A manufacturing company is investing in Google Ads to attract more custom equipment projects. Inquiries are coming in, but many are for standard products. Others come from companies that are just beginning to define their needs. Some promising inquiries also aren’t being properly tracked. The B2B campaigns results seem encouraging.
However, they do not yet indicate whether the company is attracting the projects it wants to pursue. To make the right decisions, it needs to understand who is responding to its ads, what these buyers are looking for, and what happens to their inquiries.
This is an important distinction. A campaign can meet its advertising goals without necessarily contributing enough to the sales your company wants to generate.
Do your campaigns attract the projects you’re looking for?
The number of clicks, cost per conversion, and volume of inquiries allow you to track your campaigns. These figures are useful, but they tell only part of the story.
If you’re looking to develop a specific market or sell specialized solutions, not all inquiries have the same value. A company looking for a standard product doesn’t necessarily represent the same potential as a buyer planning a complex project.
Let’s go back to our manufacturer. Its ads primarily highlight the availability of its equipment. As a result, they attract buyers who want to quickly obtain an existing product. However, the company wants to raise awareness of its expertise in design, engineering, and integration.
The problem isn’t necessarily with Google Ads. The ads meet a real need, but they don’t sufficiently showcase the business areas the manufacturer wants to develop.
Before increasing your budget, take a close look at the inquiries you’ve received. Do they align with the industries, companies, and projects you want to attract?
What Sales Data Reveals About the B2B Campaign Results
Your sales team has insights that advertising platforms can’t provide. They know the needs expressed by prospects, the questions they ask, and the reasons why certain projects aren’t moving forward.
By reviewing the leads generated by campaigns together, marketing and sales can identify several scenarios.
Three scenarios that explain B2B Campaign Results
The leads don’t match your offering. A buyer is looking for standard equipment, whereas you want to promote a customized solution. Your ads or landing page may need to better explain what you’re offering.
The projects are relevant but still in the early stages. A company is exploring its options and isn’t ready to request a quote. This lead may still be worthwhile if it matches the type of project you’re seeking. It requires appropriate follow-up rather than immediate rejection.
The inquiries are relevant, but follow-up is incomplete. A prospect has expressed a need that matches your expertise, but no one knows what became of them. Before modifying the campaign, you need to improve the flow of information between teams.
These situations can produce similar advertising metrics. Yet they call for very different decisions.
For our manufacturer, this exercise helps illustrate that certain ads attract the wrong kinds of projects, while other inquiries deserve more attention. This makes it possible to refine the messaging without missing out on promising opportunities.
What metrics should you track to measure the B2B Campaign Results?
To interpret the B2B campaign results, the number of conversions alone isn’t enough. You also need to know the quality of the leads and how they progress after the initial contact.
Start with four simple questions.
| Question | What this helps us understand |
|---|---|
| Who are we attracting? | The companies, industries, and profiles that respond to our campaigns. |
| Are these the right projects? | The alignment between expressed needs and our offering. |
| What happens to the leads? | Their qualification, follow-up, and progression toward a sales opportunity. |
| What do we need to improve? | Ads, landing pages, targeting, or sales follow-up. |
These questions help you look beyond the advertising numbers. They also guide discussions between marketing and sales teams. A diagnosis of your B2B marketing plan can also help you determine whether your campaigns align with your company’s priorities.
Five Useful Indicators
| Metric | What it measures |
|---|---|
| Qualified Lead Rate | The proportion of leads that meet your criteria. |
| Cost per Qualified Lead | The budget allocated to generating a relevant lead. |
| Conversion to Sales Opportunities | The proportion of leads that become actual business opportunities. |
| Reasons for disqualification | The reasons why certain leads are not suitable. |
| Quality of follow-up | The proportion of leads for which the handling and outcome are documented. |
A qualified lead is a lead that meets criteria defined with your sales team. These criteria may relate to the industry, the nature of the project, technical requirements, or the potential for collaboration.
Cost per qualified lead is particularly useful when your campaign generates many conversions but few promising projects. It allows you to see whether a decrease in advertising costs actually corresponds to an improvement in lead quality.
However, you must take into account the timeframes specific to B2B. An industrial project can take several months to come to fruition. This reality explains why patience is important in Google Ads B2B campaigns, even when the initial conversions seem encouraging.
The key is to track leads long enough to understand how they evolve, without waiting for each sale to close before making improvements.
How can you improve the B2B Campaign Results?
An analysis of the B2B campaign results has led our manufacturer to review three elements: its ads, its landing page, and the follow-up on inquiries.
Differentiate Your Offers in Your Ads
The manufacturer offers both standard equipment and custom solutions. These two offerings address different needs and should not necessarily be presented in the same way.
Therefore, the manufacturer can create distinct messaging. Ads targeting buyers of standard products emphasize availability and equipment specifications. Those targeting custom projects, on the other hand, highlight the company’s expertise in design, engineering, and integration.
This distinction helps buyers quickly understand whether the company can meet their needs.
Adapt the Landing Page to the Projects Being Sought
An ad focused on custom solutions should lead to a page that clearly explains this expertise. If the visitor instead lands on a page that primarily showcases standard products, they may not understand the full scope of the services offered.
The page can showcase the types of projects completed, the stages of collaboration, and the information needed to start a conversation. It should help the buyer identify their need and understand how the company can support them.
The form can also request some useful information about the project. The goal is not to add more fields, but to facilitate lead qualification and the initial exchange.
Improving the Follow-Up on Relevant Inquiries
Finally, our manufacturer needs to know what happens to the inquiries received. Sales representatives can document their relevance, the needs expressed, and the planned next steps.
The marketing team then has the information needed to adjust campaigns. The sales team, for its part, can better distinguish between projects that require immediate attention and those that need longer-term follow-up.
These changes do not immediately guarantee more sales. However, they should reduce misdirected inquiries, better showcase the company’s expertise, and make the sales team’s job easier.
Insightful B2B Campaign Results to Help you Make Decisions
The B2B campaign results truly matter when they help you attract the companies and projects you’re looking for. An increase in conversions can be encouraging, but it’s not enough to determine whether your investments are supporting your business objectives.
At ExoB2B, we help companies align their digital campaigns with their business priorities. This involves gaining a deeper understanding of buyers, crafting tailored messages, and tracking leads to enable informed decision-making.
Want to take stock of your campaigns?
Talk to an ExoB2B strategist.
To give you food for thought
- B2B Campaigns with Google Ads: why patience pays off
- The current limitations of B2B marketing in the context of integrated buying
- B2B marketing outsourcing: bring the right expertise together without losing strategic focus
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FAQ
How can you tell if a B2B campaign is working?
A campaign is working when it generates leads that align with your business objectives. The volume of conversions and their cost are useful metrics, but you also need to examine the quality of the leads and how they progress into sales opportunities.
How do you qualify leads from digital campaigns?
Work with the sales team to define the characteristics of a relevant lead. In particular, consider the industry, the type of project, the stated needs, and possible next steps. Then apply these criteria consistently.
Why don’t sales follow conversions immediately?
B2B purchasing decisions can involve multiple people and span several months. Some leads relate to projects that are still in the planning stages. Regular follow-up helps distinguish these opportunities from leads that don’t align with your offering.
Should you increase the budget when campaigns generate few sales?
Not necessarily. First, check whether your ads are attracting the right buyers, whether your landing pages clearly present your offering, and whether leads are being properly followed up on. Improving these elements may be more effective than an immediate budget increase.
