Management does not need the largest possible number of marketing key figures. It requires a few KPIs that show how marketing contributes to sales, new customer acquisition and corporate goals. For many medium-sized B2B companies, five to eight key indicators are sufficient.
Particularly relevant are qualified leads, resulting sales opportunities, pipeline value, acquired customers, customer acquisition costs and the economic contribution of marketing. Key figures such as impressions, clicks, rankings or newsletter openings remain important – but they are mainly used for operational control.
Which KPIs are actually needed depends on the business model. An online shop can often assign sales directly to an order. In the case of B2B services in need of explanation, marketing data must be linked to the CRM and the subsequent sales transactions.
The Most Important Marketing KPIs for Management
A management dashboard should reflect the essential stages from marketing contact to economic outcome.
| KPI | What is measured? | Why is the indicator important? |
|---|---|---|
| Qualified leads | Contacts meeting established professional and economic criteria | Shows whether marketing wins relevant interested parties instead of any contacts |
| Opportunities to sell | Sales confirmed concrete business opportunities | Connects marketing activities with the sales process |
| Marketing-influenced pipeline | Value of sales opportunities where marketing had a traceable point of contact | Makes the possible future revenue contribution visible |
| New customers and turnover | Financial statements and proceeds from marketing contacts | Shows the actual business result |
| Customer acquisition costs | Sales and marketing costs in relation to newly acquired customers | Helps to assess the economics of new customer acquisition |
| ROAS or marketing ROI | Relationship between budget used and value achieved | Supports budget decisions and the comparison of measures |
| Conversion rate | Percentage of contacts reaching the next relevant level | Shows weaknesses between website, lead and order |
| Customer value | Expected turnover or contribution margin of a customer during the business relationship | Puts acquisition costs in an economic context |
Not every company needs all key figures. For long B2B sales cycles, qualified leads and pipeline value are important early indicators. Sales and contribution margin may not follow until months later. Companies with recurring revenues should also consider customer value, termination rate and amortization period of acquisition costs.
A clear definition is also important: A contact that only downloads a whitepaper is not yet automatically a qualified lead. Marketing and sales should jointly determine which criteria must be met – such as company size, industry, specific needs, responsibility and realistic timeframes.
Which key figures should not be the focus?
Impressions, website visitors, click prices, rankings, dwell time and social media reactions are not worthless. However, they mostly answer operational questions:
- Is the desired target group reached?
- Are ads and search results clicked?
- What content attracts attention?
- Where do users stop?
- Which channel needs optimization?
Management should only see these values if they explain a relevant development. For example, if the number of qualified leads falls, declining organic clicks can be a possible cause.
The Google Search Console shows, among other things, impressions, clicks, click rate and average position. These values help to analyze search engine performance, but do not yet represent business success. Google describes the key figures in the official Search Console performance report.
The same goes for website visitors. More traffic only makes economic sense if there are enough people from the relevant target group and they carry out a desired action. If a website attracts visitors but not customers, therefore, offer, target group fit and conversion process should be examined. Further causes show the guide “Website has visitors but no customers – what is it about?”.
A meaningful separation is therefore:
- Management: Result, pipeline, customers, costs and efficiency
- Marketing management: Channels, campaigns, conversion rates and budget distribution
- Operational teams: Clicks, impressions, rankings, ads, content and technical details
This is how the central KPIs are calculated sensibly
Customer acquisition costs
Customer acquisition costs, often referred to as CAC, can be calculated in a simplified way:
Sales and marketing costs ÷ Number of new customers won
If only advertising costs are taken into account, these are not full customer acquisition costs. Depending on the question, personnel, agencies, software, content production and distribution costs should also be considered.
Conversion rate
A conversion rate describes the proportion that moves from one stage to the next:
Next level achieved ÷ Number of initial cases × 100
Instead of just looking at the conversion from website visitors to request, a B2B company should measure several levels:
Visitors → Request → Qualified Lead → Sales Opportunity → Order
This makes it clear whether the problem is with the reach, the website, the lead quality or the sales processing. The adviser “Why doesn’t our website make requests?” explains typical causes at website level.
ROAS and marketing ROI
Return on Ad Spend usually refers to advertising expenses:
Allotted turnover ÷ advertising costs
Google also refers to the ROAS as the ratio of conversion value to cost. The company should use as real or at least comprehensibly estimated conversion values as possible. Information about this contains the official documentation on Conversion values in Google Ads.
However, a positive ROAS does not automatically mean that a campaign is profitable. Turnover is not equal to profit. For an economic assessment, contribution margins, additional costs and, where appropriate, returns should therefore be taken into account.
A simplified marketing ROI can be calculated as follows:
(contribution margin generated by marketing − marketing costs) ÷ marketing costs × 100
Pipeline value
The pipeline value is the sum of the potential contract values of all relevant sales opportunities. A weighted pipeline additionally takes into account the probability of completion:
Potential value × realistic probability of completion
This indicator is helpful, but must not be presented as an already achieved turnover. Probabilities should be determined on the basis of actual historical completion rates and regularly reviewed.
Attribution and data quality
An order is often not created by a single contact. A customer can first read a guide, later see an advertisement, receive a newsletter and only then contact directly.
Google Analytics uses attribution models to assign key contact points a share of a conversion. The Google documentation for attribution makes it clear that different models can evaluate the contribution of the channels differently. Therefore, attributed conversion is a model-dependent evaluation and not an unambiguous causality measurement.
For robust KPIs, at least four data sources should be merged:
- Web analysis for behavior on the website
- Advertising platforms for costs and campaigns
- CRM for leads, sales opportunities and orders
- Financial data for turnover, contribution margin and actual costs
Search Console and web analysis fulfill different tasks. Google refers to Search Console as the authoritative source of performance in Google Search and Google Analytics as the source of behavior within the website. Deviations between the two systems are basically possible, as Google does in the documentation for Share Search Console and Google Analytics explained.
This is what a suitable management dashboard looks like
A management dashboard should fit on one page and show four pieces of information for each KPI:
- Current value
- Target value
- Comparison with the previous period
- short explanation of relevant deviations
A possible monthly overview includes:
| Area | Characteristics |
|---|---|
| Result | Marketing revenue, contribution margin, new customers gained |
| Pipeline | Qualified leads, sales opportunities, weighted pipeline value |
| Efficiency | Acquisition costs, marketing ROI or ROAS |
| Conversion | Lead-to-chance rate, chance-to-order rate |
| Development | Comparison to the previous month, period of the previous year and target value |
For seasonal business models, a comparison with the prior-year period is usually more meaningful than the comparison of the previous month alone. For long distribution cycles, additional rolling three-, six- or twelve-month values should be considered.
Reporting should also distinguish between early and late indicators. Leads and pipeline show a possible future development. Revenue and contribution margin show already realized results. Only a combination of both perspectives enables timely decisions.
The key figures should be derived from the company objectives. Only then are channels and operational measured values defined. How this connection can be established, explains the information page “How does a medium-sized company develop an online marketing strategy?”.
Conclusion: Few key figures with a comprehensible business reference
Management does not need a complete picture of all marketing activities. It needs a compact overview of whether marketing generates relevant demand, whether sales opportunities and customers arise from it and whether the funds used are economically viable.
For many medium-sized companies, qualified leads, pipeline value, new customers, revenue contribution, customer acquisition costs and conversion rates form a suitable basis. What matters is uniform definitions, a connection to CRM and a clear separation between operational platform values and actual business results.
Frequent questions about marketing KPIs for management
How many marketing KPIs should management follow?
In many companies, five to eight key figures range. Additional detail values should only be displayed if they explain a relevant deviation.
Is website traffic an important management KPI?
Traffic alone is usually not a suitable management KPI. It becomes relevant when linked to target audience, qualified inquiries, sales opportunities and sales revenue.
What is the most important marketing KPI in the B2B sector?
There is no generally most important KPI. With long distribution cycles, qualified sales opportunities and pipeline value are especially helpful. In the long term, acquired customers, contribution margin and acquisition costs remain decisive.
What is the difference between ROAS and marketing ROI?
The ROAS usually compares the assigned turnover with the advertising costs. A marketing ROI ideally takes into account the economic contribution and other marketing costs. Therefore, it is better suited for a comprehensive company valuation, but is more complex to calculate.
How often should marketing KPIs be reported?
A monthly management reporting is sufficient for many medium-sized companies. Operational teams should control important campaign values more often. Strategic trends can often be better assessed over several months.
Why do marketing and sales figures often disagree?
Typical causes are different lead definitions, missing CRM links, different attribution models, inconsistent time periods and unmaintained sales data. Definitions and data sources should therefore be agreed before an evaluation.