Metrics planning, tracking, and analysis are now more important than ever for digital marketing leaders to transform their businesses. It is important to identify the right customer and track the correct information. The plan should also be flexible enough to allow for changes if necessary.

It is more than simply capturing the basic analytics of yesterday to keep up with today’s competitors. The path to impact insights today is driven by deep reflection not only on industry, market, and competition but also prospective customers and their perspectives and behavior.

Understanding this is the foundation for deeper understanding. 

Comparison of B2C and B2B: Key Factors

It is important to remember the differences between B2B (business-to-business) and B2C when determining the best metrics for your company. Because the transaction is different, the marketing funnel is unique. The B2B buying cycle is shorter and more complicated than the B2B purchase cycle. Final analysis: The motivators and drivers are completely different.

B2C transactions are usually very brief and often driven by emotion and impulse. They also tend to be executed at a lower scale and for a lower price. B2B transactions are longer and more complex, and have a greater impact and involve more money.

These transaction types have core differences that make it difficult to track prospects throughout the interaction. B2C tracking may heavily weigh the number of users and overall site traffic when measuring effectiveness of marketing campaigns. Key insights can be obtained by tracking metrics like shopping cart abandonment or average sales but these metrics are less useful for B2B metrics evaluation.

A Leading Agency provides benchmarks and core B2B digital marketing metrics

Kobe Digital is a new york-based digital marketing agency that has more than 20 years of experience in B2B Marketing. uses a core set of metrics for clients. It also identified key performance indicators to drive lead generation. Kobe Digital recommends detailed and careful analysis for all B2B KPI. To ensure that follow-up actions are correct, these numbers must be considered in the contexts of the digital marketing in Las Vegas landscape and the competitive landscape.

Kobe Digital recommends the following B2B metrics.

Pages per Session

While a low number of pages per session in B2C may not cause concern, it is important that you pay special attention to this metric in B2B.

Low pages per session or hovering around the low end may indicate disruption or lackluster path forward. This could signal that the design isn’t clear or overwhelming, or that it isn’t encouraging users to take the next step.

High page count, especially when combined with a long visit duration, is a sign of success in B2B web marketing. Customers are learning and moving in a meaningful, clear way. Sometimes, high sessions may indicate user interaction issues or problems with user experience — users are trying to find the right thing but it is usually a sign of clear communication and good usability.

Kobe Digital found that clients with over 20,000 users view an average of 2.25 pages per session, while the median is 2.05. The category’s top performers range from 2.8 to4.7 in terms of performance, with strong performers being those with more than 2.5 pages per session.

Bounce Rate

Bounce rate is important for both B2C businesses and B2B, but in the latter case it is evaluated in relation to sales volume and interpreted differently. A high bounce rate in B2B is a sign of concern due to the long transaction cycle and high cost of lead generation.

High bounce rates often indicate a disconnect between what users expected and what they found on the site. Common reasons include marketing problems upstream and content problems that can lead prospects off-track. A high bounce rate doesn’t necessarily mean that users are frustrated or having difficulty. It can indicate that prospects received exactly what they wanted and were satisfied. Even in this positive light, high bounce rates can indicate that the user missed an opportunity to keep their attention and move forward in the purchase relationship.

A low bounce rate, on the other hand, indicates that the user was properly engaged. This is an indicator that page content and design support the user at the right point in their purchase cycle.

Kobe Digital reports that clients who have more than 20,000 users experience an average bounce rate (60.55%), with a median of 60.85%. The metric leaders range between 30 percent and 45 percent. A bounce rate of 55 percent or less is considered promising in B2B.

Average Session Time

B2C businesses tend to be driven by quick, low-cost transactions. B2B businesses rely more heavily on long engagements that help customers with complex purchases and make better decisions. The average session length is an important data point for assessing the performance of a B2B site.

Session duration laggards on B2B websites could have important content disconnects with users, design challenges or technical website performance issues, among other things. Session duration leaders, on the other hand, are often able to see these results by guiding customers through an optimized purchasing process that not only captures but also sustains their attention.

Kobe Digital reports on larger clients in B2B that session durations average just over 2 minutes with a median of 1 minute and 44 seconds. Session durations can reach 6 minutes for top performers, but these sessions are often driven by context. Session durations of more than 2 minutes are a sign of good performance in B2B websites.

Sessions per User

B2C transactions are more impulsive and fast-paced than B2B, which means that there is a lower number of sessions per user. However, B2B websites require more sessions to allow prospects to reach the bottom of their marketing funnel and initiate a sale. Sessions per user B2B KPI is a good indicator of whether the Miami digital marketing strategy has been successful or if there are any problems.

Sessions that are slow for a user could be due to interface or design issues, content relevance issues, suboptimal product market fit, technical issues on the site, or other factors. The space’s leaders are often seeing positive B2B results. Prospects find, learn, decide, and purchase according to the plan.

Kobe Digital’s largest B2B clients see an average of 1.45 sessions per user, with a median of 1.42. Sessions per user range from 1.5 to 1.7, with some exceptions, even higher.

Other KPIs for B2B to Consider

Kobe Digital suggests that you monitor a few secondary metrics in addition to the core B2B KPIs. This is done with an eye towards maximizing lead conversion.

Conversion paths

WebEnerta spends time reviewing conversion paths when conducting a website performance review for B2B clients. WebEnerta will often evaluate and optimize user personas and expected travels if conversion paths are not consistent with expectations.

If the conversion paths are not consistent with what is expected, it may be necessary to conduct deeper research in order to determine the cause and assess whether there has been a change in the core market. These developments often indicate that assumptions are not being aligned with actual results, and should be re-evaluated.

Conversion rates

It is crucial to get that first customer engagement in the complex, long-term sales cycle that exists in B2B. Conversion rates are a notable B2B KPI. They reflect the first step, the beginning of a sales relationship.

Low conversion rates, such as trailing or lagging, can often be a sign of ineffective marketing or promotion of the asset or form. It could also indicate that there is a problem in the market for the product or service being offered. Low conversion rates could also be due to technical or layout issues with the form.

High conversion rates are usually indicative of a product or service’s strength, supported by a high quality user experience, design and content.