Demand generation is a crucial aspect of B2B marketing, and tracking the right metrics is essential for measuring its success. To gain insights from industry experts, we reached out to several marketing professionals and asked them to share their favorite demand generation metrics and best practices for tracking them.
Engagement Metrics
Engagement metrics are a primary indicator of how well your content or campaign resonates with your audience. Michael C., a marketing expert, emphasizes the importance of asking, “Are they engaging with it?” Some key engagement metrics to track include:
Click-Through Rate (CTR): Measures the percentage of people who clicked on an ad or link relative to the total number who saw it.
Time Spent on Page: Indicates how long visitors are engaging with your content.
Social Shares: Reflects how often your content is shared on social media platforms.
Video Watch through Rate: Indicates how thoroughly engaged an audience is when a video shows up in their organic or paid social feed.
Retention Metrics
After initial engagement, it’s crucial to determine if your audience finds enough value to return. Michael C. suggests asking, “Are they returning to it [what you put out into the world]?” Some key retention metrics to track include:
Return Visitor Rate: Measures the percentage of visitors who return to your site after their initial visit.
Email Open Rate: Indicates the percentage of recipients who open your email campaigns.
Customer Retention Rate: Reflects how many customers continue to engage with your brand over time.
Depth of Engagement Metrics
Beyond initial engagement and retention, it’s important to understand if your audience is delving deeper into what you offer. Michael C. recommends considering, “Are they probing deeper?” Some key depth of engagement metrics to track include:
Pages per Session: Indicates the average number of pages a visitor views during a single session.
Bounce Rate: Measures the percentage of visitors who navigate away after viewing only one page.
Conversion Rate: Reflects the percentage of visitors who take a desired action, such as signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase.
Aligning Sales and Marketing
Teamwork is the foundation of demand generation success. According to research, companies with tightly aligned sales and marketing teams see 36% higher customer retention and 38% higher sales wins. To achieve better alignment, experts suggest:
Developing buyer personas with input from the sales team.
Defining marketing channels based on how the target audience conducts research.
Establishing demand generation KPIs that are aligned with business goals. Incorporating marketing technology can streamline collaboration and data sharing between sales and marketing teams, facilitating better alignment and maximizing results.
Measuring ROI
Return on investment (ROI) is essential in measuring the success of demand generation campaigns. It calculates the profitability of investments made into marketing initiatives versus the gains they generate. A positive ROI indicates that demand gen marketing efforts are paying off financially.
By tracking these metrics and best practices, B2B marketers can gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of their demand generation strategies and make data-driven decisions to optimize their campaigns for better results.
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