2019 Marketing Measurement & Attribution Survey Report
Benchmark Research Shows Reporting Matures To Track More ABM And Conversion At Specific Stages Of Buyers Journey
Introduction Sales & Marketing Alignment Drives Deeper Measurement Around Buyer Stages Individual Campaign & Engagement Metrics Top Priorities In ABM Programs Challenges With Data, Lack Of Resources Still Bumps In The Measurement Road Conclusion About The Survey
Table Of Contents
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Nearly every B2B organization strives to learn more about their buyers. Building journey maps, studying triggers and analyzing the behavior of key stakeholders are common practices for marketing teams. The common factors for all of these initiatives are having actionable reporting and metrics on the campaigns that are influencing buying decisions. New benchmark research from Demand Gen Report found that while marketers are aware that they still struggle with many areas of measurement and attribution, it is still a growing priority for 90% of respondents. The survey found marketers are moving to a more mature phase of measurement, driven by a need to better align with sales, gain deeper metrics around buyer stages and use them to track conversions and measure their ABM strategies. Some of the main drivers behind that push for deeper measurement include getting better and deeper metrics on which campaigns and offers are driving the best conversion rates at specific stages of the buying cycle, and which channels are having the biggest impact on revenue. Specifically, the areas marketers cited as driving their increased focus on deeper metrics include:
Introduction
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Need to track specific investments by channel (30%)
Improving marketing and sales alignment (31%)
Interest in tracking velocity progression between funnel stages (32%)
Push to show ROI from all marketing investments (61%)
Desire to show impact on pipeline and revenue (67%)
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How would you rate your company’s current ability to measure and analyze marketing performance and impact?
However, while these more specific drill downs are top goals, they also remain tall challenges for a lot of businesses to measure and get accurate attribution. Specifically, the biggest challenges revolve around measuring impact across channels and campaigns (50% of respondents) and measuring and tracking activity between specific buyer stages (43%). The research also shows that 42% of marketing professionals believe their ability to measure performance needs improvement, while 15% said it is poor/inadequate. These results indicate little change when compared to 2018, where 40% of respondents noted their measurement skills need improvement and 14% said they are poor or inadequate. This report will share specific findings of the research paired with an in-depth analysis of what areas marketers are currently tracking, as well as their efforts to alleviate challenges, goals for improvement and measurement abilities around account-based marketing. Topics covered will include:
Marketers’ future plans around marketing measurement and attribution strategies
Top challenges in measurement and attribution, including lack of resources and messy data
Current key metrics of focus, such as paid search and events
Top priorities for ABM programs, including individual channel and campaign metrics
Marketers’ push to gain more granular metrics around buyer stages
What are your biggest challenges to measuring and demonstrating marketing performance and impact?
of respondents said their biggest challenge to measuring marketing performance is the inability to measure impact across channels/campaigns.
50%
A greater need for marketing and sales alignment is driving mature marketers to get more granular with their measurement and attribution efforts. Thirty-one percent of respondents to the Marketing Measurement & Attribution Benchmark Survey noted that improving sales and marketing alignment is increasing their focus on or need for deeper metrics — a slight dip compared to last year’s 38%. The research revealed that marketers are getting more aligned with sales and focusing on conversions by stage. Historically, it’s always been about MQLs, but respondents pointed to some attraction around pipeline opportunity and SQLs. In terms of campaign measurement, respondents noted they are focusing most on:
Sales & Marketing Alignment Drives Deeper Measurement Around Buyer Stages
Pipeline opportunity (46%)
Sales-qualified leads (46%)
Deals closed/won (51%)
Marketing-qualified leads (56%)
In terms of campaign measurement, what are the metrics you focus on most?
Additionally, open-ended responses included “marketing influence,” “marketing-created opportunity” and “contact engagement” as top areas of focus. At the middle of the funnel, respondents noted they are focused on lead conversion from MQL to SQL to opportunities and close/won (45%), as well as multitouch attribution for multiple channels (31%). For campaigns at the bottom of the funnel, they are focused on measurement opportunities converted to close/won (45%). When asked what metrics sales uses to measure marketing impact, respondents highlighted:
Pipeline opportunity/pipeline influenced (37%)
Marketing-qualified leads (38%)
Sales-qualified leads (43%)
Sales-accepted leads (35%)
How are you measuring marketing campaigns at the middle of the funnel that are designed to accelerate leads?
In terms of campaign measurement,
56%
of respondents focus most on MQLs.
The rise of ABM has led marketers to conduct separate measurement and attribution strategies on top of traditional inbound funnel metrics. Currently, 89% of respondents said they are measuring both. In addition, 34% are doing separate measurement and attribution for ABM programs, while 40% stated they plan to within the next 12 months. Primary ABM metrics include:
Individual Campaign & Engagement Metrics Top Priorities In ABM Programs
Overall number of engaged accounts (33%)
Marketing-qualified accounts (36%)
Influenced pipeline (54%)
Individual campaign and channel metrics (41%)
Conversion of engaged account to opportunity (40%)
What are your current challenges for effectively measuring your account-based marketing efforts?
However, challenges around measuring account engagement remain: Open-ended answers also revealed some challenges around managing data and aligning marketing/sales efforts across stages and groups when it comes to ABM programs, including:
55% of respondents said they’re struggling to tie anonymous account engagement to known stakeholders
38% are struggling to map leads to their corresponding accounts
17% are challenged with tying ABM initiatives to closed/won business and revenue.
“Setting up isolated account-specific control groups.”
“Connecting end-user marketing efforts with sales to channel partners.”
“Integrating data across platforms.”
“Struggling to determine how middle-of-funnel initiatives relate to revenue.”
What are your primary metrics for measuring account-based marketing?
of respondents measure both ABM and traditional inbound funnel metrics.
89%
Aside from tracking specific activity between buyer stages, channels and campaigns, marketers are also still struggling with data quality when demonstrating marketing performance and impact. Specifically:
Challenges With Data, Lack Of Resources Still Bumps In The Measurement Road
When asked how they are currently reporting marketing results, more than half (59%) use reports from web analytics, 58% use reports generated from marketing automation systems, and 54% use reports from CRMs. Key areas respondents are currently tracking include:
Form completions/contact (52%)
Events (53%)
Paid search (55%)
Email click-throughs and opens (74%)
Web traffic (76%)
37% said they don’t have enough resources — compared to 41% last year
37% noted messy data — compared to 34% last year
33% pointed to lack of reporting — a significant increase to last year’s 26%
How are you currently reporting on your marketing results within your organization?
of respondents are currently using web analytics to report on marketing results within their organizations.
59%
What are some of the drivers increasing your focus on or need for deeper metrics?
Marketing measurement and attribution continues to be both a priority and a challenge for most B2B marketers today. However, teams are making a big push to better align sales and marketing efforts and gain deeper metrics around buyer stages. This indicates a mature effort to track conversions across specific stages and weave these insights into ABM programs. Some of the drivers behind that push for deeper measurement include:
Conclusion
Interest in tracking velocity/ progression between funnel stages (32%)
Respondents also noted a greater need to start measuring ROI by channel, as well as cross-channel engagement in the future. When asked which metrics they would like to use in the next 12-18 months, respondents said:
Deeper ABM metrics (42%)
Cost of customer acquisition (45%)
Cross-channel engagement (50%)
ROI by channel (56%)
Open-ended answers also pointed to multitouch attribution, content influence on pipeline, acceleration reporting, marketing influence on current clients and velocity as metrics B2B organizations are looking to get better insights on in the future.
Which of the following metrics would you like to use in the next 12-18 months?
of respondents will look to measure ROI by channel in the next 12-18 months.
9% making between $500 million and $1 billion
The 2019 Marketing Measurement and Attribution Benchmark Survey analyzed responses from 255 B2B marketing executives, with most of the companies (82%) being based in the United States. The respondent base also consisted of a mix of industries (with a majority in the software/technology space) varying in size and annual revenue, with:
About The Survey
27% making between $50-$500 million
25% making between $10-$50 million
24% making less than $10 million
15% making more than $1 billion
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LeanData is the leader in Lead-to-Account Matching, Routing, and Marketing Attribution solutions. We stand at the center of your CRM, connecting data to the right people. By aligning marketing and sales with accurate matching, routing, and accurate attribution, sales reps only get the leads, contacts, accounts, and opportunities they need to work on, so they can close more deals and drive more revenue, faster. LeanData is helping over 360 customers, including Marketo, Adobe, and Glassdoor, reduce complexity and frustration while accelerating revenue. Vidyard is the new generation video platform for business. Going beyond video hosting and management, Vidyard helps businesses drive greater engagement in their video content, track the viewing activities of each individual viewer, and turn those views into action. Global leaders such as Honeywell, McKesson, Lenovo, LinkedIn, Cision, TD Ameritrade, Citibank, MongoDB and Sharp rely on Vidyard to power their video content strategies and turn viewers into customers.
Demand Gen Report is a targeted online publication that uncovers the strategies and solutions that help companies better align their sales and marketing organizations, and ultimately, drive growth. A key component of the publication’s editorial coverage focuses on the sales and marketing automation tools that enable companies to better measure and manage their multi-channel demand generation efforts.
2018 Marketing Measurement & Attribution Benchmark Survey Report
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Klaudia Tirico is a writer, content creator, Jersey dweller, animal lover and fashion & beauty aficionado with an interest in all things related to content, social media and influencer marketing.
