LINKEDIN ADS BENCHMARK REPORT

2016

As an attribution solution, we are in the unique position of having a rich database of marketing data that tells the story of how marketing efforts from all channels turn into a varying levels of downstream results, from leads to revenue. A couple months ago, we published the second annual AdWords Industry Benchmark Report, and in this report, we are sharing our data on LinkedIn Ads.

We partnered with AJ Wilcox, Founder of B2Linked, on this report for his expert analysis of the data and how companies use LinkedIn for marketing.

The data will be broken into three industry groups: B2B Software/Saas, B2B Business Services/Agency (e.g. IT services, consulting), and B2C industries that have sales teams (e.g. education, finance, healthcare, travel).

The report consists of two parts. In Part 1, we will share and discuss LinkedIn’s contribution to three key business metrics — the percentage of total leads, opportunities, and revenue that were driven by LinkedIn. We will also cover two more key benchmarks in the first section: revenue per lead and revenue per opportunity. In this section, we also segmented the data to look at the performance of ten companies who are using LinkedIn the most, as a proportion of their total marketing. These can serve as an example of LinkedIn’s potential when companies are more experienced with LinkedIn Ads.

Part 2 will focus on the results of a LinkedIn Ads survey that we ran to complement the customer data. The survey focused on marketers’ priorities and experience with LinkedIn Ads.

Part 1 | LinkedIn Marketing Data

LinkedIn Ads’ Contribution to Business (Leads, Opportunities, Revenue)

LinkedIn Revenue Per Lead

LinkedIn Revenue Per Opportunity

Part 2 | LinkedIn Ads Benchmark Survey Data

Firmographics

LinkedIn’s Share of the Marketing Budget

Goals and Priorities

LinkedIn Ads’ Effectiveness

p.4

p.5

p.6

p.8

p.9

p.10

p.12

LINKEDIN ADS BENCHMARK REPORT2016

PART 1: LINKEDIN MARKETING DATA

— Linkedin Ads’ Contribution To Business

— LinkedIn Revenue Per Lead

— LinkedIn Revenue Per Opportunity

LINKEDIN ADS’ CONTRIBUTION TO BUSINESS

What percentage of total leads, opps, revenue are coming from LinkedIn?

LinkedIn Ads seem to have caught on faster for companies in the two B2B industries compared to the B2C industries. Not only are more companies in these two industries using LinkedIn Ads, they are, on average, generating more demand from it.

While they are using LinkedIn more, they are still only generating a little over 5% of total leads from LinkedIn, which is relatively little compared to more established channels like AdWords.

We can also see in the data, that it’s pretty top heavy. LinkedIn is contributing about twice as much to

top-of-the-funnel leads compared to bottom-of-the- funnel revenue. The downward slope as seen on the chart means that leads from LinkedIn aren’t converting to opportunities and revenue at the same rate as all marketing channels in general.

LinkedIn’s contribution to the top ten companies’ business is 3-5x as much as the industry averages. However, they still show a downward trend from leads to revenue. For many, LinkedIn is still seen as a top of the funnel channel. We’ll discuss this more in Part 2 of the report.

LinkedIn Ads’ Contribution To Business

Leads

Revenue

B2B

Software/SaaS

B2B Business

Services/Agency

B2C Top 10

15% -

0% -

10% -

5% -

Opportunities

LinkedIn is still Display advertising at its fundamental

core, which means that the leads that it generates

won't have the same level of intent driving it as Paid

Search. It's not surprising to see that downward

slope here because of that. It really is more

mid-funnel demand generation than a

bottom-funnel activity like Paid Search.

-AJ Wilcox

LINKEDIN ADS’ REVENUE PER LEAD

How much revenue are organizations generating per lead from LinkedIn Ads?

Compared to the other industries, business services has a slightly lower revenue per lead. One factor that could contribute to this, as Jason Kane mentioned in the AdWords Industry Benchmark Report webinar, is that business services, much like marketing agencies, is very relationship driven. That means that word of mouth is a huge influencer, as are trial projects and timelines. What this means is that for channels like LinkedIn, it may be a bit more challenging to drive downstream success as compared to more personal channels.

When it comes to B2C, this ratio could be influenced by shorter sales cycles for B2C companies. This

would lead to less dropoff as leads progress through the funnel, and a higher revenue per lead.

-Eva Sharf

Demand Manager, Bizible

LinkedIn Ads’ Revenue Per Lead

B2B

Software/SaaS

B2B Business

Services/Agency

B2C Top 10

$800 -

$0 -

$400 -

$200 -

$600 -

LINKEDIN ADS’ REVENUE PER OPPORTUNITY

How much revenue are organizations generating per sales opportunity from LinkedIn Ads?

Revenue per opportunity gives us insight into two things: win rate and deal size. A high revenue per opportunity ratio would suggest high win rates from opportunities sourced by LinkedIn, bigger deals coming from opportunities sourced by LinkedIn, or both. A low revenue per opportunity ratio would suggest the opposite.

Here we see that B2B Software/SaaS are seeing the greatest revenue per opportunity. B2C companies, which were seeing the greatest revenue per lead from

LinkedIn, are actually seeing much smaller revenue per opportunity numbers compared to the others. This would suggest high lead-to-opp conversion rates, but low win rates or small deal sizes.

Finally, unlike with revenue per lead, we also see that the companies that are more invested in LinkedIn Ads are seeing much greater returns, about double the revenue per opportunity compared to the dataset overall.

LinkedIn Ads’ Revenue Per Opportunity

B2B

Software/SaaS

B2B Business

Services/Agency

B2C Top 10

$6,000 -

$0 -

$3,000 -

$2,000 -

$5,000 -

$1,000 -

$4,000 -

The top 10 represent companies who've invested the

time and optimizations into the LinkedIn channel to

really build a solid program. LinkedIn Ads, as

mentioned earlier, is much in its nascent stages, so

these top 10 are very much the early adopters with

the first-mover advantage. They show us what a mature LinkedIn Ads channel looks like for those who

haven't gotten there yet.

-AJ Wilcox

PART 2: LINKEDIN ADS BENCHMARK SURVEY DATA

— Firmographics

— LinkedIn’s Share of the Marketing Budget

— Goals and Priorities

— LinkedIn Ads’ Effectiveness

FIRMOGRAPHICS

What industries are using

LinkedIn Ads? How much are

companies spending on paid

media?

B2B Software/Saas

B2B Business Services/Agency

B2C

Other

51%

26%

20%

3%

Which of the following best describe the industry of your organization?

Less than $500k

$500k - $999k

$1M - $9.9M

$10M - $49M

68%

20%

9%

3%

What is the approximate range of your total 2016 paid media budget?

LINKEDIN’S SHARE OF THE MARKETING BUDGET

How much of the marketing budget is going to LinkedIn?

Approximately what percentage of your total paid media

spend goes to LinkedIn?

Less than 10%10% - 19%20% - 29%

Overall B2B Software/SaaS B2B Business

Services/Agency

B2C

30% - 39%70% -

0% -

30% -

60% -

10% -

40% -

50% -

20% -

40% - 49%50% or more

LinkedIn Ads is still in a relatively early phase of adoption across industries. B2B Software/SaaS companies appear to be the earliest adopters, with about 30% of companies investing 20% or more of their paid media budget on LinkedIn Ads.

Adoption seems to be much slower in B2C organizations, with nearly 2/3 of B2C organizations who are investing in LinkedIn Ads spending 10% or less of their budget on it.

I’m not surprised that B2B companies are investing more

heavily in LinkedIn compared to B2C. LinkedIn has a huge

advantage over other social channels for B2B marketers

because, as a professional network, it has the data to enable

highly accurate company and job-related targeting.

Also, mindset matters, and users are more likely to engage

with work-related content on LinkedIn compared to Facebook

(for example). B2C companies are better able to find audiences in the right mindset on other social platforms.

- Eva Sharf

GOALS AND PRIORITIES

What are marketers trying to achieve with their LinkedIn ads?

What is the primary purpose of your LinkedIn ads?

Awareness/ BrandDemand GenerationEngage Target Accounts (ABM)

Overall B2B Software/SaaS B2B Business

Services/Agency

B2C

Other

80% -

0% -

40% -

60% -

20% -

Marketers are clearly turning to LinkedIn Ads to help them with demand generation. Across industries, at least 70% of marketers have that as their primary purpose. ABM goals appear in the B2B industries, but it is still a small percentage. It will be interesting to see how this changes in the coming years, as ABM becomes an increasingly popular B2B marketing strategy. Will LinkedIn Ads evolve to meet the needs of ABM marketers?

“Traditionally, social media advertising performs

quite well to generate awareness. The high CPCs on

LinkedIn Ads, though, make it a really difficult economic proposition to simply generate awareness

and start the conversation. Instead, to compensate,

most advertisers have resorted to mid-funnel content

offers that offer a good balance between awareness and lead generation.”

-AJ Wilcox

Where in the buyer funnel do you primarily use LinkedIn ads?

Top of the funnel (awareness)Middle of the funnel (consideration)Bottom of the funnel (decision)

Overall B2B Software/SaaS B2B Business

Services/Agency

B2C

Multiple stages fairly evenly

70% -

0% -

30% -

60% -

10% -

40% -

50% -

20% -

Social channels, including LinkedIn, have long been known as primarily top-of-the-funnel channels. It’s interesting to see that almost 40% of B2B Software/SaaS companies, 65% of Business Services/Agency companies, and nearly 60% of B2C companies are looking to use LinkedIn deeper in the funnel.

LINKEDIN ADS’ EFFECTIVENESS

Do marketers think that their ads are successful? What are the returns?

Do you consider your marketing on LinkedIn to be a success?

Yes

Unsure

Overall B2B Software/SaaS B2B Business

Services/Agency

B2C

60% -

0% -

30% -

50% -

10% -

40% -

20% -

No

Across industries, the plurality of marketers reported that their LinkedIn marketing efforts were a success. However, in all industries, “Unsure” was a close second. For companies that are still testing out LinkedIn ads or are spending small amounts (47% are spending less than 10% of their marketing budget on LinkedIn), it can be difficult to be definitive about whether the channel is a success or not.

Often times, even to sophisticated marketers, it's

really difficult to understand performance on LinkedIn Ads. It wasn't until recently that advertisers

got native conversion tracking. In addition, since the

majority of advertisers are B2B, tracking takes longer

on the delayed sales cycle. As LinkedIn Ads as a

channel matures, we'll likely see a lot more

confidence around its performance.

- AJ Wilcox

What is your approximate ROI on LinkedIn?

Overall B2B Software/SaaS B2B Business

Services/Agency

B2C

70% -

0% -

30% -

60% -

10% -

40% -

50% -

20% -

Less than 1xAbout 1x1.1x - 1.5x1.6x - 2xMore than 2x

Finally, when asked about ROI, there were mixed results. In B2B Software/SaaS, about 45% of marketers reported that their LinkedIn efforts generated positive ROI, with another 30% breaking even. In B2B Business Services/Agency, even though only 10% said their efforts were unsuccessful, over 40% of marketers reported negative ROI.

Overall, LinkedIn Ads have yet to break out as a major channel for B2B companies and B2C companies with sales teams. Many companies are still dipping their toes in the water before investing more. While about

30% of companies are reporting negative ROI, only 15% consider their efforts on LinkedIn to be unsuccessful. Maybe that’s a sign of untapped potential. With a little more experience and expertise, marketers know that LinkedIn has the capability of being a powerful marketing channel.

ABOUT THE DATA

ABOUT BIZIBLE

Part 1 consists of marketing attribution data from about 70 companies that consistently used LinkedIn Ads over a period of several months in 2016. The companies are bucketed into three groups: two B2B industries, Software/Saas and Business Services/Agency, and B2C. All B2C companies are from industries that have sales teams (i.e. have lead and opportunity stages).

Part 2 consists of responses from about 90 survey participants who use LinkedIn Ads. A firmographic breakdown is included in the report. The survey was taken over three weeks in August-September 2016.

Bizible is a B2B marketing attribution solution dedicated to helping companies make profitable marketing decisions.

Bizible’s technology connects all marketing activity (both online and offline) to revenue, enabling revenue credit to be accurately distributed to the marketing channels that are making an impact. This advanced, multi-touch attribution technology allows marketers to do more effective and more efficient marketing.

Learn more