AI adoption is rising quickly, and organisations are no longer choosing tools based on features alone, they’re prioritising the real value those tools can deliver.

And that’s exactly what our recent LinkedIn poll highlighted. The question was simple,  What would convince you to invest in an AI tool?
But the answers revealed a deeper layer of what really drives decision-making inside fast-moving teams.

Check the results:

  • Clear ROI within 30 days — 39%
  • An easy-to-use interface — 32%
  • Transparent price & free trial — 21%
  • Local vendor support & training — 7%

Numbers tell a story.
But what’s behind these numbers tells us much more.

This blog explores the deeper meaning behind these results and what they reveal about how teams today evaluate and choose AI tools.

1. ROI Isn’t Just a Metric:  It’s a Survival Signal

The leading choice,  Clear ROI within 30 days,  shouldn’t surprise anyone, but it should make us pause.

Why does ROI dominate?
Because we’ve entered a phase where AI is everywhere, but trust is nowhere. Teams are overwhelmed with demos, tools, promises, and “game-changing” features. Everyone is selling intelligence now. What buyers actually need is proof,  and quick proof.

A 30-day ROI window tells us something powerful:

Insight: Teams are no longer experimenting.

They are executing.

Budgets are scrutinized. Leadership wants accountability. Teams want guarantees that the investment won’t become “yet another tool we never used.”

An AI tool that can’t show value in the first month doesn’t feel like innovation, it feels like risk.

This matters, because it reframes how AI should be built and pitched.
If adoption depends on fast time-to-value, then:

  • Onboarding must be frictionless
  • Templates must be ready
  • The first win must happen in days, not weeks

ROI isn’t a number.
ROI is reassurance.

2. Usability Comes Second, And That’s a Warning Sign

32% voted for an easy-to-use interface.

This is fascinating because usability used to be the primary concern. But now it’s second.

Why?
Because the market is shifting from curiosity to outcomes.

But this doesn’t make usability any less important. In fact, it still sits at a strong 32% means:

Insight: If ROI gets users in, ease-of-use keeps them there.

This reveals a broader truth about AI adoption:

  • People don’t fear AI capability.
  • They fear complexity.
  • They fear needing engineers to set up workflows.
  • They fear tools that only power-users can use.

Usability here is not about “clean UI.”
It’s about accessibility, clarity, simplicity, and predictable behavior.

AI that feels intimidating will always lose to AI that feels empowering.

3. Transparent Pricing & Free Trials = Trust Builders

21% voted for transparent pricing and free trials.

This shows us something critical about modern tech buyers:

Insight: People don’t want to be sold to, they want to self-evaluate.

The demand for transparent pricing signals fatigue:

  • from “contact sales” buttons
  • from unpredictable pricing tiers
  • from tools that require negotiation just to start
  • from unclear limits or surprise paywalls

A free trial is more than just access.
It’s a signal that says: “We stand behind what we’ve built.”

The buyers this 21% represents want honesty, openness, and autonomy in decision-making.

This trend aligns with what we’re seeing across SaaS,  users prefer tools that let them see the value themselves, without being pushed into a demo call.

4. Local Vendor Support: Small Vote, Big Strategic Weight

Only 7% chose local vendor support, but this number is deceptive. Local presence doesn’t matter for everyone,  it matters for the right segments.

Insight: Local support becomes critical in industries where deployments are complex, regulated, or culturally specific.
This includes:

  • Public-sector and government projects
  • Healthcare and patient-data environments
  • Manufacturing with legacy systems
  • Compliance-heavy enterprises
  • SMEs that depend on region-specific workflows

While this group is smaller, they often represent longer sales cycles, higher scrutiny, and larger contract values. For them, local support isn’t a “nice to have”,  it reduces risk, shortens approvals, and ensures the tool fits local norms, language, and policies.

The takeaway:
Local support may not be a top vote overall, but it remains a high-impact requirement for a subset of customers who are the slowest to adopt yet the most valuable to convert.

5. The Bigger Story: AI Buying Decisions Are Becoming More Rational

If you look carefully, these four options point to one larger insight:

Insight: Teams are making AI decisions like they make financial decisions.

Gone are the days of “Let’s try this because it looks cool.”
Teams now ask:

  • How fast will this pay off?
  • Will my team actually use this?
  • Can I trust the pricing?
  • Is support accessible if something breaks?

AI is no longer a novelty purchase.
It’s a business-critical investment.

This is exactly why running this poll mattered,  it helps us understand what drives adoption today.

6. Why This Poll Matters (And Why We Ran It)

We didn’t run this poll for vanity.
We ran it because understanding decision drivers helps build better products and better onboarding experiences.

This poll helps answer questions like:

  • What should the first experience inside an AI tool look like?
  • What should the website highlight first,  features or ROI?
  • What objections must we remove to help people say “yes”?
  • How fast should value be delivered?
  • What expectations should we set in the first 30 days?

The goal isn’t just to “sell” AI tools.
The goal is to help teams feel confident adopting them,  because confidence drives engagement, retention, and impact.

When you know what people value, you can shape the product, messaging, pricing, onboarding, and support around it.

This is how teams build not just tools,  but trust.

7. The Bottom Line: AI Adoption Comes Down to One Word, Certainty

And every option in the poll ties back to that word.

  • ROI within 30 days = financial certainty
  • Easy-to-use interface = operational certainty
  • Transparent pricing = evaluation certainty
  • Local support = relational certainty

When people choose AI tools, they aren’t just choosing technology.
They’re choosing whether they trust the tool enough to depend on it.

And this poll reveals exactly what builds that trust.

Final Thought

Whether you’re building AI tools, selling them, buying them, or adopting them inside your team, understanding why people choose what they choose is the advantage.

AI is evolving fast, but human decision-making hasn’t changed.
People still want clarity, simplicity, and confidence before they commit.

And this poll, in its simplicity, reveals exactly that.