What is the Customer Growth Indicator (CGI)?

The Customer Growth Indicator measures how many potential buyers already have your brand on their mental shortlist before they start actively shopping. It assesses brand health across three dimensions: mental availability (do buyers think of you when a trigger fires), category entry points (how many buying situations your brand occupies), and distinctive assets (can buyers recognize your brand without seeing the name).

Why is brand awareness not enough in B2B marketing?

A buyer can be aware of your brand — they've seen your logo, maybe read a blog post — and still not consider you when a purchasing trigger fires. Awareness without consideration is a vanity metric. The gap between awareness and consideration is where most marketing budgets evaporate. You need to be in the buyer's consideration set, not just their awareness set.

What is the difference between distinctiveness and differentiation?

Differentiation tells a buyer why you're better. Distinctiveness tells a buyer which one you are. In a crowded category, distinctiveness is more valuable because if a buyer can't instantly recognize you in a feed scroll, on a search results page, or in a peer recommendation, your differentiation doesn't matter — they never made it far enough to evaluate it.

How do you measure consideration instead of just awareness?

Four methods: unprompted recall surveys asking which brands come to mind first, search behavior analysis looking for brand + category searches, direct traffic trends indicating growing mental availability, and referral conversation analysis to understand your actual position in the consideration set.

Win the Initial Consideration Set | B2B Buyer Psychology

Q: What is the Initial Consideration Set in B2B buying?

The Initial Consideration Set is the two to four brands a B2B buyer already has in mind before they begin actively evaluating solutions. Research from McKinsey and the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute shows that brands in the Initial Consideration Set are twice as likely to be purchased as brands discovered later in the buying process.

Brand loyalty in B2B is a myth.

Ehrenberg-Bass Institute research — the same body of work that transformed how Procter & Gamble and Coca-Cola think about brand growth — shows a consistent pattern in B2B purchasing: only 13% of buyers are truly loyal to their current vendor. The remaining 87% are open to switching and actively evaluating alternatives, even while paying for a competitor's product.

This has a direct, measurable consequence for how B2B SaaS companies should allocate their marketing budgets.

87%

of B2B buyers are open to switching vendors

2–4

brands in a buyer's Initial Consideration Set

more likely to win when you're in the consideration set

The Initial Consideration Set

When a B2B buyer begins evaluating solutions, they don't start with a blank slate. They already have two to four brands in mind — the brands that occupied mental space before the search even started. This is the Initial Consideration Set.

Research from McKinsey and the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute converges on the same finding: brands in the Initial Consideration Set are twice as likely to be purchased as brands discovered later in the buying process.

This means the most important marketing outcome isn't generating clicks, impressions, or even leads. It's being one of the two to four brands a buyer already thinks of when they recognize they have a problem your product solves.

Why Most B2B Companies Measure the Wrong Thing

Most B2B SaaS companies measure awareness. They track impressions, reach, share of voice. These metrics tell you whether people have heard of you. They don't tell you whether people would think of you when they have a buying need.

The gap between awareness and consideration is where most marketing budgets evaporate.

A buyer can be aware of your brand — they've seen your logo, maybe read a blog post — and still not consider you when the purchasing trigger fires. Awareness without consideration is a vanity metric. You're visible but not relevant.

The Customer Growth Indicator (CGI)

The Customer Growth Indicator measures what awareness metrics miss: how many potential buyers already have your brand on their mental shortlist before they start actively shopping.

CGI assesses brand health across three dimensions:

1. Mental Availability

When a buyer in your ICP experiences a trigger event (rising CAC, missed pipeline targets, agency frustration), does your brand come to mind? Mental availability isn't about whether they've heard of you. It's about whether they think of you in the moment that matters.

2. Category Entry Points

How many distinct buying situations does your brand occupy? A company that is only associated with "paid media management" has fewer entry points than a company associated with "paid media," "demand generation," "pipeline accountability," and "CAC reduction." More entry points means more triggers that lead to consideration.

3. Distinctive Assets

Can a buyer in your market recognize your brand without seeing the name? Visual identity, verbal patterns, a specific point of view — these create recognition speed. Recognition speed determines whether you survive the 3-second scan when a buyer is building their shortlist.

How to Improve Your Position in the Consideration Set

1. Map Your Category Entry Points

List every situation in which a buyer in your ICP might start looking for a solution. Not just the obvious ones — the adjacent triggers too.

Example: B2B SaaS Growth Platform Entry Points

CPL rising above industry benchmarks
Board pressure on pipeline numbers
Agency relationship ending
New Head of Growth hired with no existing systems
Competitor gaining visible market share
Post-funding mandate to scale acquisition

Each entry point is a door into the consideration set. Your content, positioning, and distribution strategy should cover as many doors as possible.

2. Invest in Distinctiveness, Not Just Differentiation

Differentiation tells a buyer why you're better. Distinctiveness tells a buyer which one you are.

In a crowded category, distinctiveness is more valuable than differentiation. If a buyer can't instantly recognize you in a feed scroll, on a search results page, or in a peer recommendation, your differentiation doesn't matter — they never made it far enough to evaluate it.

Distinctive assets include: a consistent visual system (colors, typography, layout patterns), a verbal signature (specific phrases you own), and a point of view that is identifiable without a logo.

3. Measure Consideration, Not Just Awareness

Add these to your measurement system:

Unprompted recall surveys: "When you think of B2B SaaS growth, which brands come to mind first?" The order matters.
Search behavior analysis: Are people searching for your brand name alongside category terms? Brand + category searches indicate consideration, not just awareness.
Direct traffic trends: Rising direct traffic suggests growing mental availability — people are typing your name because they remembered it.
Referral conversation analysis: When existing customers refer you, what words do they use? Those words reveal your actual position in the consideration set.

The 87% Opportunity

Most B2B SaaS companies are competing for the 13% of buyers who are already loyal to a competitor. The 87% who are actively open to switching represent the real growth opportunity — but only if you're in their consideration set before they start evaluating.

The companies that win this game aren't necessarily the ones with the best product or the lowest price. They're the ones that were already in the buyer's mind when the trigger fired.

Winning the Initial Consideration Set