# How to use B2B marketing benchmarks
> A B2B marketing benchmark is someone else's average. Use it as a smell test for whether your conversion rates are implausible, not as a funnel to copy. Your ICP, price, and sales process will not match the survey.
- HTML: https://omentir.com/b2b-marketing-benchmarks
- Markdown: https://omentir.com/b2b-marketing-benchmarks.md

## What a benchmark actually is

It is a statistic from a sample: average email click rate, typical win rate, cost per opportunity in a category. Firms like [Forrester](https://www.forrester.com) sell research that includes these ranges. The number is a description of that sample, in that year, with that definition of a "lead." It is not a law of your funnel.

**How to use a benchmark without copying someone else's funnel**

| You see | Ask |
| --- | --- |
| Average reply rate | For which channel, ICP, and year |
| SQL rate | How they define SQL |
| CAC | What costs are in the number |

## Why copying a funnel percentage fails

Definitions differ. One company's MQL is a webinar registrant. Another's is a sales-accepted opportunity. Mix those and you will "underperform" a 20% conversion rate that was never comparable. Price and cycle length also move every ratio. A $3,000 tool and a $300,000 implementation do not share a demo-to-close rate. If you paste a SaaS survey into a manufacturing plan, you will hire for a motion you do not have.

## Use a range as a smell test

If your site converts at 0.05% or at 40%, something is probably mis-tagged, or you are counting the wrong denominator. If cost per opportunity is ten times a published range for a similar ACV, you have a targeting or offer problem, or you are buying the wrong channel. The benchmark's job is to make you ask "are we measuring the same thing?" not to set the OKR.

## Build your own baseline

Ninety days of clean CRM data beats a PDF. Track by ICP and by motion, not one blended funnel. When a vendor quote arrives, ask for the definition, the year, and the sample. If they cannot answer, you do not have a benchmark. You have a sales slide.

## Related

- [B2B video marketing: demos, stories, LinkedIn native, and YouTube](https://omentir.com/b2b-video-marketing.md)
- [B2B influencer marketing is analysts and practitioners, not fame](https://omentir.com/b2b-influencer-marketing.md)
- [B2B technology marketing for developers and economic buyers](https://omentir.com/b2b-technology-marketing.md)

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