Us B2B types are an ambitious bunch, and now next years’ strategies are almost in the bag, it’s time to turn that spotlight on what you want for 2015 – be it a bigger project, bigger budget or even that sought-after promotion.
76% of B2B marketing professionals agree that their “ability to track marketing ROI gives marketing more respect”. To secure that all-important step-up you need to prove the impact of each marketing investment, be able to forecast results, and put together a solid business case for 2015.
It’s time to bring out the hard metrics that will knock the socks off your senior management team. Prove your value by proving success and use these four metrics to show you’re ready to take 2015 to the next level.
Mega Metric 1: Increase conversion rates by X%
The fact that your marketing activity is successfully driving enquiries is great (well done!), but the truth is, if those enquiries don’t convert you won’t be seeing the revenue and results of all that hard work.
In today’s digital world, marketing is responsible for up to 70% of the entire buying process so if you have a leaky sales pipeline, it’s your responsibility to know where conversion rates have dropped, understand why and do something about it.
By measuring conversion of your marketing activity throughout every stage of the sales funnel, you’ll gain complete visibility on where your marketing channels are really performing in terms of revenue – and you’ll create opportunities to increase performance even more.
Mega Metric 2: Reduce Customer Acquisition Costs from £X to £X
This metric is essential to define exactly how much it costs to create a new customer. Calculate CAC by combining your total costs across both Sales & Marketing and dividing that by number of new customers acquired over a certain period.
It shows you’re thinking out of a marketing silo and taking into account the effect of your marketing activity on wider business costs. When you find channels driving low CAC, shout about it!
Mega metric 3: Improve Customer Lifetime Value by X%
Don’t forget about keeping an eye on your CRM KPI’s either –calculating CLV allows you to define the predicted financial value of each customer’s purchase across the lifetime of their relationship with you.
If you can prove low customer acquisition costs, congratulations! But before you get too comfortable, if those new clients are churning like never before you could be having a detrimental effect on overall business performance.
Work with your retention team to understand which channels are generating clients with the highest CLV and discover opportunities to increase low performers.
Mega Metric 4: Increase ROI
47% of B2B Marketers said their biggest challenge this year was a “lack of budget & resource” and “demonstrating importance”. And guess what – they both tie to proving your ROI.
But when only 15% of marketers currently rank proving ROI as their No. 1 priority – it’s a crucial metric if you want to demonstrate your impact on the wider business and prove success. If you can successfully improve conversion rates and fix a leaky funnel (Mega Metric 1) ROI will naturally increase.
Make measuring metrics a little easier – Download the Ultimate ROI Forecaster to forecast performance, prove your impact and move up the marketing career ladder.
45% of marketers agree that data is the most underutilized asset in the marketing organization. By using these top 4 metrics in your marketing analysis you’ll prove your marketing activity’s impact, get smart with forecasting and secure that 2015 success that you deserve.
Want to become the Ultimate B2B Marketer? Download the latest guide from the Ultimate series and follow @LeadForensics on twitter.
This blog was originally posted on the Lead Forensics website. Read the original article here.
