Most pay-per-lead B2B marketers (51%) say knowing a buyer's purchasing time horizon is the most important data point they want but often don't get, according to a recent report by Business.com.
The size of the buyer's business, as measured by employee base, is the second most valuable additional data point for leads: 31% of marketers say it would be extremely valuable to know.
That's followed by industry type (29% say it would be extremely valuable) and job title (20%).
Below, additional key findings from the report, which was based on a survey of 500 of Business.com's pay-per-lead advertisers focused on the SMB market.
Content Marketing
The survey found significant interest in leads generated through content marketing campaigns:
- Most survey respondents are interested in leads generated from the publication of whitepapers (51% say these leads are valuable/extremely valuable).
- 34% say leads from hosted webinars that feature their company or products are valuable/extremely valuable.
- Respondents also expressed interest in leads generated from sponsored email (38% say they are valuable/extremely valuable), video (35%), and case studies (38%).
Hot Transfers and Lead Scoring
- 42% of survey respondents expressed strong interest in "hot transfers"—the practice of connecting companies immediately with leads as they come in.
- 60% of respondents are very interested in lead scoring, whereby individual leads are assigned a score reflecting the likelihood a response.
About the research: The report was based on data from a survey conducted in May 2013 of 500 of Business.com's active pay-per-lead advertisers focused on the SMB market.
