Tracking Campaign Success with Demand Generation Metrics: A 3-Step Guide

Three steps to set goals and define metrics for your demand generation program

To assess and improve the performance of demand generation initiatives, B2B marketers must develop a programmatic approach to choose demand generation metrics. Start with defining business goals you want to achieve through demand generation before moving to key metrics to track, and finally, benchmark your results with performance indicators.

2. Build four levels of metrics as indicators of success or failure

Generate insights at multiple levels to measure the success of your campaigns accurately. These range from strategic metrics to establish return on investment (ROI) to operational and tactical metrics to fine-tune your campaign.

Strategic metrics that directly relate to business objectives capture the attention of C-level executives and VPs. The success of e-book downloads or A/B test results, for example, may not be as impactful for them as the tangible impact of marketing spend on revenue and market share. In addition, measure impressions, calls to action (CTAs) form fills, and other tactical insights to determine your campaign’s strengths and weaknesses and make necessary adjustments.

The overall goals for a business can be drilled down to strategic objectives (Tier 2), operational metrics (Tier 3) and tactical metrics (Tier 4). Look at the image below to understand the respective KPIs.

Below are examples of demand generation metrics and their definitions.

3. Benchmark your performance to interpret results

Now that you know what metrics to track, what do they indicate? Are the results looking good, bad or somewhere in between? Compare your performance with historical data or internal targets, and in the absence of that, use industry benchmarks as your frame of reference.

Refer to Gartner’s performance benchmarks^[1] on demand generation effectiveness, such as conversion rates across the stages of the sales and marketing funnel. According to the report, the average pass-through rate, from inquiry to close rate, is consistent, with 42% of leads passing from one stage to the next.

^{MAL = marketing-accepted lead, MQL = marketing-qualified lead, SAL = sales-accepted lead, SQL = sales-qualified lead}

For more resources like these or to connect with the most promising in-market buyers as early as possible and position your campaigns for success, check out Gartner Digital Markets.

Amita Jain

Amita Jain covers B2B content creation and strategy to help businesses reach their marketing goals. She received her master’s degree from King’s College London, U.K. Exploring the world of art and reading fiction are some of her usual happy distractions outside of work. Connect with Amita on LinkedIn.

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Source:

1.       Tech Marketing Benchmarks Survey 2022: Demand Generation Insights