--- description: Businesses can’t afford to make mistakes in software purchases. Capterra’s 2025 Tech Trends report explores 3 lessons from successful UK software buyers. image: https://gdm-localsites-assets-gfprod.imgix.net/images/capterra/og_logo-e5a8c001ed0bd1bb922639230fcea71a.png?auto=format%2Cenhance%2Ccompress title: Successful UK software buyers reveal 3 essential purchase tips --- # Decoding software purchases: Know the secrets to success from satisfied buyers Canonical: https://www.capterra.co.uk/blog/7599/advice-successful-uk-software-buyers Published on 04/02/2025 | Written by David Jani. ![Decoding software purchases: Know the secrets to success from satisfied buyers](https://images.ctfassets.net/63bmaubptoky/2em8F0xEZofgRoGPGLWUo2/a98dfa19a98bc0c9e82a618d05b09adf/05-CAP-US-Header-Why_Your_Software_Search_Doesn_t_Stop_After_Purchase_INTL_1200x630_DLVR.png) > Buying software can be a hit-or-miss experience. However, when it does go as planned, what strategies can we adopt from satisfied buyers? ----- ## Article Content Buying software can be a hit-or-miss experience. However, when it does go as planned, what strategies can we adopt from satisfied buyers?In this articleOver half of U.K. software buyers regret a purchase, here’s whyGet it right the first time: lessons of successful software buyersAvoid these downsides when choosing softwarePlan ahead and don’t regretChoosing a business software should ideally be a one-time deal, and when the choice of a system is made it should be definitive for a number of years. However, data from Capterra’s 2025 Tech Trends Survey of 3,500 software buyers in nine countries, with 350 in the U.K., shows that more than half of software purchases made in recent months ended in regret from U.K. buyers.\* Software buying can be a major investment for U.K. companies, and that is expected to grow across 2025, as we saw in our first U.K. report on tech buying trends. However, getting the process wrong can be a costly mistake. What, therefore, are the differences between a positive software purchase and a regretful one, and what can firms learn from successful software buyers?Once again, using our 2025 Tech Trends research data, we’ve examined the factors that cause regret among U.K. buyers and delved deeper into the elements that helped successful buyers achieve the best outcomes.Key insights:57% of U.K. software buyers have regretted one or more technology purchases over the 18 months priorSuccessful buyers tend to list fewer items when collating possible software options, compared to regretful buyersSuccessful buyers in the UK are also more flexible with swapping out some of their initial vendor choices during the process and use expert advice, customer testimonials, and review comparison sites to assess their choicesBuyers are less likely to experience regret when they try out a product via a trial or online demonstration compared to those who don’tA third of regretful buyers in the U.K. would clarify their company goals and desired outcomes better to avoid a bad purchase in the futureOver half of U.K. software buyers regret a purchase, here’s whyWhilst many companies choose a software system that gets results and meets its goals, most find themselves unsatisfied with the platform they pick. In our survey data, just over half (57%) of U.K. buyers express regret in one or more software purchases in the last 18 months. This is more or less in line with the global average of 59%. From the results, we can see U.K. consumers are faring just about as well as (if not a little better than) global peers. That said, software buyers still face unfavourable odds in selecting the right system to achieve their goals and, as we’ll touch on later in the article, a number of downsides to a bad purchase. However, examining the data a little more closely, we found that negative experiences are most likely to affect, IT software buyers, with over a third (35%) expressing dissatisfaction with one or more purchases. This is followed by marketing and communication, and finance and accounting software buyers. These results reflect general buying behaviour in some ways. As we observed in our previous report, IT software is among the most likely to be adopted in 2025. However, with bigger budgets at their disposal and IT software proving to be some of the most troublesome systems for companies to adopt, there are good reasons to reduce the odds of a bad purchase. Hard consequences of a regretful software purchaseOver half of our sample experienced the negative implications of a bad software purchase over recent months, although the consequences manifest in a number of different ways. In our findings, we observed a number of side effects noted by regretful buyers:Increased costs: 56%Reduced productivity: 42% Security vulnerabilities: 35%Adoption difficulties: 34%Competitive disadvantage: 24% These effects can all seriously impact a company’s operations and put it on the back foot, either in the short or long term. Therefore, it is crucial to get the software buying process right.In the following section, we consider some of the areas where the buying process can be improved. This will look closely at the differences in process between successful buyers and regretful ones.   Get it right the first time: lessons of successful software buyersWhile most of our U.K. sample regretted one or more of their purchases, 43% didn’t regret any of their technology purchases over the 18 months prior. This begs the question of what about their decision-making process led to the different results?To find out, we’ve examined the data collected from both kinds of buyers and studied the results to understand more about what variations in processes led to either success or failure. This considers the stages of buying that we looked at in our first report, whereby users can break their buyer’s journey down into 3 logical steps:Forming an initial list of potential vendorsReviewing the available software options and refining the list Trialling software on your shortlist to come to your final decisionOptimising the software buying process for successStep 1: Form a shorter initial listIn our last article, we identified several important trends that U.K. software buyers generally use to make their initial selections. In many cases, these include assessing options based on previous experience with software vendors or industry prestige.When we focus specifically on U.K. buyers who have no regrets about technology purchases, we observe that those with shorter initial lists do better overall. Out of this group, 72% listed 1-4 possible software vendors on their initial list. By comparison, only 59% of regretful buyers listed the same number of options. Notably, around half (54%) of non-regretful U.K. buyers listed as few as 1-3 options.   These findings show the importance of this initial stage and of carefully crafting the list of possible software vendors from the start. This not only improves the chances of a successful buying journey but could also save time later when it comes time to test and refine things. In other words, start right, end right.Step 2: Be flexible in refining the final listOnce satisfied with the initial list, the next stage is refining and reviewing the possible choices. This should take into account the possible features on offer and how well they fit with your company’s goals, primarily. It can also help to consider how existing users feel about the software you’re assessing at this point. Some of the most common ways successful buyers in the U.K. conduct their formal research are by using the insights of industry experts (56%), customer testimonials (48%), and product review and comparison websites (47%). In all cases, these are leveraged more than in cases where buyers had regret. Furthermore, 70% of U.K. buyers with no regrets are more likely to trust review and comparison sites over vendor sites for gauging customer satisfaction. This is significantly higher than the 30% of regretful buyers who make the same assessments.However, when reviewing the options and when new information becomes available, it is also important not to feel bound to the initial list. As we found amongst buyers with no regret, being able to make changes to the choices at this stage can make some difference. When asked how often they end up purchasing software that was on their initial informal list, only 17% of non-regretful buyers say they always stick with an option from their original selection of choices, compared with 22% of regretful buyers.This is not to say you should disregard the choices you noted on your initial list entirely. It is also true that more (23%) of non-regretful buyers compared to 11% of regretful ones say their initial list remains unchanged compared to their final list. However, the majority (60%) of buyers with no software purchasing regrets say their choices from the initial to the final list change slightly. This suggests that flexibility can be beneficial when researching available software options. Step 3: Test the final list of products with trials and demonstrationsFollowing research, when the choices have been cut down to size, you’ll usually be left with one or two final contenders. In our data, we observed that 54% of non-regretful U.K. buyers will have 1–2 vendors on their final shortlist to choose from, which is once again shorter than regretful purchasers who in well over half of the cases (63%) have 1-3 finalist options. However, a big deciding factor in the success or failure of a software purchase is how well it is practically tested by a buying team before the final decision is made. We observed in our data that non-regretful software buyers were much more likely to test finalist products than those with regrets.These findings underline the importance of getting a chance to assess a product hands-on before choosing between the options on your final shortlist. Taking this time is much more likely to lead to a purchase that you and your company will find satisfactory. Avoid these downsides when choosing softwareHaving looked at some of the elements that work, it’s also worth considering some of the factors that can negatively affect U.K. businesses when selecting a software platform. Our findings highlighted a number of issues that can throw a procurement process off track and lead to disappointment in the chosen software.The biggest factor leading to regret from U.K. software buyers is higher-than-expected expenditure, which affects one-third (34%) of regretful purchases. This also seems to impede U.K. buyers a little more than those in some of the other countries we surveyed, considering this was above the global average of 31%.Whilst this aspect stood out the most, other factors involving the difficulty of adapting chosen technology to a business also occur in many cases. For buyers in the U.K., challenges such as adopting software that is too complex for a firm and, in a similar vein, the difficulty companies have in onboarding staff onto the software they purchased are frequently cited as the reasons for disappointment in an acquisition. These findings reemphasize some of the lessons we can observe from satisfied software buyers noted above. For instance, it is possible to avoid some of the technical and onboarding issues highlighted by buyers with regret by testing software, either by trialling it first or being given a hands-on demonstration of how the functionality works. However, our data also demonstrates the importance of being clear on certain parameters you and your company are looking for in a software buying experience. For instance, it is especially important to be cautious about the possibility of hidden costs, especially when limitations are placed or add-on expenses are levied from processes such as connecting integrations, carrying out specific processes, or adding extra users to a platform. What buyers would do differently in hindsightOf course, hindsight is 20/20, and after a disappointing software acquisition, there are likely to be lessons learned to avoid the same outcome in the future. To understand more about the avoidable errors that buyers may want to bypass, we looked at our findings and found a few points to consider. One of the biggest points highlighted by a third of regretful buyers in the U.K. is having clearer goals and working more closely around desired outcomes. Other common issues revolve around having better processes around stakeholder communication and conducting more in-depth research around possible vendors, particularly in the case of security provisions. Many of these findings follow what we’ve already observed about satisfied UK software buyers. These include the benefits of practices like more robust vendor research and product testing, as well as the issues noted by regretful buyers regarding software not adequately addressing their businesses' needs. These factors also line up with some of the most common organizational challenges facing UK software buyers when planning new technology investments, such as product identification (affecting 39% of our sample), security worries (38%), and compatibility (37%). Therefore, a major takeaway for those in or planning a buying process is to get to grips with the specific business needs they need to meet and the resources they’ll have at their disposal to make sure they don’t miss the mark.Plan ahead and don’t regretOur 2025 Tech Trends Survey findings stand out in a few key areas. These indicate a few notable differences between the success and failure of a software product procurement process for UK buyers. Some of the crucial differentiators in approaching software buying for a company that factor in the most include:Create more focused vendor lists: Consider account industry reputation and positive feedback when drafting vendor lists. Having a defined list with only a few possible options from the start can help save time during the in-depth research phases and allow more focus on each candidate.Be flexible with your software candidates: Successful buyers are more likely to tweak their list of choices, especially if research from experts, customer testimonials, or product reviews and comparison sites reveal issues for their use cases.Test products carefully before buying: Stakeholder-tested software is a key parameter for determining a tool's success rate. This offers a key chance to find out if the finalists fit or don’t fit your company’s needs. Looking for accounting software? Check out our catalogue. ## Disclaimer > Methodology\*Capterra’s 2025 Tech Trends Survey was conducted online in August 2024 among 3,500 respondents in the U.S. (n=700), U.K. (n=350), Canada (n=350), Australia (n=350), France (n=350), India (n=350), Germany (n=350), Brazil (n=350), and Japan (n=350), at businesses across multiple industries and company sizes (5 or more employees). The survey was designed to understand the timeline, organisational challenges, adoption \& budget, vendor research behaviours, ROI expectations, and satisfaction levels for software buyers. Respondents were screened to ensure their involvement in business software purchasing decisions. ## About the author ### David Jani David is a Content Analyst for the UK, providing key insights into tech, software and business trends for SMEs. Cardiff University graduate. He loves traveling, cooking and F1. ## Related Categories - [Artificial Intelligence (AI) Software](https://www.capterra.co.uk/directory/30938/artificial-intelligence/software) - [CRM Software](https://www.capterra.co.uk/directory/2/customer-relationship-management/software) - [Human Resources Software](https://www.capterra.co.uk/directory/5/human-resource/software) - [Task Management Software](https://www.capterra.co.uk/directory/10030/task-management/software) - [Workflow Management Software](https://www.capterra.co.uk/directory/30091/workflow-management/software) ## Related Articles - [COVID-19 rushes decision-makers globally into digital transformation](https://www.capterra.co.uk/blog/1617/covid-19-rushes-decision-makers-globally-into-digital-transformation) - [Cryptocurrency in the UK part 2: What do UK consumers think?](https://www.capterra.co.uk/blog/2297/cryptocurrency-in-the-uk-part-2) - [76% of UK businesses will spend more on software in 2025: Here's why](https://www.capterra.co.uk/blog/7557/uk-software-buying-trends-2025-research) - [Cross-country analysis: UK SMEs lead the way in climate change concern](https://www.capterra.co.uk/blog/3533/climate-change-concern-UK-SMEs-cross-country-analysis) - [What are the benefits and concerns of using ChatGPT for UK businesses?](https://www.capterra.co.uk/blog/4148/chatgpt-in-UK) ## Links - [View on Capterra](https://www.capterra.co.uk/blog/7599/advice-successful-uk-software-buyers) - [Blog](https://www.capterra.co.uk/blog) - [Home](https://www.capterra.co.uk/) ----- ## Structured Data