One of the questions we get most often is around benchmarks. “How do these conversion rates compare to industry standards?” “Are these good open rates?” “What goals should we be setting for these engagement rates?”

These questions can be hard to answer, because there are so many factors involved in what constitutes a “good” rate, and so many reasons why the benchmark may need to be adjusted. Plus, a lot of the data out there isn’t specific to B2B or lead generation. But like with any problem, we knew that we could find a tangible answer if we looked at the data.

We manage dozens of portals across various industries, so we knew that the answer would be possible to pin down. For that reason, we’ve created this list of b2b benchmarks for email open and click rates and landing page conversion rates, as well as the top factors for improving your performance in these areas.

B2B marketing benchmarks

B2B marketing email open rate

Average: 15.1%

Top performance factors:

• Subject line – a strong, engaging subject line will get more opens
• Audience quality – are you purchasing data and marketing to them cold? Click here to learn how to warm them up first.

B2B marketing email click rate

Average: 3.2%

Top performance factors:

• Email design – an easy-to-navigate template that directs the eye to the CTA will help compel recipients to take the desired action
• Copy – a tone and message appropriate to your audience will always be more effective, but be sure to keep it simple and engaging as well
• Call to action (CTA) – the CTA should be clear and should stand out on the page 

B2B landing page conversion rate

Average: 2.23%

Top performance factors:

• Page design – an easy-to-navigate template that directs the eye to the CTA will help compel visitors to take the desired action
• Page layout – the headline, body text and form should always be above the fold, and everything else should be secondary to these essential elements
• Copy – too much copy on a landing page can feel overwhelming, so for lead generation, limit to one or two short paragraphs with some bullet points
• Call to action (CTA) – the CTA in the copy should always be to fill out the form, and the form should be prominent on the page; there should not be multiple calls to action on most lead gen landing pages (save these for the thank-you page)

Note that the conversion rate benchmark for landing pages is based on lead gen landing pages, so an asset download or webinar signup or other value exchange. This is not reflective of benchmarks for sales pages, where a conversion requires an exchange of currency.

B2B paid media metrics

Google Ads

Average CTR: 2.41%

Average CPC: £2.58

Average CPA: £89.85

Google Display

Average CTR: 0.46%

Average CPC: £0.61

Average CPA: £100.86

Facebook

Average CTR: 0.78%

Average CPC: £1.95

Average CPA: £18.39

LinkedIn

Average CTR: 0.18%

Average CPC: £3.09

Average CPA: £58.03

Top performance factors:

• Audience – make sure your audience size is large enough for good reach (and so you don’t exhaust it), but also make sure it’s relevant not just to your business but to the content you’re promoting
• Goal – on social media, it’s important to choose the right goal and ad format for the content and purpose of your ad
• Creative – using dynamic ad formats like video is helpful on social media, but in general, well designed ad creative is a must
• Optimisation – paid media shouldn’t be set-it-and-forget-it; optimise as you go to improve your performance

If you want more insight into how your rates stack up and why you’re not hitting these benchmarks – or how to capitalise on success when you’re smashing it out of the park – then click here to get in touch with one of our Inbound Growth Specialists.