Every B2B company wants to be “data-driven” - but most lack the marketing benchmarks required to contextualize and action the data they generate. This article solves that problem, providing key benchmarks for B2B websites and marketing ROI to help you understand which areas of your marketing need the most attention.
Read on for an overview of the best B2B benchmarks to track, why they matter, and how to use them to optimize your efforts and make data-backed decisions.
What is a B2B Digital Marketing Benchmark?
A B2B digital marketing benchmark is a standard or reference point used to measure and evaluate the performance of digital marketing strategies and campaigns. It provides a means of comparison against industry averages to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of your marketing efforts.
Benchmarking for B2B involves analyzing key performance indicators (KPIs) such as website traffic, conversion rates, lead generation, email marketing metrics, social media engagement, and other relevant metrics.
Why is this important? Benchmarks show you what’s working and what isn’t with your marketing strategy. Today, 54% of companies that extensively use marketing analytics end up with higher profits than average - but 38% of businesses say data analytics is among their top five biggest weaknesses. Ultimately, benchmarks help you improve your data analytics and join the top tier of companies driving higher profits from marketing.
Which B2B Digital Marketing KPIs & Benchmarks Should You Track?
B2B digital marketing benchmarks can vary depending on the specific industry, target audience, and marketing objectives. They may be derived from aggregate data collected from various sources, industry reports, surveys, or internal historical data.
These benchmarks serve as valuable indicators for evaluating the success of digital marketing campaigns, setting realistic goals, and making data-driven decisions to optimize future growth strategies.
There are several vital benchmarks that businesses in the B2B digital marketing space commonly use to evaluate their performance. Let’s break them down into categories:
Key B2B Website Benchmarks
Your website is the foundation of all online marketing - which means it must function optimally at all times. The following metrics combine to create a clear view of your website’s performance:
Website Traffic
Monitoring the number of unique visitors, sessions, average session duration, bounce rate, and more on your website helps assess its overall performance and attractiveness to potential customers.
Benchmarks: When it comes to website traffic, on average, you should aim for:
- Time on page: ~2:51
- Pages per session: ~3
- Load time: <2 seconds
- Bounce rate: ~60%
It’s important to look at all of these metrics together, and not always individually. Together, they tell a story of how visitors are interacting (or not interacting) with your website and the impact it has on their unique buyer’s journey.
Website Conversion Rates
Measuring the percentage of website visitors who take a desired action, such as filling out a contact form, downloading a whitepaper, or making a purchase, provides insights into the effectiveness of your marketing funnel and helps you identify possible bottlenecks.
Benchmarks: The conversion rate you should aim for will vary depending on your marketing channel but is often between 2% and 5%. Here are some more specific examples:
- Google Search campaigns: 3.04%
- Cost-per-click (CPC): $2.69
- Facebook Ads: 10.63%
- Cost-per-click (CPC): $1.72
- LinkedIn Ads: 1.5-4%
- Lead conversion rate on website from other channels: 4.63%
Revenue Operations (RevOps) Benchmarks
Marketing should always be focused on driving revenue while minimizing costs. This points us to RevOps benchmarks that evaluate how much you should expect to spend on your marketing - and how you should expect specifically channels to perform:
Cost per Lead (CPL)
Calculating the average cost incurred to generate a qualified lead from paid search or paid social helps determine the efficiency of your lead generation efforts and enables comparison with industry averages.
Benchmarks: The CPL benchmark varies by advertising channel, industry, and company size, but the average across all is:
- Cost per demo request: $600-800
- Cost per lead: $200
Email Marketing Metrics
Evaluating email open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates helps gauge the effectiveness of your email campaigns and allows for benchmarking against industry averages.
Benchmarks: When monitoring email metrics, your standards should be:
- Open rates: 21.3%
- Click-through-rate (CTR): 2.6%
- Return on investment (ROI): $42 for every $1 spent
- Unsubscribe rate: 0.12%
Social Media Engagement
Monitoring social media engagement metrics across all platforms helps assess the reach and effectiveness of your social media marketing efforts.
- Twitter engagement rate: 0.05%
- Facebook engagement rate: 0.4%
- LinkedIn engagement rate: 2%
6 Steps for Creating a B2B Benchmarking Report
Creating a B2B digital marketing benchmarking report involves gathering and analyzing data, comparing performance, and drawing meaningful insights. A report will help you identify areas for improvement and strengths, set realistic goals, stay competitive, and measure progress with a visual representation.
Here are six steps to help you create a benchmarking report:
- Define Goals and Metrics: Identify your goals for the benchmarking report. Determine the specific metrics and KPIs you want to measure and compare across marketing efforts. Metrics may include website traffic, lead generation, conversion rates, social media engagement, email marketing performance, and more.
- Identify Comparable Businesses: You can use a set of comparable B2B companies within your industry or niche as benchmarks. These businesses should be similar in size, target audience, market segment, and digital marketing strategies. Look for industry reports and public data or consult industry experts to find suitable benchmarks.
- Gather Data: Collect relevant data for your own business and the benchmark companies. This may involve accessing your own internal analytics, CRM systems, and marketing automation platforms. Additionally, explore external data sources like industry reports, market research, or third-party tools to gather data on benchmark companies. Ensure consistency in data collection methodologies to ensure accurate and comparable results.
- Analyze and Compare Data: Analyze the collected data to compare your performance against the benchmark companies. Calculate averages, medians, or percentiles for each metric to understand how your business measures up. Identify performance gaps, strengths, and weaknesses in your digital marketing efforts. Use visualization techniques like charts or graphs to present the data clearly and concisely.
- Identify Best Practices: Examine the strategies and tactics employed by the benchmark companies that yield exceptional results. Identify their best practices and determine how to incorporate them into your growth marketing strategy. Look for patterns or trends that emerge from the data analysis to gain valuable insights and actionable recommendations.
- Create the Benchmarking Report: Compile all the findings, insights, and recommendations into a comprehensive benchmarking report. Include an executive summary, methodology, key findings, data analysis, best practices, and next steps. Use clear and concise language supported by charts, graphs, and visual aids to enhance the report's readability and comprehension.
Remember, a benchmarking report should be an iterative process, and it's essential to regularly update and refine your benchmarks as the digital marketing landscape evolves.
B2B Digital Marketing Benchmarks: The Conclusion
Benchmarks are valuable tools for your business to evaluate and improve performance within an informed context. By comparing metrics against industry peers and identifying best practices, you can gain insights into areas of strength and weakness, make data-backed decisions, and optimize marketing strategies.
These benchmarks provide a clear roadmap for success, enabling businesses to set realistic goals, track progress, and stay competitive in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. With the right benchmarking approach, B2B organizations can drive growth, enhance customer engagement, and confidently achieve their digital marketing objectives.
Want to meet all your KPIs and stand out in a competitive landscape? Get in touch today.
