The B2B buying journey is becoming increasingly complex. Recent research shows that B2B buyers engage in 27 interactions, on average, during the buying journey, an increase of 93 per cent since 2015. Moreover, 60 per cent of B2B purchases involve groups of four or more people.
However, B2B marketing metrics have not been able to keep up with this growing complexity. As a result, many B2B marketers struggle to demonstrate their effectiveness.
And this isn’t just about being able to take credit where you feel credit is due. It’s vital to have a clear understanding of which marketing efforts are yielding results and which aren’t. Otherwise, you’re operating blindly.
Here’s how to modernize your B2B marketing metrics.
Which B2B Marketing Metrics Demonstrate Your Effectiveness
B2B marketing leadership dashboards have traditionally relied on sourcing metrics, which show the percentage of pipeline or won revenue that originated from marketing versus sales, to demonstrate performance.
However, the prevalence of sourcing metrics in CMO dashboards has declined in relevance from 70 per cent in 2015 to just under 50 per cent in 2020. Experts anticipate that only one in seven B2B businesses will be using sourcing as the primary piece of their B2B marketing metrics by 2025.
This should come as welcome news because marketers should be focusing on demonstrating how they support the buying journey at all stages of the funnel. This is called lift-based performance indicators, which reveal that when marketing engages with buyers a certain number of times, there are better outcomes.
As an example, Ross Graber of Forrester provided a useful breakdown of lift-based metrics.
A business may convert 20 per cent of its opportunities with an average deal size of $50,000. But when marketing engages with the buyer between eight to 15 times, that win rate increases by 5 per cent and the deal size by $10,000. Over the course of 100 opportunities, total revenue goes from $1,000,000 to $1,500,000.
That means, if marketing interacts over eight times with a buyer over the course of the buying journey, sales can expect a lift of 50 per cent. This is high-impact data that can lead to incredible growth!
Get the Data That Matters
As a growth marketing agency, Pulsion uses data-driven methods to identify high-impact B2B marketing metrics. Using advanced analytics, we can suss out the marketing strategies that will lead to greater conversions, refining campaigns over time and compounding results. Further, we’ll provide you with detailed, fully transparent reports, so you know exactly what’s working and why.
Call 1-866-637-4202 or visit our website today to request a free proposal.