What is an important KPI that you see demand generation teams completely missing?

ROI and marketing attribution is the most challenging KPIs for startups in the technology space; most of these companies do not measure CLV and instead, they measure results on an annual basis, depending on factors such as average sales cycle, average deal size and market maturity, reporting returns of marketing investment in the short term is challenging. One important KPI that demand generation teams may overlook in fast-growing technology companies is the customer lifetime value (CLV). CLV is ...Read More

The biggest one I see missing is pipeline quality—not just pipeline volume. A lot of demand gen teams are still optimizing for MQLs or even pipeline created, but not tracking what actually happens downstream. So you end up with “great” top-of-funnel numbers that don’t convert. The KPI that usually exposes this gap is something like: • MQL → opportunity conversion rate • opportunity → closed-won rate • or even better, pipeline-to-revenue conversion and velocity If those aren’t healthy, it doesn’t ...Read More

1. Cost per $1 of pipeline I see a lot of teams simply focus on cost per lead, then cost per opp, then cost per closed won -- but when you look at cost per $1 of pipeline, or even better, cost per $1 of annual recurring revenue, you will start to understand how efficient your demand gen machine is and where you need to turn the dials for maximum efficiency. ie. targeting more up market to pay a higher cost per lead, and higher cost per opp, but a lower cost per $1 of pipeline because the deal is ...Read More

The biggest thing that many demand generation teams miss is a Revenue metric. Typical ones to think of are: ARR Customers Pipeline ($ based) # of Opportunities For many demand generation teams, there's a tendency to believe that their job is done when the lead is there (MQL, PQL, etc.). The reality of the situation is that the job of the entire function is to drive impact across customers and revenue. If we're providing low quality leads that doesn't ultimately translate into pipeline and revenu ...Read More

Great question! To me, it would be what I call 'MCI' (Marketing Customer Interaction) or 'MAI' (Marketing Account Interactions). The goal here is to track marketing touches at the account level. By tracking all campaign touches—whether it’s for a prospect account or an account ready for expansion—you can assess some level of intent. For instance, let’s say one account had 5 people attend a webinar, 2 people meet us at an event, and 10 others open and click your newsletter. This would give a tota ...Read More

Brandformance. Brandformance is the idea of driving brand awareness to improve performance and conversion rates.Most demand gen teams are laser focused on clicks and conversions. It is important to take a few steps back and look at the big picture. Easier said than done for sure. We all know the importance of brand awareness and the impact it has on clicks and conversions. That said, it is not easy to prove the ROI of brand campaigns which makes budget approval tougher. I would encourage demand ...Read More

From a product-led growth (PLG) perspective, I don’t see enough emphasis put on identifying and tracking toward an activation or “aha moment” KPI. What is the one action a user or team needs to take to make your program exponentially more successful? Is it adding members to a team account? Is it performing a certain action? Demand gen teams can no longer solely focus on the acquisition side. While it can be debated whether metrics such as retention fall under demand gen, I urge you to go one ste ...Read More

There are a couple of KPIs that can do with some love: Customer Lifetime Value: We don’t see enough emphasis on CLV, which is an important metric in improving customer retention. Without tracking CLV, we are constantly in a state of monitoring tactical metrics even for large enterprise accounts. A focus on CLV will yield rich dividends in retaining the top strategic customers, converting them into advocates for your brand.   Account based marketing (ABM): Not 1 specific metric, but all metrics t ...Read More

While KPIs such as MQLs, SQLs, Marketing generated pipeline are typical, I think KPIs that allow marketing and sales to get more granular into what is actually happen with lead disposition is critical. Often times marketers will have a laser focus on those standard KPIs (which is not a bad thing) that they often times don't have the right insights to determine why leads may or may not be converting. For this I believe it's also important to look at KPIs and data points associated to different le ...Read More

An often-overlooked KPI for demand generation teams is your company’s brand strength 🌟. It’s easy for demand generation professionals to focus solely on bottom-of-funnel activities—tracking last-touch actions like demo requests 📩 or understanding immediate drivers of pipeline growth 📈. However, this can lead to neglecting the critical role that branding plays in long-term success. Your brand is one of the strongest sources of inbound leads. The number of people actively seeking out your company ...Read More

From a product-led growth (PLG) perspective, I don’t see enough emphasis put on identifying and tracking toward an activation or “aha moment” KPI. What is the one action a user or team needs to take to make your program exponentially more successful? Is it adding members to a team account? Is it performing a certain action? Demand gen teams can no longer solely focus on the acquisition side. While it can be debated whether metrics such as retention fall under demand gen, I urge you to go one ste ...Read More

In any demand generation role, you are very clear on the "must-have" KPIs e.g., ROI, MLQs, conversion Rate, CPL, etc. This is all about being "efficient," but you also need to be "effective", and to me, it's 80% (efficient) / 20% (effective) = Complete KPI Effective means are more qualitative, such as how well they interact with the sales, product, and customer success teams to support and collaborate. This comes to getting regular qualitative feedback. E.g., "Please provide an example of a rece ...Read More