8 key metrics to measure the success of your B2B lead generation campaign
Many times it has happened that, after months of thinking about a strategy, creating the materials, and defining the budget, the campaign is launched and we are not sure what to do next. The reporting is as important as all of the above, and it is essential to know what numbers we have to look at to understand if our marketing efforts are paying off or not.
If you’ve come this far wondering what metrics do I need to look at to measure the success of my B2B campaign? Or how can I know if my B2B campaign is successful? Here is a list of some of the most important KPIs to take into account:
1. Number of leads
It seems obvious, doesn’t it? That is why we must start here. The first thing we have to look at is whether our campaigns are fulfilling their main objective: generating leads so that the sales team can contact them. In this instance, we will not measure the quality (that comes later), only the quantity. If the result of this is zero, we will have to rethink the strategy and we will not be able to measure much more.
2. Reach and frequency
These are two metrics, it is true, but they are closely related to each other and that is why we recommend always monitoring them together. Before moving on to lead analysis, these two metrics can help us understand how many people we’re impacting and how often they’re seeing our ads. This will help us understand if our audience is tired and we need to renew the creativities, if the Budget needs to be increased to impact more times, among other conclusions.
3. Cost per lead (CPL)
Along with the amount, it is essential to always be clear about how much it is costing us to generate each lead. We must understand in what range we want to locate the cost per lead, and this will depend on the potential business that is associated with each one. For a business with more profit, we will be willing to pay more. As in the previous point: if leads are generated at a cost above our limit, it will be time to rethink the strategy.
4. Sales quality leads (SQL)
This is another important metric: understanding what is happening on a qualitative level. It is to receive sales feedback on each of the generated leads and classify them according to their quality. If we are generating a good volume of leads at an acceptable cost, but the quality of these leads is poor, we will also have to make adjustments, since we will not generate new business. As in the previous point, here we can also measure the Cost per SQL, that is, how much we are paying to generate a quality lead.
5. Lead to customer conversion (CVR)
If we get this far it is a good sign: we generate a good volume of leads at a good price and some of them are of good quality. Now the moment of truth: do they become customers? At this point, we have to measure the percentage of leads that take the final step and have it as a key metric to follow with sales. Also, if we want to spin finer, we can measure the percentage of SQL that converts into clients.
6. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Do we have customers that have been generated through our marketing campaigns? Excellent! How much have they cost us? This is the next question we have to ask ourselves. As in the previous points, we will have to be clear about how much we can invest to generate new clients and continue to be a business since if we pay too high it can be counterproductive.
7. Clients originated from Marketing
Now: how important is our campaign within the company’s global strategy? To understand this, one of the metrics we can look at is the percentage of total customers that have been generated from the campaign in a given period. If you have high organic growth, you may not need to invest as much to grow. But if your marketing campaign is your only source of business it will take on greater importance.
8. ROI
Finally, and after having gone through many instances, we come to one of the most important metrics of all marketing campaigns. The return on investment. 58% of marketers have to justify the ROI of action to get the next budget approved. It is important to keep in mind that in B2B an average sales cycle is 6 months, and the ROI will have to be measured in a period according to that cycle.
These are some of the most important metrics to measure the success of a lead generation campaign. If you have these under control, you will have a fairly accurate picture of the health of your campaigns and the impact they are having on your business.