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Essential benchmarks for B2B Marketers

Bringing you all the facts and stats needed to benchmark the performance of your next campaign – in one handy resource. Please use and abuse them at your leisure.

This is just the start: we’ll be continuing to expand and update the numbers as more research becomes available. If you spot a source you think should be included, please do send it our way via rahul.savadia@earnest-agency.com

And if you want more than simply raw data, head over to https://earnest-agency.com/ideas-and-insight/ where you’ll find more commentary on the figures herein.

Happy benchmarking B2B friends,

Earnest @earnestagency
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StatUseful for (Topic)YearSource
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OUR TOP 5
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82% of B2B buyers wish B2B had the creativity associated with B2C.General 2018WHM Propeller Insights Survey
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71% of executives think branded content is boring, expected and repetitiveContent Marketing2017https://agency.raconteur.net/the-best-b2b-content-is-brave-and-bold/?utm_source=PANTHEON_STRIPPED&utm_medium=PANTHEON_STRIPPED&utm_campaign=PANTHEON_STRIPPED
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61% of C-Suite Executives will pay a premium for a B2B service from a brand with a clear visionContent Marketing2018Edelman-Linkedin B2B Thought Leadership Report Dec 2018
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Average cost per lead by industry and marketing channelGeneral 2018https://www.integratedmarketingassociation.org/blog/average-cost-per-lead-by-industry-and-marketing-channel-are-you-overpaying/
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Brand spend is increasing faster than product or service marketing spendBrand2019CMO Survey 2019
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THE FULL LIST
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45% of ABM leaders generate more than 2x the ROI from ABM than from traditional marketingABM2018ITSMA - 2018 ABM Benchmark Study
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80% of B2B product companies are using channel partnersChannel Marketing2018CMO Survey 2019
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Graph of what content marketing activities B2B marketers outsourceContent Marketing2018Content Marketing Institute
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Graph of what tech content marketers useContent Marketing2018Content Marketing Institute
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The marketers who reported their content marketing strategy to be the most successful spent an average of 40% of their budget on content marketingContent Marketing2018Content Marketing Institute
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"What are your top 3 content marketing formats" graph, p.10Content Marketing2018Contentive 2018 Content Marketing Report
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Which marketing channels provide the best ROI for your business? p.9Content Marketing2018Contentive 2018 Content Marketing Report
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Blog posts are the most successful type of content at the awareness stage; whitepapers at consideration; and case studies at purchaseContent Marketing2018Content Marketing Institute
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While 70% of B2B marketers are always focused on delivering the 'right content at the right time', only 43% always consider the buyer journey (and 21% never do)Content Marketing2018Content Marketing Institute
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Only 23% of B2B Content marketers use community building or audience participation as part of their engagement strategyContent Marketing2018Content Marketing Institute
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61% of C-Suite Executives will pay a premium for a B2B service from a brand with a clear visionContent Marketing2018Edelman-Linkedin B2B Thought Leadership Report Dec 2018
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Brand spend is increasing faster than product or service marketing spendBrand2019CMO Survey 2019
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45% of B2B Buyers are spending more time researching their purchasesContent Marketing2018Demand Gen Report 2018
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In 2014, the average blog post was 808 words - in 2018 that's risen to 1151. Hopwever, bloggers are twice as likely to report strong success if they keep to 500-1000.Content Marketing2018Orbit Survey
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B2B companies that blogged 11+ times per month got about 1.75X as many leads as those blogging 6 - 10 times per month, and about 3.75X as many leads as those blogging 0 - 3 times per month.Content Marketing2019Hubspot Blog 2019
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List posts get an average of 218% more shares than “how to” posts and 203% more shares than infographicsContent Marketing2019https://backlinko.com/content-study
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Response rates are 9% for House lists and 5% for prospects list (both have increase hugely in the last 10 years)Direct Mail2019https://mailshark.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/infographic-is-direct-mail-dead-updated.pdf
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Haptic (touch) sensation has the strongest impact on memory - so use textural effects like embossing Direct Mail2018https://www.chilliprinting.com/Online-Printing-Blog/print-marketing-trends-2018/
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DM lifts response rates of other channels by 450%Direct Mail2019https://mailshark.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/infographic-is-direct-mail-dead-updated.pdf
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mail activates areas of the brain responsible for longterm memory encoding 49% more than email and 35% more than social
media advertising.		Direct Mail2018Market Reach Email Marketing Report
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Only 50% of B2B marketers use Direct MailDirect Mail2017https://www.postalytics.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Postalytics-Infographic.pdf
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D0M is 21% less cognitive effort for customers than emailDirect Mail2017https://www.postalytics.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Postalytics-Infographic.pdf
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According to Pantone executive Leatrice Eiseman, if you want to look “resourceful”, go with blues and oranges; yellow is “playful”, pink is “discrete”, and gold is “sophisticated"Direct Mail2018https://www.chilliprinting.com/Online-Printing-Blog/print-marketing-trends-2018/
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When primed by mail, people spend 30% longer
looking at social ads.		Direct Mail2018Market Reach Email Marketing Report
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Average ROI of £3.22 for DMDirect Mail2018https://www.royalmail.com/business/insights/how-to-guides/building-a-business-case
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DM has an open rate of 92%Direct Mail2019https://www.royalmail.com/business/insights/how-to-guides/building-a-business-case
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70% think better of the sending company when DM is openedDirect Mail2019https://www.royalmail.com/business/insights/how-to-guides/building-a-business-case
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71% of executives think branded content is boring, expected and repetitiveContent Marketing2017https://agency.raconteur.net/the-best-b2b-content-is-brave-and-bold/?utm_source=PANTHEON_STRIPPED&utm_medium=PANTHEON_STRIPPED&utm_campaign=PANTHEON_STRIPPED
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57% of executives have arranged a meeting after watching branded contentContent Marketing2017https://agency.raconteur.net/the-best-b2b-content-is-brave-and-bold/?utm_source=PANTHEON_STRIPPED&utm_medium=PANTHEON_STRIPPED&utm_campaign=PANTHEON_STRIPPED
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Median number of social interactions for highest-performing B2B articles is 415Content Marketing2018https://buzzsumo.com/blog/best-b2b-content/
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46% of executives prefer case studies only 22% prefer research-based tools, 33% prefer interactive data toolsContent Marketing2019FT Learning From Leaders 2019
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33% of 25-34 executives prefer mobile for consuming thought leadershipContent Marketing2019FT Learning From Leaders 2019
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79% of business leaders are 'much more likely' to engage with personalised thought leadership (by role, by market, by sector, by size)Content Marketing2019FT Learning From Leaders 2019
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Example of personalisation - CFOs are most likely to want TL for awareness, while CEOs and CIOs want it for evaluation purchaseContent Marketing2019FT Learning From Leaders 2019
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Beware of the 'hot topic' - when it comes to tech trends, cyber risk and digital business models are more interesting to the c-suite than IoT or AI - it's about the business, not the techContent Marketing2019FT Learning From Leaders 2019
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18% of B2B email campaigns are not optimised for mobileEmail2018SuperOffice 2018 Email Marketing Benchmark Report
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The average number of calls-to-action within an email is 3.3Email2018SuperOffice 2018 Email Marketing Benchmark Report
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B2C emails are much more likely to be opened, and have a 19.7% open rate compared to 15.1% for B2B. However, B2B emails win on engagement, with a click-through rate of 3.2% compared to 2.1% for B2C emails.Email2018Criteo
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64% of subscribers open an
email based on who it’s from, compared to 47% of
subscribers who open emails based on the topic (the
subject line).		Email2018SuperOffice 2018 Email Marketing Benchmark Report
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By using a specific
personal name, rather than a general email address
or a company’s name, you can increase open rates
and click-through rates by as much as 35%		Email2018SuperOffice 2018 Email Marketing Benchmark Report
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89% of emails are sent from a company name rather than a personal nameEmail2018SuperOffice 2018 Email Marketing Benchmark Report
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In June 2018, mobile made up nearly half of all email opens (46%), followed by webmail (35%), and desktop (18%).Email2018Criteo
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Between 2017 and 2018 the number of companies organising 20 or more events per
year increased by 17%		Events2018Bizzabo Blog
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The median amount spent per exhibition by respondents last year was $20,000 (all respondents were B2B exhibitors)Events2018Marketing Charts
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The majority of exhibitors feel that a sale should close within 6 months of the event for the exhibition to get credit.Events2018Marketing Charts
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223 hours per year is the average time saved by businesses using event software. (Bizzabo, 2018)Events2018Bizzabo Blog
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How many people said "Events are the most important part of our marketing strategy" leadership surveyEvents2018Bizzabo Event Marketing report
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15% of B2B Marketing Budgets are allocated to trade eventsEvents2018Circle Research B2B Marketing Report
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In 2019, nearly 80% of organisations expect their marketing budgets to either increase (37%) or remain the same (42%), with only 8% anticipating a declineGeneral 2019Spiceworks
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Companies with fewer than 100 employees are much more likely to scale up marketing spend: 45% expect an increase, compared to 35% of midsize companies with 100 to 999 employees and 28% of enterprises with more than 1,000 employees.General 2019Spiceworks
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Graph of average B2B budget breakdown (North America and Europe)General 2018Spiceworks
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"Which marketing channels provide the best ROI for your business?" graphGeneral 2018Contentive 2018 Content Marketing Report
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82% of B2B buyers wish B2B had the creativity associated with B2C.General 2018WHM Propeller Insights Survey
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47% of B2B purchase decision makers find B2B advertising boringGeneral 2018WHM Propeller Insights Survey
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"What are your top priorities for the next year?" graphGeneral 2018Contentive 2018 Content Marketing Report
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33% of B2B marketers are using voice assistantsInnovation2018Pardot - B2B Marketing Trends Report 2019
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"What emerging trends are you prioritising next year" graphInnovation2018Contentive 2018 Content Marketing Report
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Interviewees are typically spending between 20% to 40% of their overall budgets on martech and associated costsMartech2018B2B Marketing Martech Article
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More than 90% of B2B buyers reporting a superior mobile experience say they are likely to buy again from the same vendor, compared with only about 50% of those reporting a poor experience.Mobile performance2017BCG Mobile Marketing Article
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50% of B2B search queries today are made on smartphones. BCG expects that figure to grow to 70% by 2020Mobile performance2017BCG Mobile Marketing Article
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76% of B2B buyers found it helpful to speak to a salesperson when researching a new product or service.
That figure fell to 52 percent for repeat purchases of products with new or different specifications.
Only 15 percent indicated a desire to speak with a salesperson when repurchasing exactly the same product or service.		Sales2018McKinsey Future of B2B Sales article
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Top B2B sales teams are more than 2.1x more likely to work with marketing than underperformersSales2018Pardot - B2B Marketing Trends Report 2019
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Average CTR for a B2B Google Adword listing is 2.41%Search2018Wordstream Adwords Benchmark Report
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Average cost per click for a B2B Google Adword is $3.33, and on the Google Display Network its $0.79Search2018Wordstream Adwords Benchmark Report
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Average CPC for Facebook B2B ads is $2.52Social2018Wordstream Adwords Benchmark Report
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Chart of which social media platforms B2B marketers are usingSocial2018Hootsuite Blog
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LinkedIn is 3x more effective at generating leads from visitors than Facebook or TwitterSocial2018Hubspot Blog
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We’ve found that engagement on Twitter peaks around mid-afternoon, if you’re a B2B brand.Social2018Hootsuite Blog
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Videos less than 90 seconds in length see an average retention rate of 59%, as compared to videos over 30 minutes that retain only 14% of viewers.Video2018Vidyard Video Business Benchmark Report 2018
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The best day for B2B video views is Tuesday, Wednesday and ThursdayVideo2018https://www.convinceandconvert.com/content-marketing/b2b-video-in-2018/
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64% of B2B marketers increased their video activity in 2019
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47% of B2B organisations outsource content creation including video productionVideo2018https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2018_B2B_Research_FINAL.pdf
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Chart of video view share per browserVideo2018Vidyard Video Business Benchmark Report 2018
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Having video in the subject line makes people 7% more likely to open emailsVideo2018https://yansmedia.com/blog/55-video-marketing-statistics/
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Videos at the top of a landing page can increase conversion by up to 80%Video2018https://unbounce.com/landing-page-articles/the-benefits-of-using-video-on-landing-pages/
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80% of marketers say video has increased dwell time on their siteVideo2018https://bb4b089076d0d4765f18-c3b4c8baa80714684c08ebfcd0c823f3.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/AutopilotHQ/downloads/Wyzowl-Video-Survey-2018s.pdf
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13% of business video views are mobileVideo2018https://awesome.vidyard.com/rs/273-EQL-130/images/2019-Video-in-business-benchmark-report_WEB.pdf
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22% of business video views are on a Thursday (and peak between 9 and 11am)Video2018https://awesome.vidyard.com/rs/273-EQL-130/images/2019-Video-in-business-benchmark-report_WEB.pdf
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49% of video is 0-60sec, 37% is over 2 minsVideo2018https://awesome.vidyard.com/rs/273-EQL-130/images/2019-Video-in-business-benchmark-report_WEB.pdf
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More than two-thirds (68%) of viewers watch a businessrelated
video all the way to the end if it’s less than 60
seconds, but only 25% will finish a video if it’s more than
20 minutes long. 		Video2018https://awesome.vidyard.com/rs/273-EQL-130/images/2019-Video-in-business-benchmark-report_WEB.pdf
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15% don't measure video effectiveness, only 11% described their measuring as advancedVideo2018https://awesome.vidyard.com/rs/273-EQL-130/images/2019-Video-in-business-benchmark-report_WEB.pdf
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68% of customers said their favourite way to learn about a new product is a short videoVideo2018https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/state-of-video-marketing-new-data
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Hgih tech produced on average 425 videos in 2018, while manufacturing produced 150 and public sector 143- whatever the industry, an almost daily video presence is the normVideo2018https://awesome.vidyard.com/rs/273-EQL-130/images/2019-Video-in-business-benchmark-report_WEB.pdf
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Adding a video to marketing emails can boost click-through rates by 200-300%Video2018https://www.experian.co.uk/business-express/hub/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/B2B-Marketing-Trends-2018.pdf