It's natural that marketers want to benchmark, to compare the efficiency of their conversion funnels - but what datasets should they compare with? Within Ecommerce there are relatively good sources for Retail ecommerce conversion rates provided by Ecommerce vendors, but within business-to-business, no similar benchmarks are widely available - let us know if you know any good sources! I think this lack of B2B benchmarks is partly because it is harder to define the different steps of the funnel within B2B marketing in a standard way.
If you're looking for a comparison of B2B conversion rates - here is a simple comparison from Marketing Sherpa, but it's a couple of years old now and doesn't standardise the funnel as conversion from lead to marketing qualified lead to sale, or look at costs such as cost per lead and cost per acquisition. The figures seem high for a site with an active blog - they're more typical for bespoke landing pages.
Given the lack of B2B conversion benchmarks and since we like to share insights to inform digital marketing, I was pleased when HubSpot got in touch recently to say they were planning to create a benchmark based on user submitted conversion rates. They're working with different partners like Smart Insights to ensure there is a good international sample from business-to-business marketers across different sectors.
The benchmark is well structured to look at different step conversion and cost per lead.
So, if you work in B2B marketing and have a good understanding of your conversion funnel, please share your benchmarks - the survey is an anonymous one pager, so will take two to three minutes to complete and a Macbook air is on offer as a prize.
By Dave Chaffey
Digital strategist Dr Dave Chaffey is co-founder and Content Director of online marketing training platform and publisher Smart Insights. 'Dr Dave' is known for his strategic, but practical, data-driven advice. He has trained and consulted with many business of all sizes in most sectors. These include large international B2B and B2C brands including 3M, BP, Barclaycard, Dell, Confused.com, HSBC, Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, M&G Investment, Rentokil Initial, O2, Royal Canin (Mars Group) plus many smaller businesses. Dave is editor of the templates, guides and courses in our digital marketing resource library used by our Business members to plan, manage and optimize their marketing. Free members can access our free sample templates here. Dave is also keynote speaker, trainer and consultant who is author of 5 bestselling books on digital marketing including Digital Marketing Excellence and Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice. In 2004 he was recognised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing as one of 50 marketing ‘gurus’ worldwide who have helped shape the future of marketing. My personal site, DaveChaffey.com, lists my latest Digital marketing and E-commerce books and support materials including a digital marketing glossary. Please connect on LinkedIn to receive updates or ask me a question.
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