Marketers could once rely on third-party cookies to track account activity and target potential customers. But the B2B marketing landscape has changed and, as a result, so has the way marketers measure performance.
Cookies are being phased out by most web browsers and will be virtually nonexistent by the end of 2023. In a cookie-less world, businesses need to use data-driven approaches to understand their audiences and measure the success of marketing campaigns.
Here’s what you need to know about making the most of your B2B marketing analytics.
What Are B2B Marketing Analytics?
B2B marketing analytics are the metrics that B2B organizations use to understand the impact of marketing campaigns and identify trends and patterns. By collecting, assessing, and interpreting data related to marketing activities, you can make more informed decisions.
Important Metrics for B2B Marketing Analytics
Businesses should track several key metrics to understand the effectiveness of their marketing efforts, including:
- Traffic: The number of visitors to a website or other online content.
- Leads: The number of potential customers who have shown interest in a business’ products or services.
- Conversion rate: The percentage of visitors or leads that complete a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a form.
- Customer lifetime value (CLV): The total amount of money that a customer is expected to spend on a business’ products or services over the entire length of the relationship.
- Customer acquisition cost (CAC): The total cost of acquiring a new customer, including both marketing and sales efforts.
- Return on investment (ROI): The profitability of a business’ marketing efforts by calculating the ratio of the revenue generated to the cost of the marketing campaign.
- Cost per lead (CPL): The cost of acquiring a new lead.
- Customer retention rate: The percentage of customers who continue to do business with a company over a specific period.
- Net Promoter Score (NPS): A quantitative measurement of a business’ customer experience.
To read an even more comprehensive list of the best marketing metrics for 2023, check out our latest blog post about next level marketing metrics made possible by intent data.
How to Develop a B2B Marketing Analytics Dashboard
A B2B marketing analytics dashboard is a visual representation of key marketing metrics that allows businesses to track and analyze the effectiveness of their marketing efforts in real time.
Here’s a quick guide for building a B2B marketing analytics dashboard:
- Define the key metrics to track: Determine which metrics will indicate success based on your goals.
- Create the dashboard: Most tools offer dashboard templates or options for customization, allowing you to pull in the most important metrics and make them front and center.
- Test and refine: Continually ensure that the dashboard is functioning properly and providing the right insights, and make changes as you see fit.
The Best Software for B2B Marketing Analytics in 2023
The most popular analytics program is Google Analytics, a free tool that tracks website traffic and user behavior. But Google Analytics only shows you a slice of the important data for your business.
Business Intelligence tools can bring together multiple data sources to provide a more comprehensive view of your marketing efforts. Great examples include Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio), Power BI, Tableau, and 6sense’s powerful predictive analytics platform.
