How customers find software and app businesses in 2026

People rarely pay for software or an app the first time they see it. They hear about it, look you up, try it, and only then sign up or pay. Business software tends to get found on LinkedIn and X, and more and more by asking ChatGPT or Google. Apps for the public get found on Instagram and TikTok. This page shows where your customers find you and what they do before they pay.

Pick your business

Each kind of business is found and chosen in its own way, so each has its own page.

Where customers look

Starting estimates for software and app businesses, from the tool below.

The main places

For most software and app businesses, customers look first in search engines and AI, social platforms and word of mouth. Some also look in groups and threads.

How they decide

The usual journey: selling to businesses. Customers usually decide within days. The trust needed before buying is medium.

Notice you
Follow your posts
Check you out
First call
Proposal
Client

Shown for software and apps for businesses.

Platforms in use

X, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok, with the most common first.

How customers find a business

Pick a business to see what matters most for it.

Tap any icon to see where it gets its information.

InboundThey find you, by one of three routes

OutboundYou find them. Joins at “get in touch”

1. Ask AI

Search and AI

2. Browse

Platforms, maps, directories

3. People

Groups and word of mouth

How they become a customer · Every business, simplified

1Find you
2Check you out
3Get in touch
4Customer

InboundCustomers find you, by one of three routes.

OutboundYou find them: an email, a LinkedIn message, a text. Skips ahead to “get in touch”.

1. Ask a search engine, AI or agentEach one is a model with its own web search tool, and the tool decides the sources.

All engines

2. Browse directlyPeople go straight to a platform, a map or a directory.

Social and professional platforms

Maps

Directories, reviews and checks

3. Ask peopleMostly online now: groups, threads and chats. Word of mouth is the offline part.

Online, in groups and threads

Offline

Discovery funnelEvery business, simplified

Find you

Check you out

Get in touch

Customer

Under every route: a clear website and the same name and details everywhere.

Every kind of business at a glance

Tap an industry to open it, then tap a business to draw its map above.

Matters mostNot much

			1. Ask an AIAsk an AI	2. BrowseBrowse			3. Ask peopleAsk people
Business	Sells to	Search engines and AISearch engines and AI	Social platformsSocial platforms	Google MapsGoogle Maps	Directories and reviewsDirectories and reviews	Groups and threadsGroups and threads	Word of mouthWord of mouth
	Both, Public
	Public
	Public
	Public
	Both, Public, Businesses
	Public
	Public
	Public
	Businesses, Public
	Public

These are our starting estimates for each kind of business, built from who their customers are and how they buy. They are not measured data. We test them in conversations with real businesses and update them.

How Rheos turns this into a content plan

Five steps, shown here for Rheos itself. Pick a business on the map to see it for one like yours.

Step 1 · Brand

It learns your brand, voice and style.

From your website and your posts, it picks up how you sound and what you stand for.

Websiterheos.app

Handles@rheosapp

RheosExample

Business

Rheos

Social media marketing for small businesses, without the admin.

Ideal customers

Small business owners
Founders doing their own marketing

Voice

Direct and plain. Talks to owners as peers, in British English.

Style

Plus Jakarta Sans

Read from rheos.app and @rheosapp

Step 2 · Strategy

A plan to reach small business owners.

It works out where small business owners and founders doing their own marketing look, and plans the week around them.

Strategy

Example

4of 8 this weekAwareness2/wk2/wk2/wk2/wkTop 3/5Middle 1/2Bottom 0/1

Inputs

Goal
Platforms
Ideal customer
Brand
Trends
Platform knowledge

Plan This week

This week	Mon 5	Tue 6	Wed 7	Thu 8	Fri 9	Sat 10	Sun 11
Instagram1 · 1 · 0
Facebook0 · 1 · 1
LinkedIn2 · 0 · 0
X2 · 0 · 0

Top: new peopleMiddle: weighing you upBottom: ready to book

PhotoCarouselVideoText

Step 3 · Create

Ideas from what is going on at your business.

This week: five-minute routine, customer story, tip of the week. It turns each into a post idea you can edit, with images from your library.

New post

Awareness slotMon 09:00Selected

Research

Social trendsWhat is working on LinkedIn this week
Web researchSources on your topic, read for you
Your library

The idea session: a few questions, using the research.

This is your awareness post for LinkedIn, planned for Monday 5 October at 9:00. What story or angle do you want it to carry?

Top of funnel: people who don't know you yet. What goes in it has to come from you.

Five-minute routineCustomer storyTip of the week

Most owners don't need more time for social media. They need a routine. Ours takes five minutes a day.

A few angles from what you told me. Pick one, or ask me to keep going.

TopEducateTextThe five-minute routineCheck the plan, answer two questions, schedule.Text

TopProvokePhotoYou don't need more timeYou need fewer decisions.Photo

TopProveCarouselOne plan, four platformsEvery post this week came from one plan.Carousel

Step 4 · Post

Out on LinkedIn and the rest.

“Five minutes a day is enough” and the rest of the week, scheduled across Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and X from one calendar.

Up next

Five minutes a day is enoughTue 09:00Scheduled
What a weekly plan looks likeThu 09:00Scheduled
Five-minute routineFri 09:00Idea
Customer storySun 09:00Draft

Inputs

Slot time
Your accounts

OctoberWeekMonth

MonTueWedThuFriSatSun

PostedScheduledOpen slot

Step 5 · Analyse

See what worked.

Which posts got seen, grew the following and turned into customers. That feeds straight back into next week's plan.

Inputs

Views
Likes
Followers

Audience1,015+271 in period

Total views8.2KImpressions and plays

Most viewed2.1KviewsFive minutes a day is enough

Most liked184likesFive minutes a day is enough

AudienceFollowers gained per day across your platformsAudienceViewsLikes

Instagram+157Facebook+57LinkedIn+37X+20

Post review

Every post against your own baseline, not an absolute number.

Post	Views	Engagement	Performance
Five minutes a day is enough	2.1K	184	2.4×
Three posts in four minutes	1.3K	96	1.6×
What a weekly plan looks like	640	41	0.9×

Want the full picture? Read how customers find a business in 2026, with the sources behind every figure.

Be there when your customers look.

Plan and post your social media in one place, so you show up wherever they look.

No card. Everything unlocked for your first 10 days, then free forever, or £55 a month for more.

Pick your business

Where customers look

The main places

How they decide

Platforms in use

Explore how customers find you

How customers find a business

1. Ask AI

2. Browse

3. People

How they become a customer · Every business, simplified

Every kind of business at a glance

How Rheos turns this into a content plan

It learns your brand, voice and style.

A plan to reach small business owners.

Ideas from what is going on at your business.

Out on LinkedIn and the rest.

See what worked.

Be there when your customers look.