These days, every marketer is under pressure to prove ROI.
It’s no longer enough to say website traffic is up or LinkedIn impressions have doubled.
Leadership wants to know what’s generating pipeline, revenue and long-term growth.
And that makes sense. Without knowing what you’re working towards, you won’t know which of your campaigns are actually effective.
You might be spending loads of money on email marketing, for example, but if you’re not seeing any return on your investment, then it’s money down the drain.
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That’s where marketing KPIs come in.
By having a set of clearly defined B2B marketing KPIs, you know exactly what you’re trying to achieve with each and every campaign.
In this guide, we’ll cover the B2B marketing KPIs worth tracking, how to measure them, and which ones matter most at different stages of growth.
What Is the Difference Between B2B Marketing KPIs and Metrics?
Lots of people use the terms ‘b2b marketing KPIs’ and ‘b2b marketing metrics’ interchangeably, and we get it. With so many marketing terms, it’s easy to get confused.
Here’s a straightforward way to distinguish the two:
B2B marketing metrics are any measurable number from your B2B marketing activity.
For example:
- Sessions
- Clicks
- Email opens
B2B marketing KPIs, meanwhile, are the specific metrics that you’ve decided matter most because they’re tied to a business objective.
This could be a range of different metrics, depending entirely on your business’s unique objectives, but will often include things like:
- Demo requests
- Marketing Qualified Leads
- Revenue generated as a result of marketing activity
General metrics can provide useful information, but focusing on specific B2B marketing KPIs allows you to hone in on what is actually making a difference to results. This helps you better plan your marketing spend by allowing you to devise campaigns that are likely to generate the most value based on past data.
Why Are B2B Marketing KPIs Important to Track?
B2B marketing KPIs help you measure success.
By being able to prove that different campaigns have performed, not only can you justify your spending, but you can also plan for the future.
For instance, if you noticed people were engaging on LinkedIn more than they were engaging on TikTok, invest more time in this area going forward. It’s about knowing where best to spend your time and money.
Knowing the right areas to allocate budget is one of the biggest challenges for marketers as it’s your job to make sure money is being spent in the right place.
Thankfully, the majority of marketing activity can be measured, but it’s about understanding the data so that you can use it in a practical way.
Seeing a bounce rate of 43% and an open rate of 31% means absolutely nothing if you don’t know how to use this information.
We’d always suggest leaving your marketing activities to a professional B2B agency. These guys not only report on metrics and KPI’s, but they understand the meaning behind them.
This means they can plan future campaigns that actually align with what you’re trying to achieve.
Why Are Marketing KPIs Specifically Important for the B2B Industry?
Marketing in the B2B industry is very different from the B2C industry in the sense that these investments are usually a lot larger.
In the B2C space, you have brands such as Asos, Marks & Spencer, and Uber. The average cost of a customer purchasing from these places might be anywhere between £1 and £100.
Obviously it depends on the purchase (I can spend a lot more on Asos!), but the typical value is usually reasonably low.
The opposite often applies in the B2B industry, where one business is buying directly from another business.
The purchase is usually quite large compared to those in the B2C market.
Because of these high-value purchases, and the fact that employees are buying on behalf of the business (not themselves), a lot of thought and consideration goes into each decision.
Instead of buying on impulse (which happens a lot in the B2C market), ƒs before finally making a purchase.
Because of this lengthy process, B2B companies need to think carefully about their marketing strategy to really engage and nurture buyers towards making a purchase.
That’s why KPIs and metrics are so important for B2B as they allow marketers to fully understand how well their efforts are performing.
B2B Marketing KPIs That Will Impress Your Big Boss
Typically, your boss wants to know two things – that campaigns are performing, and that the budget is being spent in the right place.
That’s exactly what these B2B marketing KPIs help you to prove.
Let’s take a look.
Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL)
Marketing Qualified Leads refer to those leads who have shown an interest in your company as a result of a particular marketing campaign.
They might, for instance, have downloaded a brochure from your email campaign or clicked the button ‘get in touch’ on your website.
How you qualify leads and the metrics you use will all depend on the individual company, but knowing which leads are worth pursuing is very valuable.
The action the lead has taken can also provide valuable information.
For example:
Let’s pretend you’re a cybersecurity company and the brochure they have downloaded is all about phishing scams.
This immediately gives you an insight into what type of information they’re interested in and allows you to serve more relevant content.
From this point, you can pass them over to your sales team, who can nurture the relationship further and (hopefully!) convert them into a sale.
Working out your Cost per MQL is also important as it allows you to plan better campaigns in the future.
You can work out your Cost per MQL by following the formula below:
Cost per Lead (CPL) / Marketing spend for total number of new leads = Cost per MQL.
Sales Qualified Opportunity (SQL)
A sales qualified opportunity (SQL) is definitely one that you want to keep an eye on.
These are the leads that your sales team have qualified as being likely to become a customer.
Similarly to MQL, the sales team obtains this information based on certain actions the lead has taken which suggest they are likely to make a purchase.
For a SaaS platform, for example, this might include a lead signing up for a free trial of the software so that they can familiarise themselves with the platform.
This is a clear indication that they are interested in using the platform as they want to find out how it works.
To understand which campaigns are generating the most valuable sales opportunities, you should calculate your Cost per Sales Qualified Opportunity (SQO).
This shows how much you’re spending to generate each qualified opportunity, helping you identify which marketing activities deliver the best return.
Cost per SQO = Total marketing spend ÷ Number of Sales Qualified Opportunities (SQOs)
Website traffic
Knowing how many people are coming onto your website is a good measure of success as it allows you to see how your campaigns and SEO generation are working.
Visibility of overall website traffic is helpful, as it allows you to spot any immediate spikes or dips, but there are other metrics that you should be drilling into as well.
These allow you to be more specific so that you can optimise campaigns for the best results.
Geographic location
Knowing where your website traffic is coming from is particularly helpful if you’re trying to focus on particular locations.
For instance, if you’re trying to expand in the US and have been running campaigns targeted at this location, it’s useful to know if you’ve had an increase in traffic from here.
This shows you that your targeted campaign is performing well as you’re attracting the audience you want.
Or, if your business has not been paying much attention to some locations, but you’re attracting a lot of traffic from them, then maybe there’s an untapped opportunity to consider.
Sources
Knowing how users are coming onto your website allows you to focus on the high-performing channels.
For example, if the majority of your website traffic is from organic search but you’re not creating lots of blog content, then now is the time.
Clearly this is how people are finding your website, so you want to maximise this.
Similarly, if you’re spending lots of time and money on social media but you’re only getting 7% of your website traffic from this source, then it might be time to strip this back.
Popular pages
Knowing which pages your audience are or aren’t engaging with allows you to optimise those that are performing well, or improve (or cut) those that aren’t.
On those that are receiving engagement, keep the website copy up to date and high quality. You want to retain the attention of your audience and make sure they stay on your website.
As part of this process, you’ll also want to include conversion points which encourage users to ‘do’ something. Making sure you have enough buttons for people to ‘get in touch’ or ‘sign up for a free trial’ allows them to continue their journey further.
Lead conversion rates
Lead conversion rates allow you to see how many people took a desired action on your website.
For example, if you include a gated, downloadable resource in your blog post, how many people are actually clicking onto this and downloading it?
Each company has its own definition of what a ‘conversion’ means. It could be a customer signing up for a trial, requesting a demo, or booking a call.
Before you calculate your conversion rate, it’s important to define what counts as a conversion for your business.
Once you’ve got this nailed down, you can calculate your conversion rate using the following formula:
Conversion rate = (Number of conversions/number of visitors) x 100
If your conversion rate is low on particular pages, then you might need to tweak the messaging.
Perhaps your call to action isn’t clear or compelling enough, or your content isn’t properly communicating the value of taking the next step.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Obviously, getting customers is the aim of the game. However, it’s important to be aware of how much each customer is costing you.
If the cost of getting a new customer is higher than the profit generated from them, you need to tweak your strategy.
It doesn’t make financial sense to be spending more on getting customers than the value they’re actually bringing to your business.
So the question is:
How much are you spending to acquire customers vs how much revenue they’re worth?
Of course, there is a formula to help you work this out:
Cost spent on marketing campaign/number of new customers you acquired as a result = CAC
Customer lifetime value (CLV)
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) measures the total revenue a customer is expected to generate throughout their relationship with your business.
Understanding your CLV helps you make smarter marketing decisions. If you know how much a customer is worth over time, you can make informed decisions about how much you’re willing to spend to acquire them.
For example, if your average customer generates £10,000 in revenue over five years, spending £1,000 to acquire them may be a worthwhile investment. On the other hand, if acquisition costs are close to or exceed your CLV, it’s a sign that your marketing strategy needs some work.
Improving customer retention, increasing repeat purchases, and encouraging customers to buy higher-value products or services can all help increase your CLV over time.
You can calculate Customer Lifetime Value using the following formulas:
Customer Lifetime Value = Customer Value × Average Customer Lifespan
Customer Value = Average Purchase Value × Average Number of Purchases
Customer retention rate
Acquiring new customers is obviously hugely valuable, but keeping your current customers happy is equally important.
Firstly, the cost of keeping an existing customer is lower than getting a new one. And, think about it, happy customers are also more likely to recommend your products or services, becoming great advocates for your brand!
To calculate your customer retention rate, compare the number of customers you had at the start of a given period with the number you still have at the end, excluding any new customers you acquired during that time.
Customer Retention Rate = ((Customers at end of period − New customers acquired) ÷ Customers at start of period) × 100
If your retention rate is low, it’s worth investigating why customers are leaving. Gathering feedback through customer surveys, monitoring satisfaction, and continually improving the customer experience can all help increase retention over time.
LinkedIn Data
LinkedIn is arguably the most important social media platform for B2B businesses.
By having a robust LinkedIn strategy and posting on a regular basis, you can access an engaged, targeted audience of business professionals.
On LinkedIn, you can get detailed demographic information about people who have engaged with your content.
You can split the data by their job role, location, industry, job seniority, company size, and even individual company name.
This allows you to know exactly who you’ve been reaching with your content so that you can plan future campaigns to target these people.
For example, if you notice lots of marketing managers are engaging with your content, then it would make sense to create more content for these people.
You could post the best top tips for managing a marketing team, or a list of business podcasts that every marketing manager should be listening to.
Always use data to inform future decision making. Simply knowing the information is pointless if you’re not going to do anything with it!
Methods and Tools for Tracking B2B Marketing KPIs
Tracking your B2B marketing KPIs is only useful if you have the right tools in place to collect and analyse the data.
By bringing your marketing, sales, and customer data together, you can measure performance more accurately and make better-informed decisions.
CRM systems
A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is one of the most valuable tools for tracking marketing performance.
Platforms such as HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive and NetSuite CRM allow you to monitor leads throughout the sales pipeline, helping you measure KPIs like Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs), Sales Qualified Opportunities (SQOs), customer acquisition cost (CAC) and customer lifetime value (CLV).
Many CRM systems also include lead scoring functionality, making it easier to identify which prospects are most likely to convert.
Website analytics
Tools such as Google Analytics 4 (GA4) provide valuable insight into how people interact with your website.
You can monitor metrics such as engaged sessions, traffic sources, conversions, landing page performance and user journeys to understand which channels are driving the best results.
Adding UTM tracking parameters to your campaign URLs also helps you attribute website traffic, leads and conversions to specific marketing activities, whether that’s email marketing, paid advertising or social media.
Marketing dashboards and reporting tools
Rather than checking multiple platforms individually, many businesses use interactive dashboards to bring all of their marketing data into one place.
Reporting tools such as Looker Studio, HubSpot dashboards and Power BI allow you to visualise your most important KPIs, automate reports and monitor performance over time.
Having a single source of truth makes it easier to spot trends, identify opportunities and share results with stakeholders.
AI-powered reporting
Many marketing platforms now use AI to speed up reporting and uncover insights that might otherwise be missed.
AI-powered reporting tools can identify trends, highlight unusual changes in performance and generate summaries of your data, helping marketers spend less time creating reports and more time acting on the results.
Ultimately, the best KPI tracking setup is the one that gives you accurate, reliable data and makes it easy to understand what’s working, what’s not, and where to focus your efforts next.
Unlocking Success with These Top B2B Marketing KPIs
Not every marketing metric deserves executive attention.
Choose a handful of KPIs that directly support your business goals, review them consistently, and use them to make better marketing decisions.
Whether your objective is generating more qualified leads, improving customer retention or increasing revenue, the right KPIs will show you what’s working and where to focus next.
There’s a lot to get right to ensure you’re creating campaigns that generate results, and working with a content marketing agency can be a huge help. At Canny, we help B2B businesses achieve their marketing goals.
Our team work directly with you to find out where you want to be in the future, and devise a clear, actionable plan to make sure you get there. Get in touch for an informal chat, and let’s make sure you’re hitting those B2B marketing KPI’s!
