The Buying Experience Diagnostic

 

This diagnostic is most valuable for organisations experiencing low channel adoption, frequent process bypass, or stakeholder frustration with buying. It helps Procurement and Finance leaders understand where the buying experience is breaking down and why. 

In practice, it enables you to identify priority areas for improvement, build a fact-based case for change, and take targeted action to simplify buying, embed governance, and increase Procurement’s influence on spend. 

 

How it works

An 8–10 minute anonymous survey deployed to internal users, with results aggregated into a structured maturity assessment.

What it measures

  • Buying channel clarity
  • Embedded governance
  • Buying journey efficiency
  • Procurement's perceived value

What you get

  • Maturity score out of 100, across four dimensions
  • Clear visibility of friction points and bypass behaviour
  • Target priorities for improvement
  • A fact-based foundation for transformation decisions

1. Why buying experience matters

Procurement’s reputation is not formed in the boardroom or through strategic sourcing events. It is formed in everyday buying.

When the buying experience is unclear, approval-heavy, or slow, it shapes perception negatively. Friction in buying channels also drives workarounds, bypass behaviours, and reduced adoption. Over time, this erodes Procurement’s influence on spend.

Many organisations try to solve this with technology but layering tools onto structurally flawed buying journeys simply automates friction rather than removing it. 

To improve outcomes, organisations must first understand how buying is experienced across the business.

2. What this diagnostic does

This Buying Experience Diagnostic tool is designed for procurement leaders seeking objective insight into how their buying channels function in practice. This is not a satisfaction survey. It identifies where your buying process is slowing people down or being bypassed. 

Using a short, easily deployable survey template, the diagnostic  assesses buying maturity across four key dimensions:
 

Buying channel clarity

How easily stakeholders know where and how to buy

Embedded governance

Whether controls feel integrated, rather than burdensome

Buying journey efficiency

Speed and smoothness of the end-to-end process

Procurement's perceived value

Whether Procurement is seen as enabling or obstructing

Each dimension is scored from 5-25, with a total maximum score of 100, to establish a measurable maturity profile. Scores are calculated by aggregating survey responses across each dimension, creating an average score that reflects how buying is experienced across the organisation. Where possible, results should be segmented (e.g., by function or user type) to identify where experiences differ depending on the  specific requirement.

The goal is not to label the buying experience as “good” or “bad.” Instead, results are translated into prioritised insights that highlight structural friction, behavioural risks, and opportunities for targeted intervention.

This tool will give you:

  • Clear evidence of where the buying journey and operating model require redesign
  • A quantified foundation for investment cases
  • A repeatable mechanism for continuous improvement

When the buying experience improves, adoption increases. When adoption increases, Procurement is brought in earlier, ultimately increasing its ability to positively influence the organisation’s 3rd party expenditure.

3. How to use this diagnostic

The Buying Experience Diagnostic survey is at the core of this toolkit, but value comes from how you translate insight into action. 

1. Clarify your transformation priority. Define what outcome you want to achieve. For example:

  • Diagnosing buying friction
  • Preparing for tail technology implementation
  • Improving stakeholder experiences
  • Building a compelling investment case


2. Understand the current state of your buying journey. Deploy our pre-built, customisable survey template across your internal buyers.

  • 8–10 minutes to complete
  • Fully anonymous
  • Target frequent buyers, occasional buyers, budget holders, and Finance   


3. Apply the structured scoring framework. This will give you a view of where structural issues lie and what areas you need to prioritise. Given that higher scores indicate a better buying experience, don’t forget to invert scores for negatively worded questions.

  • Dimension scores
  • Total maturity score
  • Bypass rate
  • Overall assessment


4. Translate findings into operating model interventions. Make sure to prioritise structural fixes over behavioural enforcement.