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What are the top 7 KPIs in B2B Marketing and Sales?

Written by Lena M. | 01.10.2023 14:47:00

Do you want to measure the success of your marketing strategy? That's exactly what KPIs can do in B2B marketing. In a world where every click and every conversion counts, key performance indicators (KPIs) offer you the perfect tool to check whether you are on the right track. 

But which KPIs are essential for your B2B marketing strategy in order to improve your sales efficiency and increase your brand awareness? Find out in the following article!

 

WHAT ARE KPIS IN B2B MARKETING?

KPIs, or key performance indicators, in B2B marketing, are like your GPS navigation in the jungle of the business world.

They not only show you where you stand but also in which direction you need to head. Whether it's generating leads, increasing customer satisfaction, or optimizing sales efficiency - KPIs provide you with clear, measurable values that show you how well your strategies are really working.

THESE ARE THE 7 MOST IMPORTANT KPIS IN B2B MARKETING:

1. Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV)

2. Revenue

3. Customer retention rate

4. Conversions

5. Engagement (content, social media, emails, etc.)

6. Traffic (evaluation of website visits)

7. ROAS

1. Customer Lifetime Value - Scouting Out Lucrative Customers

Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV) is a key performance indicator in business management that summarizes all previous and expected future sales of a customer. This key figure helps to understand and optimize the long-term value of customer relationships.

2. Revenue - Keeping an Eye on Costs and Profits

In revenue marketing, the turnover achieved is compared with the necessary investments. This comparison serves as a basis for budgetary decisions and underlines the importance of revenue as a key performance indicator for economic success.

3. Customer Retention Rate - Customer Loyalty

The customer retention rate indicates the percentage of customers that have been retained over a certain period of time. This is a direct indicator of customer loyalty and interacts with the churn rate, which describes the customer churn rate.

4. Conversions - Comprehensible Change

The conversion rate describes how effectively interested parties are converted into customers. The metric can be used to improve sales efficiency and increase revenue growth.

It makes the ratio of visits to actual conversions such as newsletter registrations or purchases transparent and is an important KPI and central component of performance measurement in B2B marketing.

5. Engagement Rate - Interaction as the Key to Success

The engagement rate measures how actively users interact with content on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn. This rate is calculated from the ratio of daily interactions to the total number of followers and provides information about the effectiveness of the content.

6. Traffic - Increase in the Number of Website Visitors

Traffic analyses provide insight into the number of visitors to a website and their behavior. They show which pages are visited most frequently and at what times website activity is at its highest. You can use these insights to optimize your content much better!

You can determine these behaviors, for example:

  • How long does a user stay on the site on average?

  • How long does a particular visitor stay on the site?

  • Which pages are accessed most frequently?

  • Does the visitor click on links in your content and if so, which ones?

  • At what peak times do the most visits take place?

7 ROAS - Return on Advertising Spend

The return on advertising spend (ROAS) measures how effectively advertising expenditure is converted into revenue. This key figure is therefore particularly important for your performance marketing.

Here, you can compare your expenditure on advertising measures and the income generated by them.

WHICH KPIS ARE MOST IMPORTANT TO ME?

There are an infinite number of performance metrics. However, at first, you should only focus on a few metrics. If you try to determine and evaluate all data at once right from the start, you will quickly lose sight of the big picture and drown in an endless sea of data.

Therefore, it is important to set a goal first. Do you want to generate more leads, optimize your B2B sales strategy, or do you want to increase your revenue growth? First, think about WHAT you want to achieve and then select the appropriate KPIs. 

To find the right performance metrics, you can ask yourself the following questions:

  • What data do you really need so that you can clearly define your strategic marketing goals?
  • What is your priority at the moment?
  • Are you concerned with classic branding objectives or is it more important to skyrocket your sales figures?
  • Is acquiring new customers a priority for your company?

There are the right solutions and metrics for every purpose.

KPIS FOR LEAD GENERATION IN B2B MARKETING

In B2B marketing, a lead is a qualified contact to another company, which provides address data for further dialog development.

Compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) must be observed when using necessary cookies for the purpose of precise data analysis. Permanent lead generation will help you make decisive progress at the B2B marketing level.

KPIs that assess traffic and engagement are informative metrics for this purpose.

KPIS FOR INCREASING SALES

Promotional marketing campaigns and sales offers attract customers who are looking for your product or service range. 

If you provide your customers with a product that is helpful to them and offer a discount for new customers, your sales can quickly skyrocket.

The exact reactions can be derived from the KPIs so that you can see which sales campaign attracts new customers.

One thing you should keep an eye on is the conversion rate.

KPIS FOR MORE BRAND AWARENESS

Successfully positioning a new brand in an oversaturated market is one of the biggest challenges in today's world. One of the most effective tactics is to increase brand awareness and maintain consumer trust in your brand.

To achieve this, it's important to remain in constant close dialog with and in conversation with customers.

Many companies place their entire focus on this marketing strategy. Analyzing data about user behavior and reactions is essential for a successful brand presence.

DESIGN A COOL B2B MARKETING KPI DASHBOARD

Data, data, and more data. So that you don't lose track of all your data collection, you should design the presentation of your KPI dashboard carefully and thoughtfully.

Several employees from different departments are often dependent on regular data analysis and the use of features in teamwork.

Quick info instead of a confusing jumble of data, clear visual presentation in a sophisticated design, short loading times, etc. increase the effectiveness of data handling.

Useful B2B marketing KPI dashboard parameters:


  • The crucial point when using KPIs is how well they reflect the actual sales from marketing activities.
  • Only an analysis of the entire buyer journey reveals the direct correlation between investments in the marketing concept and economic results.
  • KPIs can be used to understand how individual leads from campaigns relate to actual purchases or customer interest and thus understand the reasons for success or failure.

CONCLUSION: FOCUS ON THE MOST IMPORTANT KPIS

As you can see, there are numerous KPIs that B2B companies can use to optimize their lead generation and increase their sales efficiency. However, you shouldn't just blindly collect all performance metrics.

Especially at the beginning, it is better to focus on the most important KPIs in order to determine clear and concise data correlations.

If you want to improve your sales efficiency and increase your revenue growth, the conversion rate and engagement rate, for example, provide important information.

If, on the other hand, you want to improve your relationship with existing customers, you should take a look at the customer retention rate. 

There are suitable KPIs for every goal you set yourself for your B2B marketing. Simply use the overview and this article as a guide and create your own KPI dashboard!