What to expect in 2022? After the last two years, we are prepared for anything! There are ongoing changes to privacy regulation and management that will impact what you can measure, and what you should expect in the year to come.
2022 Market and KPI Assumptions
B2B Tech only. Launch Team Inc works exclusively with B2B companies in niche tech industries with complex sales cycles, such as advanced manufacturing, optics, and photonics, automation. The key performance indicators, KPIs, (baseline and benchmark) data we share below are exclusive to those industries.
Based on organic growth goals. KPIs are appropriate for companies looking to beat the CAGR and pick up a little market share, targeting double-digit growth.
Pursuing an inbound marketing/digital marketing strategy. For companies in year 1 of a shift to digital, the gains are far greater.
Every company’s strategy and key performance indicators are different. Contact us for a data-driven look at your goals and targets. Now, with those disclaimers out of the way, we are happy to share sample KPIs for advanced manufacturing and tech companies with a large deal size and a complex sales cycle.
Baseline and Benchmarks for Marketing KPIs
Revenue growth:
- Expectation 20%
- Baseline 15%
The total US market is expected to grow at 5.2% in 2022, but supply chain and workforce shortages will make it challenging to achieve this. The drivers of this economic growth are automation, photonics, industry 4.0, medical device, biotech and other industries we work in—15-30% is both achievable and sustainable over the long term.
For many companies in this space, 2020 proved to be better than expected due to pent-up demand and backlog, while 2021 slowed a bit. Supply chain challenges, workforce, and capacity issues tapered this growth. 2022 is the year for a reset: revisit your business plan, reposition in the market, and refresh your go-to-market strategy.
Recurring Revenue and Customer Satisfaction:
80% recurring revenue
This may not be a blanket PO or specific known product, but healthy companies in these sectors should be able to count on 80% of their prior year's revenue repeating from existing customers.
$100,000 is an average annual customer value. This can vary widely, but anything significantly under that should be looked at.
If you are not measuring customer satisfaction, this would be a good year to start asking and monitoring survey results over time.
Traffic:
- Year 1: 100%
- Ongoing: 30%
- Baseline: 20%
For companies moving to a digital strategy, launching a new website, or otherwise making a significant investment in overhauling their web presence, expect to double your traffic in a year as a baseline.
For those regularly engaged in inbound marketing, look for 30%, minimum 20% growth this year. Watch for coming algorithm changes, and publish unique, new content regularly.
Leads:
- Year 1: 300% YOY
- Ongoing: 20%
- Baseline: 15%
2021, while up over pre-pandemic leads and traffic, slowed a bit year-over-year. In 2022, companies will need to push to get your growth back on track.
Be clear in what you mean by lead. New contact? MQL? SQL? Make sure sales and marketing and any partners share the same definition and criteria.
Conversion:
In most platforms and systems, conversion of leads to opportunity (or deal) is a straightforward KPI.
Baseline 20%
Deal size, average cycle time, and many other metrics are worth measuring. In 2020/2021, we saw average deal size shrink dramatically due to risk aversion, but overall customer lifecycle value remains high. We advocate for watching just a few, meaningful, and actionable KPIs, and conversion is a good starting point.
Alternatives or additions to this KPI are:
- RFQs per month: easy to track, even if manual
- Quote win rate: under 33%, may require customer discovery. If your close rate is well over 50%, you may be underpricing.
Email marketing
This metric needs revisiting this year, due to privacy changes that can cause a falsely inflated open rate. 21% has been a long-standing industry benchmark. While email remains an effective medium, it will become harder to measure. Shift to a click rate or engagement metric and adjust your lead scoring accordingly.
Social media
Two to three years ago, we would argue that followers were a vanity metric and that it was most important to measure the percent of traffic from social media (11% benchmark). It’s imperfect: LinkedIn traffic registers as Direct traffic in many analytics platforms, but month over month, it’s a pretty good guide. Behaviors have changed though: social media engagement is driving engagement and sales without click-through to your website. Consider:
- Engagement
- New followers/month: 1-2 a day, or 45/month
Account-Based Marketing
20% of accounts targeted through ABM become a qualified sales opportunity.
If you have a target list of accounts, you should track some marketing KPIs specifically for those accounts. Consider things like the number of new contacts, engagement, and conversions for contacts within your accounts.
Interested in what metrics you should follow, and how? Book a meeting.
