B2B conversion rates benchmark: Belkins’ numbers and industry data

Knowing the conversion rates of specific channels and benchmarking them against industry data helps you with 3 things:

1. Optimizing your marketing spend
2. Setting realistic conversion goals
3. Improving the performance of your marketing channels

In this post, we will share the 2023 conversion rates for our sales and marketing channels at Belkins. We will also share reliable conversion rate data from third-party sources. Read on to make informed decisions and improve your conversion rates.

What percentage of leads turn into sales?

Before now, only 10% to 15% of sales leads reached the bottom of the sales funnel and converted into deals. Plus, only 5% of sales reps said marketing qualified leads are‌ of high quality. This is different today because WebFX puts the average conversion rate in B2B at 2.23%.

This rate varies widely depending on your industry, marketing channel, target audience, and other factors. Conversely, marketing qualified leads (MQLs) quality has increased significantly. According to HubSpot’s 2024 Sales Trends Report, 59% of salespeople say leads received from their marketing teams are of high quality. The report also revealed the average‌ sales close rate is 29%.

Marketing and sales conversion rates we track

SEO and Clutch are 2 of our primary inbound lead generation channels. Below, we share the lead-to-appointment and appointment-to-deal rates for leads we generate on both channels.

SEO + content conversion rate

In 2023, we generated an average of 70.45 monthly leads using SEO content marketing.

Our average lead-to-appointment/demo rate for this lead source was 47.11% and the appointment/demo-to-close rate was 6.44%.

A high lead-to-appointment rate doesn’t always imply a high close rate. For instance, we couldn’t close any deal in May. Yet, we reached 16.67% in February — our highest throughout the year.

Here’s our monthly conversion rate for SEO-generated leads from January to November 2023:

How we improve our SEO conversion rates

Creating high-quality content assets is our winning formula for improving conversion. Our marketing team collaborates with freelance writers and SEO agencies that share our commitment to excellence. This helps us to publish exceptional content consistently, deliver value to our readers, establish authority, build trust, lower objections, and increase conversions.

We also prioritize bottom-of-the-funnel content on our blog, directing our traffic to the most engaged and interested audience segments.

Clutch

Our lead-to-deal rate from Clutch is 3%. It may surprise you that Clutch is among our top 3 lead generation channels at Belkins. Here’s a closer look at the numbers. 

Our Clutch account gets:

• About 1,800 unique monthly views
• Around 100 high-quality leads monthly (at about $140 per lead) 
• About 50 opportunities (at an average of $450 per opportunity)

Our average lead-to-appointment rate from January 2022 to November 2023 is 32.68%. The average appointment-to-close rate over the same period is 16.01%. Our appointment-to-close rate is variable — as high as 75% in February 2022 and as low as 0% in May, November, and December 2022. 

The table below shows the lead-to-appointment and appointment-to-close rates from January 2022 to November 2023. 

How we improve our Clutch conversion rate

If our Clutch lead generation results appeal to you, I recommend reading the article detailing how we generate leads from Clutch. But here’s a summary of our approach:

• Rack up hundreds of 5.0 reviews. Getting your happy clients to leave you a review on Clutch isn’t rocket science. But it’s easier said than done. When we first joined Clutch, most companies had 30 to 40 reviews. We didn’t settle for that range. Instead, we developed a systematic process that got us 190+ reviews and won us Clutch’s recognition as the #1 B2B sales lead generation company in the U.S.
• Secure a spot on Clutch Leaders Matrix. Clutch Leaders Matrix ranks service providers based on their ability to deliver. You can’t buy a spot on this matrix, so ranking there helps bolster trust with prospects. Securing the #1 spot on the matrix has been crucial in keeping our Clutch lead generation campaign costs low and conversion rate high. To raise your chances of ranking, familiarize yourself with Clutch’s ranking factors.

Cold email conversion rate

We generated the highest number of leads in April — 12,062 leads. Interestingly, we had our lowest lead-to-appointment rate in the same month because of such inflow — 1.61%. We also had our highest appointment-to-close rate in August — 6.88%.

Below is a breakdown of our cold email conversion metrics from January to November 2023.

How we improve our cold email conversion rate

We wrote an article covering the highly effective cold email strategy we use to generate B2B leads. Read it to get detailed insight into our process. That said, here are 3 tips we use to raise our conversion rates: 

• Create an ideal client profile. The spray-and-pray approach to cold email doesn’t work. It’s just a great way to waste time. If you don’t clearly define your ideal customer, you’ll inevitably waste resources chasing poor-fit leads. Unfortunately, that’s what many marketers and salespeople do. 
• Personalize. Want an easy way to grab prospects’ attention? Show them you’ve done your homework. Research your prospects, identify their pain points, and write a personalized email targeted at their pain. Prospects are less likely to ignore you if your email addresses a pain point they want to solve.
• Follow up. Prospects may not reply to your first email for multiple reasons. Your email may have been buried in their inbox or directed to their spam folder. So don’t conclude they are uninterested. Before giving up, send 2–3 email follow-ups. Our analysis of over 11 million cold emails shows that doing up to 6 follow-ups increases your odds of getting a reply by up to 3%.

🎥 Related video: B2B сold emails review: winning (and losing) approaches

Google Ads conversion rate

Our highest lead-to-appointment rate was in September — 65.24%. Also, our highest appointment-to-close rate was in February (14%), followed by January (11.86%).

Here’s a breakdown of our Google Ad conversion rates from January to November 2023:

How we improve our Google Ads conversion rates

In 2022, we invested a lot in ads but got poor results. But in 2023, Google Ads became our second most effective lead generation channel. Here are 2 things we did to turn the tide:

• Seek expert help. We hired a dedicated acquisition team lead whose supervision and planning let us revise and optimize our strategy. This guidance allowed us to experiment with multiple campaigns, optimize our campaigns with their feedback, and develop best practices for maximizing our Google Ads budget. To leverage the expertise of similar ad specialists, work with ClickRoads. 
• Keep ads running in the summer. Cost per click (CPC) drops by about 50% after the 25th of every month, especially during summer. This cost reduction occurs because most companies exhaust their Google Ads budget. We keep our Google Ad campaigns running beyond the 25th to capitalize on this opportunity. The outcome? New deals at a lower price.

Average lead-to-appointment/demo rate 

Based on our 2023 data, the average lead-to-appointment rate across all channels is 35.98%. Our lowest month was May, with a conversion rate of 28.97%. We had our highest lead-to-appointment rate in September at 46.33%.

How we improve our lead-to-appointment conversion rates

There are several tactics you can implement to set more appointments for your sales team.

• Look for buying signals. Buying signals are subtle cues showing a prospect may be interested in your offer. It can be an ad, frequent visits to your product page, or a LinkedIn post where they express an urgent pain point. Use this insight to prioritize prospects to contact. Your sales team can then focus on those most likely to buy. 
• Align your sales and marketing team. Per the HubSpot 2024 Sales Trends Report, companies with aligned sales and marketing teams are 103% more likely to outperform those with misaligned teams.
• Develop a lead nurturing process. According to a Databox survey, 40–75% of qualified leads aren’t ready to buy. With a lead nurturing workflow, you can move such leads down the buyer’s journey, stay top of mind, and convert leads into opportunities and sales. You can nurture your leads using periodic emails, social media posts, and retargeted ads. At Belkins, our podcast, which features industry-leading experts, helps us with lead nurturing.

Average appointment/demo-to-close conversion rates

The average appointment-to-close rate in 2023 across all Belkins’ channels is 5.72%. Our lowest month was May, with a rate of 3%. We had our highest conversion in February at 9.71%.

How we improve our appointment-to-close conversion rates 

Below are a few ideas we apply to close more deals.

• Devise a lead qualification process. An effective lead qualification process helps you filter prospects with low lead-to-deal potential.
• Ask probing questions and be prepared to handle objections. Promising opportunities can run cold. It happens. Prospects sometimes hesitate to complete a deal because of reasons beyond the salesperson’s control. Your job is to ask probing questions to uncover the root cause of their hesitancy, empathize with them, and address identified concerns.
• Follow up until your prospect says “No.” Our VP of sales at Belkins, Brian Hicks, has an interesting approach to follow-up. “I follow up with every single conversation I’ve had until the prospect tells me they are no longer interested,” says Brian. This persistent approach has helped Brian close a sales deal 19 months after the first conversation with a hesitant prospect.

Conversion rates by channel

Below, we share the conversion rates from third-party data across 5 channels. These channels are email marketing, Google Ads, organic search, social media, and paid search.

B2B conversion rate for email marketing

The average conversion rate for email marketing in B2B tech, B2B services, B2B e-commerce, and 3 other industries is 2.53%, based on 2023 data from Ruler Analytics.

This figure represents a 204.8% increase from 2021 when the average conversion rate was 0.83%.

Note that Ruler Analytics defines conversion as a qualified lead. 

With an average email marketing lead-to-appointment rate of 2.70%, our conversion rates at Belkins are above the average.

B2B conversion rate for Google Ads

The average B2B conversion rate for Google Ads is 2.23%, according to 2023 data from WordStream. However, the top 10% of accounts have a conversion rate of over 11.70%. Also, the top 25% of accounts have a conversion rate of over 4.31%.

B2B conversion rate for organic search

The average conversion rate for organic search in B2B tech, B2B services, B2B e-commerce, and 3 other industries is 2.68%, based on 2023 data from Ruler Analytics. 

This figure represents a 60.5% increase from 2021 when the average conversion rate was 1.67%.

B2B conversion rate for social media

The average conversion rate for social media in B2B tech, B2B services, B2B e-commerce, and 3 other industries is 1.63%, according to Ruler Analytics.

This figure represents a 226% increase from 2021 when the average conversion rate was 1.67%.

B2B conversion rate for paid search

The average conversion rate for paid search in B2B tech, B2B services, B2B e-commerce, and 3 other industries is 2.7%, according to Ruler Analytics.

The 2.7% conversion rate in 2023 represents a 125% increase from 2021 when the average conversion rate was 1.67%.

Average conversion rates by industry and channel

Here’s a summary of the conversion rates by industry and channel, according to Ruler Analytics’ data:

This data shows that paid search has the highest conversion rates of the 4 channels. Though email ranks in third place, it’s only 0.17 points behind paid search. Plus, the cost per lead for email is significantly lower. 

At Belkins, our cold email cost per lead is $250–$300. For Google Ads, it’s $370. That’s one reason cold email is our most preferred lead generation tactic. Our survey of 2,500 experts also revealed that cold email is a reliable sales channel for B2B brands.

How many sales leads do I need?

This might sound counterintuitive, but generating too many leads can hurt your business. The reason isn’t far-fetched. Generating more leads than you can handle puts more workload on your marketing and sales team, and this can lead to a variety of issues:

• You’ll likely compromise quality for quantity, leading to low customer retention (especially for a service-based business).
• You’ll have difficulty qualifying, nurturing, and converting leads because your hands are full.
• You waste your marketing budget and sales team’s time and effort on prospects that never convert.
• Your CRM gets loaded with poor-quality information, making it difficult to identify useful patterns.

For these reasons, knowing the number of leads you need is so crucial. 

How do you calculate your leads?

To know the optimal number of leads to generate, you need 3 variables:

• Revenue goals
• Average sale price 
• Lead-to-close/sale conversion rate

Here’s how it works:

Revenue goal ÷ Average sale price = Number of clients you need

A hypothetical scenario:

• Monthly revenue goal — $1 million
• Average sale price — $5,000

Following the formula above, you need 200 customers to reach your revenue goal.

So, how many leads do you need to acquire 200 customers? To answer this, consider your lead gen rate via a specific channel.

Here’s the formula to calculate your lead gen rate:

Number of leads ÷ Reach (i.e., the total number of people that saw your campaign) x 100% = Your lead generation rate

Next, you need to know your lead-to-close conversion rate, i.e., the number of leads who become customers. 

The formula:

Closed deals ÷ Total number of leads generated x 100% = Lead-to-sale conversion rate

If you had 500 leads a month and 20 of them made a purchase within the same month, your lead-to-deal rate is 4%. Put another way, you get 1 client for every 25 leads generated. So to get 200 customers, you need 5,000 leads (200 x 25 leads). You can generate 10–20% more leads to add a buffer.

FAQ about conversion rates

What is a good B2B conversion rate?

Marketing expert Brandon Weaver puts it succinctly: A good conversion rate is “a higher one,” i.e., one that’s higher than your current conversion rate. The average conversion rate in B2B is 2.23%, according to WebFX. That doesn’t mean this benchmark is good for you. Each business is unique. So, it’s more effective to track your conversion rates over time and use previous data as a benchmark for new campaigns. 

What other conversion rate or lead conversion metrics should I track?

Here are 4 other metrics you should track to improve the success of your lead conversion process:

• Lead-to-opportunity
• Cost per conversion
• Lead value
• Conversion ROI

What is lead-to-opportunity?

This metric calculates the percentage of leads that convert into sales opportunities.

Here’s how to calculate lead-to-opportunity:

Sales opportunity ÷ Total leads generated = Lead-to-opportunity

What is cost per conversion?

Cost per conversion tells you how much it costs to acquire every customer.

Here’s how to calculate it:

Total marketing and advertising costs ÷ Total number of converted leads = Cost per conversion

What is lead value?

Lead value is the potential monetary value of each lead you generate. This metric has several uses. For instance, calculating your lead value across several lead gen channels lets you identify the channels that attract high-value leads.

Here’s how to determine lead value:

Total sales value ÷ Total number of leads = Lead value

What is conversion ROI?

This metric refers to the ROI you gain from every conversion.

Here’s how to determine your conversion ROI: 

(Total revenue from sales - Cost per lead) ÷ Total campaign cost = Conversion ROI

What is time to conversion?

Time to conversion is the duration for prospects to take a desired action, including signing up for your newsletter, scheduling an appointment, or making a purchase. This metric sets expectations on how long it’ll take for a prospect to convert. It also guides you in shortening your sales cycle. 

To calculate time to conversion, you must first choose the following:

• Starting point — the point where the clock ticks
• Conversion point — the point that represents the desired action

The formula:

Time to conversion = Conversion time stamp - Starting time stamp