we’re not the only ones seeing this kind of impact. More teams are waking up to the power of owning the narrative with research-backed insights.

Because when you ground your message in data that’s both original and audience-aligned, you’re not just adding content to the noise—you’re building authority.

That’s why I’m pushing for one major research initiative every quarter. Not because it’s easy. But because it works.

Not my first research report rodeo

I’ve worked on original research reports in the past. But the difference this time around—and what I think makes UserEvidence’s new report the stronger of the two—is the POV.

The first report I worked on was dependent on proprietary customer data. In other words, we had to spin a narrative around what the data revealed after mining it.

This time around, it was more like a science experiment.

We came up with a hypothesis beforehand based on what we’ve been seeing in the market, designed surveys, and asked questions that’d help us dig deeper.

For this report, we surveyed three distinct groups: B2B buyers, sellers, and marketers. Some questions were specific to each function, and many were the same across all three groups. This was also by design.

We had a hunch that these three groups, even within the same companies, would not be on the same page when it came to customer evidence and buyer confidence.

Turns out, we were right. And some of the findings even surprised us.

The hypothesis and survey design

The hypothesis was simple (and ultimately confirmed): sales teams don’t have enough customer evidence, and what they need often doesn’t line up with what marketing can provide.

Since our founders, Evan and Ray, have years of experience in this space, I leaned heavily on them in designing the survey experience.

We came up with a list of 15-20 questions with qualifying questions at the beginning around job title, role, annual revenue, etc.

My goal, outside of validating our hypothesis, was to create a report that would get people to see things differently. To think:

Wow. This is a much bigger problem than I realized. Maybe we don’t know our buyers as well as we think.

I didn’t want a bunch of fluff or lackluster data that couldn’t stand on its own once repurposed. I wanted something that could drive inbound. Period.

Our distribution plan

Speaking of repurposing, original research reports can be a meaty undertaking—even more so if you’re working with traditional analysts and agencies.

We relied on UserEvidence Research Content to do most of the legwork. But even still, having a distribution plan for original research is just as important as having a plan for creating the report.

I reached out to industry influencers—trusted names with solid reputations in the B2B space—and asked for their take on our findings.

Their insights added layers to the conversation and gave us the social proof we needed to further validate what we found in the report. It also gave us more to stand on for distribution.

We put together a launch day guide to help our employees, customer advisory board members, and marketing advisors promote the report once it went live. I expect some of the influencers quoted in the report to amplify it as well.

One thing I’ll say about the guide is that I really wanted to avoid giving people cookie-cutter posts to copy and paste on LinkedIn. Instead, I opted to pull stats from the report that might be relevant to each group and provide them with some hooks for inspiration.

Flooding LinkedIn with the same bland post pasted 30 times over is way less valuable to me than having 15 people post original thoughts that actually drive engaging discussions.

Want the full playbook on original research? ✍️

Our experience with The Evidence Gap isn’t unique. Tons of smart marketing teams across B2B are choosing to invest in original research to fuel not only pillar pieces of content, but also huge GTM strategies and decisions.

We’re combining our original research playbook with Jarod Greene’s (Vivun) and Heather Devane’s (Immuta) in a live session that I’m hosting on June 3 at 1pm ET. In it, we’ll cover hot-button questions like:

• Do you start with a hypothesis or let the data tell the story?

• What if the data doesn’t say what you want it to?

• How do you get sales and product to actually use the insights?

• And how do you squeeze 9+ months of content out of it without sounding annoying?

Register here to join us (or get the replay sent to you right after we wrap)

💰Opinions are cheap and proof is gold

Our CEO Evan Huck joined me on The Proof Point Podcast to talk about why original research is the content play for building trust in 2025.

My biggest call-outs:

1. B2B marketers think we’re doing better than we are when it comes to case studies and testimonials. Talking with Sales or Customer Success teams will quickly give most a dose of reality.

2. We need more credible proof in today’s high-stakes buying environment. Original research helps create it.

3. The amount of time it takes your team to create a case study has no bearing on how good that case study will be. Pretty and polished means nothing if it’s useless for sales.

Listen on Spotify, Apple, or head over to YouTube watch the show.

UserEvidence, who?

UserEvidence is a customer evidence platform that helps B2B marketing teams generate verified proof points that credibly prove the value of your product.

Using custom surveys at key moments throughout the customer journey, you can capture case studies and testimonials, as well as competitive intelligence, product stats, and ROI data.

Turn happy customers into your best sellers with UserEvidence.