Do you know which the biggest challenge is for advertisers and marketers in 2021?
A recent survey conducted by Beth McCarrick, a senior marketing manager at Attest, stated some answers to this question. In the survey, around 42.7% of marketing professionals said that they are under immense pressure to make the informed decisions quicker than ever before.
Making the right decisions quickly is always a challenging task. The decision-making process has various stages, and it starts from diagnosis the problem, collecting data and relevant information, thinking about alternatives, weighing them, making a choice, and drafting an action plan. And all these tasks come with a lot of pressure.
When starting a new project, approaching a new promotional channel, or planning to start a new campaign, you need to know some B2B benchmarks as per your niche.
Furthermore, customers’ preferences and needs can change suddenly and quickly, but knowing the average B2B lead conversion rates can make things quick, and your decision process will be on the fast track.
Now let’s talk about how you can make these metrics work for you? And how average B2B lead conversion rates can affect your campaign. Keep reading to found out.
What actually is the lead conversion rate?
The lead conversion rate can be defined as the percentage of website visitors who convert into business leads, prospects, or sales.
Lead conversion rate can also be defined as:
- The visitor-to-lead ratio
- The conversion rate of page
- Lead-to-customer conversion rate
- Sales conversion rate
This metric remains at the top position of a sales funnel, and it is an essential performance indicator. It shows from which channels the leads are coming from. Whether you are getting leads from search engine optimization (SEO), social media networks, or marketing campaigns and what’s their quality.
If your conversion rate is dropping down or not up to the mark, it means there is something wrong with your marketing strategy, offers, targeting campaigns, or website performance. Now, let’s show you the formula of the average B2B lead conversion rate.
The formula of B2B lead conversion rate:
To find the conversation rate, divide the total conversions by the business leads and multiply it by 100.
Formula of lead conversion rate = Conversions / leads * 100%
For example, if you want visitor’s conversion for your downloadable eBook, just add in the numbers:
2,000 eBook downloads / 12,000 web page visitors * 100%
Lead conversion rate is 16.60%
Another example of lead conversion rate:
Suppose you want to calculate the sales from your website’s landing page. The total number of visitors was 6,500 visitors, and 156 of whom were converted into paying clients. In this case:
156 sales / 6,500 visitors * 100%
Lead conversion rate is 2.40%
If 156 customers are bringing your desired revenue, your average B2B lead conversion rate will be 2.4%, which you should achieve consistently for the landing page’s success.
However, don’t get mislead by the word conversion.
In most publications, you will see the words “lead,” “qualified prospects,” and “sales” when discussing a conversion. That’s because the metric calculates all three in the sales funnel stages, and “conversion” can indicate various things as per your business goals. The visitor can convert when they need to and when they want through various mediums such as:
- Make a phone call
- Engage with your website
- Sharing your content
- Download content
- Create an account
- And more.
Now, this variability can cause miscommunication between your marketing and sales teams. Thus you should clearly define what conversion states for your marketing team and what issues it addresses.
For example, you provide subscription-based services and rely on leads and clients that sign up for a trial to become your paying customers. Hence, the indicator of conversion, in this case, is how many leads or clients sign up for a trial.
But determining how many users are converted into paying subscribers is also an essential metric that you cannot overlook.
Every conversion rate demonstrates various insights for your sales and promotional teams and encourages different action plans when it’s low:
Business leads to a trial user: Sales personnel need to contact business leads as soon as possible and in the initial stage as they are more likely to sign up for your service’s free trial.
Free-trial user to paying client: Before the trial period ends, you should try to extend the trial period to close the deal and win them back.
Without defining your service’s rules and terms, you will find yourself on a hamster wheel. In this case, your sales team will waste their time on metrics that address the incorrect question. Hence they will follow the wrong closing tactics.
Now let’s look at the numbers. The below-mentioned tables show B2B benchmarks by industry, web page, advertising channel, and electronics. Have a look:
| 2B Industry | Rate |
| Education or healthcare | 8% |
| Business services | 3.5% |
| Software / SaaS | 7% |
| Financial services | 10% |
| Travel or hospitality | 4% |
| Ecommerce | 1.8% |
| Media or publishing | 10% |
| Technology equipment or hardware | 5% |
| Websites | Rate |
| General page | 2.4% |
| Landing page | 4% |
| Advertiser | Rate |
| 8.2% | |
| Bing | 7.6% |
| 4.7% | |
| 3.1% | |
| 2.9% | |
| 0.9% | |
| Youtube | 0.5% |
| Electronic device | Rate |
| Desktop | 3.9% |
| Mobile phone | 2% |
| Tablet | 3.8% |
Should you aim for these numbers?
In school or college, every student wants an ‘A+’ grade no one aims for a ‘C’ grade. The same rule applies to businesses. These B2B benchmarks look amazing on papers, especially for new projects and businesses and when you’re unaware of the numbers.
Remember that there’s no universal average B2B lead conversion rate that you can use for every business. A rate that is suitable for one business might be unsuitable for another.
In the real business world, the rates differ by industry, marketing channel, and even salespeople. You should always compliment your internal team’s insights with external sources before making any decisions.
