Beyond MQLs: Reframing success in B2B marketing
Evolution beyond MQLs
QUESTION 01
Which metric has your organization primarily adopted to replace or supplement MQLs in measuring marketing success?
Summary of Responses
Revenue Contribution: 38%
Pipeline Influence: 19%
Account Engagement Score: 14%
Opportunity Creation Rate: 19%
Buying Group Coverage: 10%
Conclusion:
The data reveals a clear transition from lead-centric to revenue-focused measurement in B2B marketing. While MQLs haven't disappeared entirely, they're increasingly being supplemented or replaced by metrics that tie marketing more directly to business outcomes. This evolution reflects the growing accountability of marketing organizations and their business importance in driving revenue growth. As marketing technology and processes mature, we can expect continued refinement of these metrics to better capture the complete impact of marketing activities across complex B2B buying journeys.
Interpretation and conclusions:
Revenue focus dominates: The clear preference for revenue contribution (38%) demonstrates a major shift toward metrics that directly connect marketing activities to business outcomes. This represents a maturation of B2B marketing measurement beyond activity-based metrics to financial impact.
Pipeline metrics remain important: A large portion of respondents (38% combined) focus on either pipeline influence or opportunity creation rate, highlighting the continued importance of pipeline metrics as a bridge between marketing activities and revenue outcomes.
Early-stage ABM adoption: The relatively low adoption of account engagement scores (14%) and buying group coverage (10%) suggests that while organizations are moving beyond MQLs, many are still in the early stages of implementing fully account-centric measurement frameworks.
Balanced measurement approach: The distribution of responses indicates a balanced approach to measurement evolution, with organizations adopting metrics that align with their specific business models and sales processes rather than converging on a single industry standard.
Advanced buying journeys
QUESTION 02
How far into their buying journey are prospects typically when they first directly contact your sales team off their own accord?
Interpretation and conclusions:
Late-stage engagement reality: The majority of respondents (62%) report that prospects are at least halfway through their buying journey before making contact, with nearly one-third (29%) indicating prospects are 70% or more through their journey. This confirms the existence of extensive pre-contact research activities.
Visibility challenges: Almost a quarter of respondents (24%) lack visibility into where prospects are in their journey when they make contact. This major blind spot hampers marketers' ability to effectively engage buyers during critical early research phases.
Early engagement opportunity: Only 14% of organizations report engaging with prospects in the early stages (30-40%) of their journey, suggesting a major opportunity to develop strategies for earlier identification and engagement.
Dark funnel implications: The prevalence of late-stage engagement underscores the importance of the "dark funnel" - the research phase where prospects learn about solutions without directly engaging vendors. This reinforces the need for content and programs aimed at anonymous researchers.
Summary of Responses
30-40%: 14%
50-60%: 33%
70-80%: 24%
90% or more: 5%
We don't have visibility into this: 24%
Conclusion:
The data confirms that B2B buyers conduct extensive independent research before contacting vendors, with most decisions largely formed by the time sales conversations begin. This reality creates both challenges and opportunities for marketing teams. The challenge lies in finding ways to identify and influence prospects during their anonymous research phase. The opportunity comes from developing content strategies and digital experiences that effectively engage early-stage researchers, positioning the brand as a trusted advisor before competitors can establish themselves. Organizations that develop capabilities to illuminate this "dark funnel" will gain major competitive advantage in their markets.
Complex buying groups
QUESTION 03
What is the average size of the buying groups you typically engage with?
Summary of Responses
1-5 people: 43%
6-10 people: 38%
11-15 people: 14%
15+ people: 5%
Don't know: 0%
Conclusion:
The data confirms that B2B purchases are primarily committee-based decisions, with notable variation in buying group size across organizations. Marketing teams must develop strategies to engage and influence these diverse buying groups, creating content and experiences that address the specific concerns of different stakeholders. This multi-threading approach is essential for navigating the more complex B2B buying process. Organizations that develop the capability to map, engage, and track buying group interactions will gain major advantages in opportunity development and conversion.
Interpretation and conclusions:
Multi-stakeholder reality: The vast majority of respondents (57%) engage with buying groups of 6 or more people, confirming the multi-stakeholder nature of modern B2B purchasing. This complexity requires marketing and sales teams to develop strategies for engaging multiple decision-makers simultaneously.
Segment variation: The notable percentage of smaller buying groups (43% reporting 1-5 people) suggests important variations across market segments. This likely reflects differences between enterprise and mid-market/SMB sales, with smaller organizations having more concentrated decision-making processes.
Growing complexity: With 19% of respondents facing buying committees of 11 or more stakeholders, extremely complex purchase processes are becoming more common. This trend creates challenges for traditional sales approaches that focus on a single champion or decision-maker.
Decision-making awareness: The absence of "don't know" responses indicates that organizations have good visibility into the size of their buying committees, suggesting growing sophistication in mapping stakeholder roles and relationships.
Technology enablement for early engagement
QUESTION 04
Which technology has been most impactful in helping you identify and engage in-market accounts earlier in their journey?
Interpretation and conclusions:
AI and intent data lead: The strong preference for AI-powered predictive analytics (33%) and intent data platforms (24%) reflects growing recognition of their effectiveness in identifying accounts early in their buying journey. Together, these technologies represent the majority of responses (57%), highlighting a major shift toward data-driven approaches.
Multi-layered technology stack: The diverse distribution of responses indicates that organizations are implementing varied technology solutions, likely creating multi-layered stacks that address different aspects of early engagement. This suggests there is no single "silver bullet" solution.
Traditional methods declining: The relatively low selection of website visitor identification (10%) as most impactful suggests that while still valuable, these older technologies are being supplemented or replaced by newer solutions that identify buying signals across multiple channels.
Technology gap remains: The small but notable percentage (5%) indicating no technology has been impactful suggests some organizations continue to struggle with implementing effective early engagement solutions, representing either a resource challenge or adoption barrier.
Summary of Responses
AI-powered predictive analytics: 33%
Intent data platforms: 24%
Account-based advertising tools: 14%
Website visitor identification software: 10%
Advanced CRM systems: 14%
None: 5%
Conclusion:
The data reveals that predictive technologies and intent intelligence have emerged as the most valuable tools for early buyer engagement. These technologies allow organizations to identify and respond to buying signals before prospects explicitly identify themselves. As these technologies continue to mature and integrate with marketing automation and sales enablement systems, we can expect more detailed approaches to early-stage engagement. Organizations that effectively implement these technologies gain a major competitive advantage by engaging prospects earlier in their buying journey, potentially before competitors are even aware of the opportunity.
Website engagement challenges
QUESTION 05
What percentage of your website visitors convert to form-fill?
Summary of Responses
1-3%: 52%
4-6%: 19%
7-10%: 19%
11-20%: 5%
Don't know: 5%
Conclusion:
The consistently low form conversion rates across respondents confirm a basic challenge facing B2B marketers - most website visitors do not identify themselves through traditional lead capture methods. This data emphasizes why organizations must develop strategies for engaging the 97%+ of visitors who remain anonymous during their research process. Effective approaches include ungated educational content, account-based advertising, website personalization without identification, and intent data monitoring. As these low conversion rates show no signs of improving, successful organizations will focus more on alternative methods to engage prospects before they formally identify themselves.
Interpretation and conclusions:
Low conversion reality: The majority of respondents (52%) report conversion rates of just 1-3%, highlighting the major challenge of engaging website visitors through traditional form-based approaches. This means 97-99% of visitors leave without identifying themselves.
Industry variance: The notable segment (38%) reporting higher conversion rates (4-10%) suggests meaningful variation across different industries, content types, or engagement strategies. This indicates potential for improvement through optimization and testing.
Engagement evolution needed: These low conversion rates underscore the limited effectiveness of form-based engagement strategies in today's B2B environment. Prospects are increasingly reluctant to exchange their personal information for content, especially early in their buying journey.
Strategic implications: Organizations must recognize that the vast majority of their website visitors remain anonymous, driving the need for alternative engagement strategies that don't rely exclusively on form completion. This reality further reinforces the importance of intent data and other technologies highlighted in previous questions.
Sales-marketing alignment obstacles
QUESTION 06
Which factor has been most challenging in aligning marketing and sales around an account-based strategy?
Interpretation and conclusions:
Measurement disconnects: The prominence of "lack of shared metrics" (24%) highlights the basic challenge of creating common success measures between marketing and sales. Without agreement on what constitutes success, alignment remains difficult regardless of other factors.
Technology and process barriers: Combined, insufficient technology integration (19%) and resistance to changing established processes (19%) account for 38% of responses, indicating that both systems and behaviors present major obstacles to alignment.
Balanced challenge profile: The relatively even distribution across all responses suggests that sales-marketing alignment faces multiple interrelated challenges rather than a single dominant issue. This multifaceted nature makes alignment particularly difficult to address.
Strategic decision points: Disagreement on target account selection (14%) and messaging alignment (10%) represent strategic disconnects that undermine tactical execution. These core differences in approach create friction throughout the revenue process.
Change management imperative: The notable percentage citing resistance to established processes (19%) and ROI concerns (14%) underscores the change management aspects of alignment. These factors reflect both organizational inertia and legitimate concerns about new approaches.
Summary of Responses
Lack of shared metrics: 24%
Insufficient technology integration: 19%
Disagreement on target account selection: 14%
Resistance to changing established processes: 19%
Difficulty in proving ROI of new approaches: 14%
Alignment on messaging for different segments: 10%
Conclusion:
The data reveals that sales-marketing alignment around account-based strategies faces diverse challenges spanning metrics, technology, process, and strategy. The relatively even distribution of responses indicates there is no single solution to alignment challenges—organizations must address multiple dimensions simultaneously. The prominence of shared metrics as the top challenge suggests this should be a priority focus area, as agreed-upon success measures create the foundation for other alignment initiatives. Organizations that successfully address these obstacles can create major competitive advantage through more efficient, effective revenue generation processes where marketing and sales operate as a unified team rather than separate functions.
Future measurement evolution
QUESTION 07
Which area do you expect to cause significant evolution in B2B marketing measurement?
Summary of Responses
AI-driven attribution models: 33%
Real-time buying group engagement metrics: 29%
Predictive pipeline forecasting: 19%
Cross-channel influence measurement: 14%
Account lifetime value projections: 5%
Conclusion:
The data reveals that B2B marketing measurement is expected to evolve toward more advanced, AI-driven approaches that better capture the complexity of modern buying journeys. The emphasis on both AI attribution and buying group engagement metrics highlights the dual challenges organizations face: understanding the impact of marketing activities across multiple touchpoints while simultaneously tracking engagement across multiple stakeholders. Organizations that invest in these advanced measurement capabilities will gain major advantages in marketing effectiveness and efficiency, enabling more strategic resource allocation and faster optimization based on real-time insights.
Interpretation and conclusions:
AI attribution dominance: The strong preference for AI-driven attribution models (33%) reflects growing recognition that traditional attribution approaches are insufficient for today's complex, multi-touch buyer journeys. AI offers the promise of more advanced, data-driven attribution that better reflects reality.
Buying group focus: The notable percentage selecting real-time buying group engagement metrics (29%) indicates a shift toward measuring collective account activity rather than individual lead behaviors. This aligns with the reality of committee-based purchasing decisions.
Predictive emphasis: Together, AI attribution (33%) and predictive pipeline forecasting (19%) represent over half the responses, highlighting the desire to move from reactive to predictive measurement approaches that enable more proactive strategy adjustments.
Holistic measurement trends: The interest in cross-channel influence measurement (14%) shows recognition that siloed channel metrics are becoming inadequate as buyers move seamlessly across multiple touchpoints throughout their journey.
Lifetime value opportunity: The lower priority placed on account lifetime value projections (5%) may represent an opportunity gap, as few organizations appear to be focusing on this forward-looking metric despite its importance in resource allocation decisions.
Anticipated B2B marketing transformations
QUESTION 08
Looking ahead, which do you see as the most significant changes coming to B2B marketing in the near future?
Interpretation and conclusions:
AI-powered personalization: The strong preference for AI-driven personalization (33%) reflects recognition that generic messaging is becoming ineffective in today's competitive environment. AI offers the promise of delivering relevant experiences at scale without prohibitive resource requirements.
Structural transformation: Combined, the shift to buying group-centric strategies (24%) and greater sales-marketing integration (24%) account for nearly half of responses. This indicates an expected major restructuring of B2B marketing's approach and organizational model.
Early engagement priority: The notable percentage highlighting early-stage buyer journey influence (14%) aligns with earlier findings about late-stage prospect engagement, suggesting organizations recognize the need to connect with buyers sooner in their research process.
Revenue metrics evolution: The lower selection of account-based revenue metrics (5%) may indicate that many organizations have already made this transition, as supported by responses to Question 1 where revenue-focused metrics were heavily favored.
Cohesive vision emerging: The responses collectively paint a picture of B2B marketing's future: AI-powered, personalized experiences delivered to buying groups through integrated revenue teams that engage prospects earlier in their journey and measure success through revenue impact.
Summary of Responses
Increased use of AI for personalization at scale: 33%
Shift from lead-centric to buying group-centric strategies: 24%
Greater integration of sales and marketing functions: 24%
Emphasis on early-stage buyer journey influence: 14%
Focus on account-based revenue metrics over traditional MQLs: 10%
Conclusion:
The data reveals a clear vision for B2B marketing's evolution, with AI-driven personalization, buying group engagement, and sales-marketing integration forming the foundation of future approaches. These anticipated changes represent both major opportunities and challenges for marketing organizations. The opportunity lies in creating more relevant, timely experiences that better meet buyer needs throughout their journey. The challenge comes from the major organizational, technological, and process changes required to deliver on this vision. Organizations that successfully navigate this transformation will create major competitive advantages through more effective buyer engagement, increased operational efficiency, and improved revenue performance.
About 6sense
6sense is on a mission to revolutionise the way B2B organisations create revenue by predicting customers most likely to buy and recommending the best course of action to engage anonymous buying teams. 6sense Revenue AI is the only sales and marketing platform to unlock the ability to create, manage and convert high-quality pipeline to revenue. Customers report 2X increases in average contract value, 4X increases in win rate and 20-40% reduction in time to close deals. Know everything, do anything, with 6sense.