Despite the fact that thousands of companies now crowd the space known as B2B lead generation, we at Rank Leads are aware that no matter how tough things get, there will always be spaces for better practices, and better results over time.

But to know which way to go, you need to stay abreast of the latest statistics that are driving B2B lead generation forward. The Internet of things has rapidly changed how businesses can do business online, and it’s not just about Google anymore.

It’s about people, how they consume information, and how they set about to find what they need online.

Since B2B lead generation is much like other forms of digital marketing (with a few exceptions), you are going to see a lot of crisscrosses along the way, where B2B lead generation intersects the larger domain known as internet marketing.

1. People are spending more on B2B lead generation.

 53% of digital marketers said that they have allocated more than 50% of their budgets to B2B lead generation.

Only 34% of the respondents said that they are using less than half of their budgets on this vital process.

We can attribute this increase to the fact that without B2B lead generation, a business would be a sitting duck, but the expenses of online marketing continue unabated.

2. Specialized landing pages are all the rage.

 Landing pages, or special pages on a website that is essentially meant to sell something, are now being used by 68% of B2B businesses.

Of course, if you want to get better results, you still need A/B split testing to see which landing page design works best. Continuous testing will help you determine the most effective combination of elements for your landing page.

An SEO agency can then help you bring this powerful new landing page to life, including all the images you need to make the page eye-catching and stunning.

3. New channels for lead generation.

A growing number of businesses said that they have been able to get good results with organic search results, PPC ads on Google, and classic word of mouth.

Social media has also played a crucial role in amplifying the message to potential clients in any market. Social media presence is now a top priority.

4. Lead generation is the goal that counts.

82% of B2B marketers strongly believe that lead generation would be their long-term goal. This is not about to change, because lead generation generates profit, projects, work – the activity that companies require to continue thriving.

5. Qualified leads vs. actual conversion

 While a large percentage of qualified, leads are created by any combination of efforts, the actual conversion rate for B2B lead generation is between 5%-10%. While larger than conversion rate for websites, for instance, we can still probably improve how we do our business to increase the conversion rate.

6. The cost of B2B leads differ from industry to industry.

 The most expensive B2B leads are found in the healthcare industry at $60/lead, followed by finance B2B leads (pegged at $43). Products and services industries cost about $32/lead.

The average costs per industry differ because of factors like legal regulation and the actual demand for what B2B leads entire.

But regardless of these costs (which are quite normal when you are doing any kind of marketing) B2B lead generation will continue its track of being a dynamic and essential part of the business in 2019 and beyond.

7. B2B leads are being verified more frequently.

 56% of marketers say that they perform an initial verification of potential leads before they pass on the information to their sales teams.

This means businesses are becoming more careful, and more dedicated to proper conversion of any inbound traffic or leads generated. Businesses want a healthy inflow of leads but at the same time, they don’t want to spend more time on bad and/or unverified leads.

8. How leads are nurtured

Only a small percentage of B2B businesses (about 22%) reach out to potential leads on a weekly basis in a process that is called lead nurturing.  46% of B2B businesses have a strong background in lead management, and thus, have dedicated sales teams that have the capability of following up almost 80% of qualified leads.

9. How about email marketing?

 Despite the fact that email marketing does still work if it is done correctly, more than 50% of B2B businesses have branched off to other methods of generating leads.

What does this mean for the seemingly dying art of writing promotional emails? You can still get a good conversion rate from email marketing, but you need to do it properly and your content has to be sent out in a way that you will not be identified by Gmail or Yahoo as a spam sender.

10. Social media: it works

 With as little as six hours of social media work per week, 83% of marketers reported an increase in lead generation, and brand awareness. Since  almost everyone is on social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, it makes a lot of sense that you’re there, too.

11. Converting qualified leads.

 Once in the funnel, warm leads are converted more quickly when the video is used, as opposed to just text, or text plus images.

70% of marketers believe this to be the case. In websites, the conversion rate is also much higher if there are strategically placed videos in the home page MC (main content). While high-quality images and content are still important, if you want your qualified leads to take action, then use video, too.

12. LinkedIn is highly relevant to the B2B community.

The king of social media in the B2B lead generation industry is not Facebook but LinkedIn.

LinkedIn has a robust system specifically geared toward businesses, which is why it naturally attracts individual contractors, groups, and companies. 80% of all B2B leads generated through social media marketing is generated through the LinkedIn platform, so make sure you use this platform your advantage.

 13. Learn proper lead nurturing.

Proper lead nurturing has been shown to increase sales-ready or warm leads by as much as 50%, and the cost of acquiring a sales-ready lead can also be reduced by 33%. In the long term, proper lead nurturing can increase profits and decrease costs of lead generation simultaneously. Proper lead management is all a business needs to manage leads wisely.

14. Content marketing vs. outbound marketing

Content marketing, or the type of digital marketing that relies on updating a website or blog with compelling and useful information, has been shown to increase lead generation three times while reducing overall costs by 62%.

15. Follow-up emails vs. stand-alone emails.

Stand-alone emails typically stand on their own and can be used again and again until you get some type of response from possible leads.

However, did you know that you can get 4-10 times more responses when you do a series of emails, instead? Follow-up emails that nurture leads from the first email onward help build trust and also helps people decide more quickly.

16. Fast response times matter.

 Companies that follow up leads coming from the Web are more likely to clinch sales if they respond to queries in five minutes or less.

This in turn can help sales reps reach their quotas, and companies have also reported that swift responses and having the proper knowledge about nurturing leads have increased sales reps who are fulfilling their sales quotas by as much as 9%.

This is astronomical, especially as many companies have dozens or even hundreds of sales staff, all working toward the same goal: generate quality leads.

17. Blogging is important to B2B businesses.

 81% of businesses from different industries report that having their own well-updated and informative blog has been critical in generating leads. Companies who do blog frequently and with compelling and useful content generate 67% more sales-ready leads.

18. Website depth

Websites that have 401-1000 pages in total tend to generate more leads through organic search marketing and content market than website with less than 400 pages of content.

19. Mobile marketing

 49% of B2B marketers have diverted massive portions of their budgets for mobile marketing efforts and for the development of responsive websites. Google has recently turned to indexing mobile versions of websites first before anything else, so don’t think that the mobile version of your website is eliding Google’s radar.

20. Insufficient quality data is a hindrance

42% of marketing professionals believe that not having relevant and up to date information about their own industries has become a hindrance too, in generating leads. This is quite the predicament as more and more people are relying on data first before technique, and people now want methods corroborated with statistics.

21. Lack of nurturing leads to poor conversions.

 79% of leads never make it to the bottom of the funnel. The problem? Insufficient lead nurturing. Converting leads into actual sales is another step in the process that one cannot simply give over to chance.