Data, metrics and KPIs are essential to marketing success in a B2B SaaS and any B2B company. With the amount of data available to you it can sometimes be difficult to know which metrics to measure and which ones of these should be your key performance indicators (KPIs).
In this article we’ll run through which marketing metrics you should be measuring and which ones you can use to set as key performance indicators.
What is a metric?
To begin, let's get some basic definitions out of the way so we all start at the same place and have a shared understanding about what we are talking about in this article. A metric is a system of measurement. For a marketing professional, These are quantifiable ways of measuring success
- Measure of performance of a specific business activity
- A lower-level perspective
- Relevant for specific departments
- Individual metrics do not give insight on their own
What is a KPI?
A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a measurable value that demonstrates how well a company achieves their key business objectives. A KPI can be one metric or a combination of metrics, but it needs to be a relevant indicator of business performance.
- All KPIS are metrics (parent / child)
- KPI measures progress towards a specific goal (i.e. number of leads)
- Higher level perspective of business performance / holistic view of business performance
- Relevant across different departments
- Used for strategic decision making
- Tide to overall business goals.
B2B Marketing & SaaS Metrics & KPIs
There are so many data points you can measure when it comes to marketing it can be difficult to know which ones to pay attention to. Based on our experience we’ve put together a list of B2B SaaS marketing metrics that you can use to measure your performance.
Full Funnel B2B Marketing Metrics
To segment our metrics we’re going to divide them by the different stages of the funnel from the top to the bottom. We’ll also categorize them by the different marketing channels where appropriate.
Top of funnel Marketing Metrics
At the top of the marketing funnel we are looking to increase awareness, engagement and demand for our products and/or services.
Google Search Impressions
The number of impressions your website receives in Google is a good indicator of future success when it comes to inbound traffic. An impression is when your website appears in a search result and is correlated to your search engine ranking, the higher the ranking the more impressions you will receive.
Google Search Impressions (Branded)
The number of branded search impressions is a sub measure of the previous impressions metric. This metric measures the number of times your brand name is searched for and is a indicator of an increase in the amount of people that are aware of your brand.
Google Search Ave. Ranking
This metric is the average rank from 1 - 100 of the keywords that you do rank for in Google. Obviously the lower this metric the better your ranking in Google and therefore the more likely you are going to get people clicking on your search result.
Google Search CTR (Click Through Rate)
Intertwined with impressions and average ranking. Your Google CTR measures impressions/clicks. This is usually correlated with your average search ranking.
# of keyword rankings
The number of keywords your website ranks for in search engines is a good leading indicator of how much website traffic you will receive. The more keywords you rank for the more traffic you are likely to receive.
Top of Funnel Paid Metrics
Paid metrics relate to your paid marketing strategy. This typically includes channels such as Google ads, LinkedIn, Facebook etc.
Google Ad Spend ($)
Perhaps obvious but an important metric to track is the amount of money you are spending on your PPC campaigns in tools such as Google Ads or Bing Ads. This metric is not useful on its own and should be combined with conversions to monitor your ROI.
Google Ad Conversions (#)
The number of conversions you receive through Google Ads is really important to measure as this is a foundational metric for measuring your ROI and how much you are spending to gain a certain amount of conversions (Cost Per Conversion).
Cost Per Conversion ($)
Cost per conversion is a really important metric when assessing your PPC campaigns. This metric can also be viewed as a KPI because the amount you pay for a conversion can be an important measure of success. For example if you are paying too much for a conversion you may not make your money back quick enough if you do indeed convert the customer.
Google Ad Clicks (#)
The number of clicks you get directly impacts your spend. As the term Pay Per Click suggests you will be spending your budget every time someone clicks on your ad. This metric can be combined with Average Cost Per Click ($) to estimate how much you will spend.
Cost Per Click ($)
Cost Per Click is the amount you pay every time someone clicks on your ad. This number can vary a lot because platforms like Google Ads are essentially an auction with varying prices based on supply and demand. Most marketers will typically use Average Cost Per Click ($) as a better metric to measure.
Click Through Rate (%)
The click through rate is the number of clicks divided by the number of impressions your ads have received. This gives you the percentage of times you ads are clicked on when they are seen.
Ad Impressions (#)
The number of ad impressions is a measure of how many times your ads are viewed on a specific platform. In most cases on Google Ads. This metric can be compared directly against your organic impressions to measure the balance between PPC impressions and organic impressions.
Middle of Funnel Marketing Metrics
At the middle of the funnel your potential customers are in the consideration stage and they have already shown some interest in your business so far but have not converted into a customer. In the middle of the funnel the contact is usually within your CRM system and the metrics typically relate to how they move through the funnel and become a closable opportunity.
# of Leads
The number of leads is typically the number of contacts that enter your CRM system through a marketing channel. For example through submitting a form on your website or attending an event.
Average Lead Fit Score
A lead scoring system is a way of measuring the quality of your leads. The higher the score the higher the quality of the lead. It’s important to differentiate here the difference between lead fit score and engagement score. The lead fit is a measure of how closely they match your ideal client profile where as the engagement score is a measure of how engaged with your marketing efforts they are.
Average Lead Engagement Score
The engagement score is a measure of how engaged the lead is with your marketing efforts. These are often nurturing emails and event invites along with re-marketing ads.
# of Marketing Qualified Leads
To be able to measure this metric you need to have a documented way of qualifying a lead. Typically for a B2B business this can be done with a combination of firmographic data and conversion actions, such as requesting a demo of your software or signing up for a free trial. Typically this can be combined with the average Lead score fit.
Lead to MQL Conversion Rate (%)
This metric measures your marketing funnel efficiency. How many leads become MQLs? The more the better as it shows that you are generating high quality leads for your pipeline.
Lead to MQL Days (#)
This metric measures the time it takes a lead to turn into an MQL once they enter your database. The usefulness of this metric is dependent on how you measure MQLs as if your threshold is low then this metric will always be low.
Bottom of Funnel Metrics
At the bottom of the sales and marketing funnel we are looking to measure metrics that indicate how many contacts in our pipeline are turning into paying customers and how that process is going.
# of SQLs
This metric again requires a definition of what a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) is to your business. For most companies an SQL is when a MQL has been engaged by the sales team and it has been vetted as a legitimate opportunity to sell and has a value assigned to the deal.
# of Closed Won Deals
The number of closed won deals is quite self explanatory but it is really important to monitor this metric to ensure you are tracking the revenue generated by your marketing campaigns. You also use this metric to calculate the average deal size or average lifetime value of a client.
SQL > Closed Won Conversion Rate (%)
As with previous metrics, a conversion rate metric can only be calculated by dividing one thing by another. In this case it’s the number of CLosed Won Deals by the number of SQLs. Theoretically it is a sales performance metric but it depends on how well defined you target audience is and how well developed your product is as fairly often this is the stage when a product undergoes the most scrutiny.
Average Deal Value ($)
The average deal value is the average amount of all the deals or opportunities you generate. In an ideal scenario you want this to be as large as possible but this of course depends on what you sell, how much you sell it for and who your target audience are.
Closen Won Deal Amount ($)
This is the total value of your closed won deals. Typically this equates to revenue generated. This value is often more useful when compared month over month as this gives an indication of how well your business is performing and growing.
Average Lifetime Value ($)
The average lifetime value (ALV) or looks at the annual revenue you get from a customer and also the lifespan of the customer. As an example if a customer generates $1million dollars in a year and they have a contract for 3 years then this lifetime value would be 3 x $1million equalling $3million. This is very common in SaaS companies to measure because the business model is usually based on recurring revenue such as license subscriptions.
13 B2B SaaS Marketing KPIS
To be honest a large percentage of the metrics above can be utilsed as KPIs, especially the ones further down the funnel. However to make things a bit clearer we’ve listed some of the most common and popular KPIs below for your reference.
For most of these KPIs we would recommend to measure them on a monthly basis due to the length of a B2B buyer journey but you can of course keep track of them daily and weekly too if you would like.
Measuring Efficiency in Your Funnel
The efficiency of your marketing strategy can be measured by the efficiency of your funnel, from website sessions at the top to new customers at the bottom. The more efficient the higher your conversion rates are from one stage to the next.
If you spot an inefficiency at one of your stages then it can be a symptom of a few different things and it is not always as straight-forward as you may think.
The 4 KPIs You Need to Measure Funnel Efficiency
Below is a table containing the 4 conversion rates you need measure to be able to measure the efficiency of your sales and marketing funnel and then be able to take action.
Poor Website conversion rate
A poor conversion rate on the website can be down to a poor choice of Call To Action (CTA) which is putting people off. It can also be about the overall performance and content on your website not persuading people to action, it can also be a symptom of attracting the wrong type of traffic on your website. If your suffering from a poor conversion rate here we recommend checking and testing the above.
Poor Lead to MQL conversion rate
Once someone has converted on your website you ideally want to score that lead to see if they are a good fit for your business. A good fit lead that has taken action on your website will often become an MQL. Therefore if you are suffering from Lead to MQL conversion rate this can be a symptom of you attracting the wrong type of person to your website, you are potentially targeting the wrong audience so you should review your inbound marketing strategy and tactics.
Poor MQL to SQL conversion rate
A poor MQL to SQL conversion rate usually means a lack of shared understanding between Sales and Marketing but it can be impacted a lot by how marketing qualifies leads and how much intent is behind them. If a lead doesn’t show much intent to buy but they are an MQL then they are less likely to convert to an SQL.
Poor SQL to Closed Won conversion rate
When your SQLs are not converting to closed won deals it is usually something to do with the product, the pricing or your sales process. If we are assuming your SQLs are being qualified correctly then the most common reason for not closing the deals are usually to do with timing, price and the product.
When you lose an opportunity it is imperative to consistently store data on close lost reasons to ensure you can plug the holes at the bottom of your funnel and potentially make some massive improvements.
Summary
Ultimately, tracking KPIs is not just about numbers and metrics; it's about unlocking the potential of your B2B digital marketing efforts. It empowers businesses to measure success, make informed decisions, and continuously improve their marketing strategies. By leveraging the power of data and analytics, B2B marketers can drive growth, enhance customer experiences, and achieve long-term business objectives.
In conclusion, if you want to excel in B2B digital marketing, don't underestimate the importance of tracking KPIs. It's the key to unlocking valuable insights, optimising campaigns, and driving sustainable growth in today's dynamic business environment.
