Industries · Digital agencies
Digital agency lead generation for enterprise web, commerce and portal builds
Read the research ↓By Shreyan Rajesh, co-founder of Mason · Updated 9 November 2026
The short answer
We studied 28 companies that bought a new website, commerce or portal build from an agency, and compared the 12 months before the purchase with the year before. A core system going in rose most: 13 of 28, against about 6. Test web addresses looked higher, but many were the build itself. Leadership changes, launches and acquisitions did not.
For agencies and integrators
Who this is for
Digital agencies, systems integrators and consultancies that build enterprise websites, commerce platforms and customer portals for large and mid-market companies. You know the accounts that fit. The hard part is knowing which one is about to commission its next build, before the brief goes out.
This page answers that with research we ran on real purchases, including the events that looked promising and did not hold up. If you want the method first, here is how we research a market.
The market
What we see in this market
Industrial and B2B buyers are the largest group
12 of the 28 buyers were industrial or B2B companies, 7 were in finance or insurance, 6 were brand manufacturers and 3 were in healthcare.
Many are moving off an old platform
11 of 28 were running a platform on one agency's list of platforms it moves companies off. For that agency, the build was often a migration, not a first website.
The work before the build is quiet
A press check found nothing on 22 of 28. The systems that come before a new platform are staffed, not announced, so you will not read about them in the news.
The look-back
What came before a company bought a build
For each buyer we looked at two years: the 12 months before the purchase, and the 12 months before that. An event that is just as common in the earlier year describes the kind of company that buys. It does not tell you when.
A core system is chosen: an ERP, product data, CRM or warehouse system.
A newly created digital or commercial seat is filled.
The system goes live or gets its team.
The company buys the website, commerce or portal build.
The shaded row rose in the purchase year. Test, staging and portal addresses look higher, but many were the build itself. The rest were about as common in an ordinary year.
About 5 of the 12 test and staging addresses sat just before a go-live, so they are traces of the build itself, not its cause. Without them it is about 7 against 5. The year-before counts for the core system and the addresses come from our study summary, so treat them as approximate. 10 of the 28 purchase dates were go-live dates rather than signing dates, and with 28 buyers only large differences show up.
Signals
Signals that held up, and signals that did not
Test and staging web addresses, once the build is removed
12 of 28 against 5 looks like a rise, but about 5 of the 12 sat just before a go-live and were the build itself. Without them it is about 7 against 5.
Leadership changes, launches and acquisitions
Leadership changed at 26 buyers in both years. Acquisitions were 25 against 27, product launches 22 against 21, international activity 25 against 25. They describe the companies that buy, every year.
Cyberattacks
5 of the 28 buyers had been attacked at some point, but none inside the 12 months before the purchase. A real zero, not a missing search.
Regulator penalties
We found no penalty in any window. The 3 dated enforcement events we found were all outside it. No complete register exists, so this is not proof of none.
Compliance deadlines
Every one of the 28 had a binding deadline in its window, so a deadline on its own sorts no one.
A core system goes in · 13 of 28, against about 6
An ERP, product data, CRM or warehouse system is introduced or cut over. It is mostly chosen 8 to 11 months before the build is bought and goes live 1.5 to 3.5 months before. The platform comes after the plumbing.
Not proven either way
- A newly created digital or commercial seat, 2 to 5 months before the purchase, at 9 of 28. We have no count for the year before, so we cannot say it rose.
- An acquisition completing, with the platform bought 4.5 to 10.9 months later, at 9 of 28 (4 by the strictest reading). Again no year-before count. If you track it, date it by the completion: 3 of the 4 strict cases would be missed by the announcement date.
Each reading is ours, not a promise. Why a core system matters is our inference from the work these agencies do; the counts are what we measured.
In practice
What is working, to an extent
Look where the dates are
In a study of where buyer evidence can be found, the buyer's own website was the only kind of source we could reach in every probe, 7 of 7. Review directories, the source argued for hardest, were reachable in 4 of 10.
Reachable is not the same as useful. The buyer's own site gave a full source in 5 of the 7, review directories in 2.
Read the event, not just the count
A new test address can be the earliest sign of a build, or the build itself. A purchase date can be the signing or the go-live. On 10 of our 28 it was the go-live, which puts the build inside the window.
About 5 of our 12 test addresses sat just before a go-live. They were the build, not a sign of it, and once they are removed the rise shrinks to about 7 against 5.
The limits, plainly
- This is 28 buyers. That is enough to see large differences, not small ones.
- The comparison is each company's own earlier year. We had no group of similar companies that did not buy. So this shows what was common before a purchase. It does not prove an event predicts one.
- We have not yet measured replies or meetings from these signals. When we do, this page gets updated.
Checklist
If you want to try this yourself
How we found the agencies in this market, and the buyers behind them: the digital platforms case study. The same method in four other markets: all case studies.
Watch for a core system going in: an ERP, product data or CRM consultant starting, a vendor's case study, a go-live notice.
Watch the certificate log on your target accounts for new test, staging and portal addresses. Read the name, and check it is not the build itself going live.
Treat a newly created digital or commercial seat as worth a look, not proof. A leadership change on its own is not a reason to write.
If you track acquisitions, date them by the completion, not the announcement. There is no comparison year behind this one yet.
Do not time outreach on cyberattacks, penalties, launches, deadlines or market entry.
Your market. Your past deals.
Want this research run on your own market, with your own past deals?