How B2B CMOs can choose the right marketing metrics

Why choosing the right B2B marketing metrics matters

How B2B CMOs can move beyond lead volume to focus on marketing metrics that drive commercial impact and strengthen alignment with sales.

Choosing the right B2B marketing metrics is one of the most persistent challenges facing CMOs. From lead generation and pipeline contribution to win rate and revenue influence, marketing leaders must balance internal performance metrics with commercial outcomes that align marketing, sales and the wider business.

Spend enough time in B2B technology and you start to notice a pattern: much of the (oft-reported) tension between marketing and sales is rarely about effort; it is about measurement. Specifically, the wrong marketing metrics.

Leads, MQLs, pipeline, win rate, NPS, revenue—every marketing department claims to be data driven. Yet many marketing leaders admit that in only a fraction of the time do they experience true alignment with sales, operations, and the business. Where and when alignment does exist, the job feels almost effortless, or “the best job in the world”, as HotTopics has heard in numerous debates. When it does not, it becomes political, defensive, and exhausting.

In the latest HotTopics Marketing Leaders Meetup, When metrics break trust, leaders debated what forces and marketing metrics create those divergent experiences, before discovering how and why. With special thanks to Rachel Fairley, Co-Author, Rebrand Right, and Robert Norum, ABM marketing executive and expert, for co-hosting and moderating this Meetup.

Overview: How B2B CMOs should approach marketing metrics

This article explores how B2B CMOs can rethink marketing metrics to improve alignment with sales and drive commercial impact.

1. Why marketing metrics create tension between sales and marketing
2. Moving beyond “lead theatre” in B2B marketing metrics
3. The danger of gamified marketing metrics
4. What marketing metrics B2B CMOs should focus on
5. Key B2B marketing metrics CMOs increasingly prioritise
6. CMO 2.0: Redefining the B2B CMO
   
   

Why marketing metrics create tension between sales and marketing

One of the clearest themes to emerge was that alignment is rarely accidental, but structural.

Where marketing operations and sales operations report into the same leadership structure, friction reduces. Where there is shared accountability for the same outcome, debates about attribution and quality soften. Where there is a collaborative CRO who sees marketing as a multiplier rather than a service desk, the entire dynamic changes.

In contrast, where sales operations are measured purely on sales outcomes, marketing requests become peripheral and almost passive. In these businesses tracking nuances—lead routing accuracy, attribution clarity, or funnel definitions—slide down the priority list. And even though the data may exist, the trust in that data erodes.

So, where does trust currency sit? It isn’t in MQLs, we heard, which can be lightning rods for disagreement.

Research validates this. Forrester has argued that fewer than 1 percent of individual leads convert to closed deals in many B2B environments, and that “equating deals to single MQLs ignores the reality of buying groups and complex decision journeys”. If that is the case, obsessing over lead counts was always going to create distortion.

That has encouraged marketing chiefs to look at other marketing metrics.

Some have found that moving the centre of gravity to win rate changes the tone entirely because “win rate shifts the focus from ‘how many leads did you generate?’ to ‘did we win more often together?’”, as one marketer phrased it.

It does not eliminate the need for internal marketing metrics: CMOs still need conversion ratios, engagement data and campaign diagnostics. But those can remain internal performance levers. Externally, with sales and the board, a shared commercial metric often simplifies the relationship.

The caveat, of course, is that win rate depends on clean data and disciplined opportunity management. Otherwise it becomes just another number to argue over.

Moving beyond “Lead Theatre” in B2B marketing metrics

The shift away from “lead theatre”, as one attendee quipped, is reinforced by what we now know about buyer behaviour.

Gartner reported that 75 percent of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free sales experience, whilst research from 6sense in Europe suggests that buyers often choose the vendor they ultimately purchase from before ever speaking to sales. By the time an opportunity appears in the CRM, much of the decision-making may already have happened.

That makes late-funnel ownership battles feel increasingly outdated; marketing’s influence may be strongest before the first sales conversation ever takes place.

The danger of gamified marketing metrics

And then there is the marketing metrics theatre. Goodhart's Law tells us that when a measure becomes a target, it stops being a good measure.

One marketer shared his colourful example, citing a previous role where NPS was brought in to support sales retention. After a certain period, and a sea of 10s across the board, leadership were shocked to see a complete breakdown between NPS scores and client retention. Things only became clear when it came to light that the Head of Sales had organised a bonus structure tied to many ‘10s’ scores each could muster from clients. In this, a number is linked to financial reward and behaviour optimises around the number, not necessarily around the underlying outcome.

“[NPS] had been gamified,” he added. As it happens, NPS’s founder has publicly warned against using NPS as an internal bonus metric, calling it “problematic”.

The result of getting this wrong is a green dashboard and a false sense of security.

In fact, a key part of the debate aimed to skewer the promise of the green dashboard—red lights are not always bad, we heard.

Some experienced leaders deliberately allow metrics to sit red during the quarter if it drives focus and intervention early. The priority is not how the pipeline looks in week six, but whether the number is made at quarter end. Conversely, teams that keep dashboards permanently green sometimes discover too late that the forecast was optimistic.

This raised an important question: are dashboards designed to signal risk honestly, or to protect reputations?

What marketing metrics should B2B CMOs focus on?

Across this debate, a few principles stand out.

First, design metrics collaboratively with sales and operations wherever possible. Shared creation builds shared ownership, as shared by Marta George, senior B2B marketing leader.

Second, distinguish between internal optimisation metrics and external commercial metrics. Not every number needs to be presented to the board.

Third, be cautious about tying single metrics directly to financial reward without context. Behaviour will adapt to incentives.

Fourth, normalise transparency. Red metrics early in the quarter are often healthier than false green comfort.

Finally, keep the conversation anchored in commercial impact, as shared by Svetlana Likhareva, CMO at Microsoft. Whether the focus is win rate, churn, pipeline velocity or brand influence, the question is the same: does this make us more likely to win and retain customers?

Key B2B marketing metrics CMOs increasingly prioritise

While every organisation measures performance differently, many B2B marketing leaders increasingly focus on metrics that reflect commercial impact rather than simple activity.

These often include:

• Win rate – the proportion of opportunities converted into closed deals
• Pipeline velocity – how quickly opportunities move through the funnel
• Customer acquisition cost (CAC)
• Customer retention and churn
• Marketing influence on pipeline and revenue

These metrics help shift the conversation from lead volume towards revenue impact and sustainable growth.

Modern B2B marketing is not about the profligate use of data. It is about the discipline to use the right data, in the right way, for the right audience.

When that alignment clicks into place, marketing stops needing to defend itself and starts driving the business forward. And, as we heard during one of the discussions, that is when the job becomes one of the best in the organisation.

Frequently asked questions about B2B marketing metrics

What marketing metrics should B2B CMOs focus on?

Many CMOs focus on commercial metrics such as win rate, pipeline velocity, customer retention and marketing influence on revenue, alongside internal campaign performance metrics.

Why are MQLs becoming less important in B2B marketing?

Modern B2B buying journeys involve multiple stakeholders and long research phases, meaning individual leads rarely represent the full buying process.

How can marketing and sales align on performance metrics?

Alignment often improves when both teams focus on shared commercial outcomes such as pipeline growth, win rate or revenue contribution rather than isolated marketing metrics.

CMO 2.0: Redefining the B2B CMO

HotTopics proudly launches CMO 2.0—a dedicated space within our global C-suite community for CMOs redefining B2B marketing and navigating its evolving demands.