StepTwo has published the results of the consumer survey of CMS vendor websites that they conducted back in March.

A couple of excerpts:

It is interesting to note that the methods traditionally relied on by vendors, such as sales visits, are the lowest ranked by consumers.

Instead, consumers are looking for impartial and realistic sources of information to help them select between the possible solutions.

This strongly calls into question the typical practice of providing only limited information on vendor websites, and instead directing queries to sales staff.

The strong desire for demo software is borne out in the free-text survey responses.

…

Important information is delivered poorly, with the majority of survey comments focusing on the lack of pricing information. Clearly there are serious website issues to be addressed by vendors if consumer expectations are to be met.

Raw survey results are available here.

Not unexpected results given my own experience. Hopefully some CMS vendors will take this to heart and be more open about their products on their web sites. Luckily for them, StepTwo has also just published a for-sale web site benchmarking report for CMS vendors.