Link to the research report →
About this survey:
Survey question: What is the single biggest challenge with nurturing leads?
Survey period: March 2021 - April 2021
Notes on data:
Lead nurturing is a critical capability for B2B companies. Ironpaper commonly sees gaps that live between marketing and sales functions of many B2B organizations. Because of these gaps, many B2B companies fail to generate sales opportunities or revenue from leads generated through marketing.
Lead generation is one of the most important parts of generating sales, where many marketers spend a large portion of their yearly budget. But challenges fill this area, mainly the top three noted here: understanding buyer motivations, re-engaging inactive leads, and using content effectively.
Understanding buyer motivations is undoubtedly a challenge across numerous industries. Changes in buyers' needs, accelerated by the pandemic, have caused B2B marketers to question set assumptions. Because market forces have impacted the B2B buying landscape so greatly in the past few years, marketers often feel at a loss when identifying true buyer motivations. Without a sound understanding of buyer needs, it’s nearly impossible to re-engage inactive leads or create effective content, making the second and third lead nurturing challenges closely tied to the first. The data suggests that the majority of B2B marketers understand why leads drop off, but the real challenge is solving for that problem. The solution can be unlocked by understanding buyer motivations.
Methodology
Please note that some of the numbers have been rounded for simplicity and quick comprehension.
The 180 respondents included in this market survey were individuals with business and/or marketing decision-making capabilities at a B2B company. Respondents consisted of 50% sole decision-makers, 29% those who share decision-making authority, 18% that have input into decision-making, and 3% that have insight into decision-making within the organization. Most respondents indicated Marketing (30%) or Sales/Business Development (28%) as their respective areas of expertise in their current jobs.
