Here's a question that keeps product managers up at night: Your specs are competitive, your pricing is sharp, and your product genuinely solves the problem. So why are engineers choosing the other guy?
EETech’s annual study of over 1,700 engineers worldwide asked them point-blank: "What's the primary deciding factor in choosing a new product, ASIDE from product specs?" The answers reveal a fascinating gap between what manufacturers think matters and what actually closes the deal.
When product specs were excluded from consideration and they asked what else drives decisions, here's what rose to the top:
For Control Engineers:
For Electronics Engineers:
At first glance, "performance and reliability" winning seems obvious. But here's the thing: they were specifically asked to set aside product specs. So what are engineers actually talking about when they say "performance and reliability"?
They're talking about real-world track record. Not the datasheet specs—the field results. The difference between "this sensor should work in industrial environments" and "I know three companies running this sensor in dusty factories for two years with zero failures."
Look at those numbers again. Documentation and support is the #2 factor for both groups—20% for control engineers, 21% for electronics engineers. That's essentially tied with availability for electronics engineers.
Think about what that means: One in five engineers will choose a product primarily because of its documentation and support, even when a competitor has better specs or pricing.
Yet how many manufacturers treat documentation as an afterthought? How many bury their app notes three clicks deep on their website? How many offer "support" that means "submit a ticket and wait three days for a generic response"?
Engineers aren't asking for miracles. When we look at what they want on manufacturer websites, the top requests are straightforward:
Electronics Engineers want:
Control Engineers want:
Notice what's not on there? Fancy interactive tools, slick marketing videos, or AI chatbots. Engineers want the basics: clear documentation, working examples, and real-world proof that your product does what you claim.
For electronics engineers, availability tied with performance/reliability as the top deciding factor at 24% each. Let that sink in: Nearly a quarter of electronics engineers will choose a different product primarily because it's actually in stock.
This isn't surprising given the supply chain chaos of recent years, but it's a sobering reminder that the best product in the world doesn't matter if engineers can't get their hands on it.
Control engineers rated availability lower (12%), but that likely reflects their different purchasing realities. Control projects typically have longer lead times and established supplier relationships. If a part has a 12-week lead time, that's frustrating but manageable. Electronics engineers designing IoT devices or consumer products can't wait 12 weeks—they'll redesign around a different component.
Here's something that might surprise procurement teams: price ranked fourth for both groups, chosen by only 15-16% of engineers as their primary deciding factor beyond specs.
That doesn't mean engineers don't care about price. It means that when they're making the initial design decision—when they're choosing which component to build around—price is rarely the dealbreaker.
Think about the lifecycle of a product decision:
By the time price becomes the primary concern, the engineer has already invested time learning your product, reading your docs, maybe even building a prototype. Switching has a cost too.
The engineers who do primarily consider price (that 15-16%) are likely working on cost-sensitive, high-volume products where a few cents per unit multiplies into millions. But for most engineers, price is a constraint, not the decision criterion.
The remaining factors paint an interesting picture:
Company reputation matters to some engineers (around 10% for control, 5% for electronics), particularly in conservative industries where "nobody gets fired for buying [established brand]" still applies.
Ease of use scored surprisingly low (around 7% for electronics, 5% for control). This doesn't mean engineers want complicated products—it means that if a product meets their specs and is reliable, they're confident they can figure out how to use it. This is another vote for good documentation over simplified design.
Lead time was explicitly called out separately from availability by some engineers, highlighting that it's not just "is it in stock" but "how fast can I get it when I need it."
If you're developing or marketing engineering products, here's what the data tells you:
Performance and reliability matter most, but engineers evaluate them through the lens of track record. That means:
One in five engineers will choose you primarily for your docs. That means:
Especially for electronics engineers, stock matters. A lot. Consider:
Engineers consider price, but it's rarely why they choose you. Instead:
Engineers who are already leaning toward your product want ammunition to convince others. Give them:
Here's the thing most manufacturers miss: your competition isn't just the other products in your category. Your competition is the status quo—the part the engineer already knows, already trusts, and already has approved in their BOM.
Switching costs are real. Learning a new API, validating a new component, getting a new part through purchasing—all of that takes time and money. Engineers don't switch because your product is marginally better. They switch because you've made a compelling case that the pain of switching is less than the pain of staying.
Performance and reliability get you considered. Documentation and support get you chosen. Availability gets you designed in. Price keeps you there.
Everything else? That's table stakes.
When engineers tell us what really drives their decisions beyond specs, they aren't asking for anything revolutionary. They want products that work in the real world, documentation that actually helps them, and the confidence that when they choose your part, they can actually get it.
The manufacturers who win aren't necessarily the ones with the best specs or the lowest prices. They're the ones who make it easy for engineers to be successful. Because at the end of the day, engineers don't want to buy components—they want to ship products.
Make that easier, and the rest takes care of itself.
Want to know where your products rank in the minds of engineers? The full 2025 Engineering Insights Report includes:
Download the full 2025 Engineering Insights Report →
This analysis is based on the 2025 Engineering Insights Report, a global study of over 1,700 qualified control and electronics engineers conducted by EETech.
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