Why Your B2B PPC Metrics Are Misleading You

B2B PPC advertisers today have a far wider range of measurement tools than ever before. Gone are the days when form-fill data was the only option. Now, you can funnel a wealth of offline conversion data directly into Google Ads and Microsoft Ads.

It’s tempting to track every possible metric, but optimizing for all of them at once is a mistake. When you try to optimize for everything, you often end up excelling at nothing. So how do you determine if you’re actually driving incremental value, and which success metrics truly matter for B2B PPC campaigns? The answers might not align with what you’re currently tracking.

The advertising metrics that matter

I’ve watched advertisers set up offline conversions and celebrate as their total conversion count jumped. Then frustration sets in when those numbers don’t translate into real bottom-line growth. Typically, those increases happen because the advertiser added multiple conversion actions and set them all to primary. Before the change, they were only tracking form fills. Afterward, they tracked form fills, marketing qualified leads (MQLs), sales qualified leads (SQLs), and opportunities.

Instead of one conversion action, they now have four. But the same person could complete all four, effectively quadruple-counting leads. A similar problem occurs with platform-reported return on ad spend (ROAS). If you’ve attached conversion values to each action , which you absolutely should , you’ll also see ROAS rise. Both are false signals driven by faulty math.

Focusing solely on average cost per action (CPA) can also be deceptive. Average CPA can hide your marginal CPA , the cost of acquiring one additional conversion as your marketing spend increases. As you scale your account, you might be overspending on those incremental conversions.

Set up conversion values correctly

Setting up conversion values is essential for offline conversions. Many B2B advertisers get stuck here, saying, “We don’t know the value of the conversion at the time it happens. We won’t know that until it moves through the system.” While using actual conversion values is ideal, don’t worry if you can’t. Just assign relative values to each conversion action. Here’s a simple example: an advertiser measures four conversion actions: video views, ungated asset downloads, form fills, and MQLs. MQLs come from offline conversions, while the rest are tracked through Google Tag conversions.

Each conversion is worth 10 times the previous action. Ungated asset downloads are worth 10 times a video view, and so on. MQLs are worth 1,000 times a video view. The advertiser would rather get one MQL than 999 video views. If you set arbitrary values, validate them against real data to ensure they’re guiding bidding algorithms correctly. Setting values too high for lower-funnel actions can cause the algorithm to favor those easier-to-generate actions while deprioritizing deeper-funnel ones.

This happened recently with a client who was getting many leads but very few MQLs and SQLs. We reduced the value of leads by a factor of 10, making MQLs and SQLs appear more valuable to the algorithm. Within two weeks, MQL and SQL volume increased significantly, while leads stayed flat. That might sound negative, but it was a win. The client started getting higher-quality leads for the same cost. By using the right conversion values, even relative ones, you can measure incremental conversion value more effectively.

Get more specific with campaign-specific goals

If you want Smart Bidding to focus on down-funnel actions, use campaign-specific goals. You can assign conversion actions at the campaign level, so Smart Bidding optimizes only for those actions. You’ll find this feature in campaign settings in both Google Ads and Microsoft Ads. Let’s say you have a campaign driving many leads but few MQLs and SQLs. You could set campaign-specific goals to optimize only for MQLs and SQLs, ignoring leads even if they’re a primary conversion in the account. Note: If lower-funnel actions have low volume, this technique may not work. Automation still needs a clear enough signal to optimize toward. If you only have one or two MQLs in a month, the automation might struggle.

The success metrics for measuring incremental conversions

Looking at simple CPA and ROAS metrics isn’t enough. You also need to examine each conversion action and measure incremental conversions. A basic way to do this is to establish your baseline first, then measure the CPA and ROAS of conversions at a higher spend level. For example, suppose you’re spending $5,000 per week and getting an average of 50 conversions, so your CPA is $100. Now you increase your weekly spend to $7,500 and get 70 conversions, for an average CPA of $107 , not much higher than before. Your marginal spend is $2,500, marginal conversions are 20, and marginal CPA is $125 , 25% higher than the original CPA.

Whether this difference is acceptable depends on your goals. It might make sense to invest more to increase sales. But you need to understand where your upper limit is. At some point, you may exceed the amount you’re willing to invest for an additional lead while still making fiscal sense. If you want to get more sophisticated, use a marketing mix modeling (MMM) tool to run an incrementality test. Several MMM tools are available, from expensive to low-cost or even free. For instance, Google’s Meridian is open-source and free, but it requires technical know-how to set up. MMMs also need significant historical data , two or more years , but once the data is ingested, they’re excellent for measuring incrementality.

The true test of whether your success metrics are working

MQLs, SQLs, and closed deals are important. But the true measure of incremental value is revenue or pipeline. That means you need to ensure you’re actually measuring for it. Not all sales are equal. You might see one deal for $5,000 and another for $2 million. Both register as closed sales in the CRM, but they’re nothing alike. Which would you rather have? It’s easy to undervalue conversion actions if you’re using proxy values like those described above. Yet pipeline and revenue are often determined outside the 90-day conversion window required for offline conversions.

It’s crucial to look at the data in your CRM and map it back to your paid search campaigns. Are there campaigns or content assets driving relatively few leads and MQLs but a lot of pipeline? If so, don’t devalue them. Make sure you keep them running and give them enough budget to succeed. Also, don’t forget about incremental revenue. If you’re scaling your spend, keep an eye on incremental revenue to find the point of diminishing returns. Doing this can prevent overspending on campaigns or channels once they’re no longer cost-effective.