40 Inbound Marketing Statistics to Help Convince Your Team

Need to justify Inbound to your team? Googled around but still not sure? Here’s the statistical evidence you need to make a decision.

Cut the Confusion, Justify With Fact

Deciding on a marketing solution is a difficult process. There’s a wealth of information out there; you’ve likely Googled your way through reams of blogs, articles and eBooks.

Right now, you may have an idea of what Inbound is, how it works and even why you need it. But it’s hard to narrow down and justify a decision without facts.

So if your browsing history is an archive of the “what, why, when and how’s” of Inbound, here’s the statistical evidence you need to know that Inbound works.

40 Inbound Statistics You Need To Read

Inbound ROI

1. Companies are 3x as likely to see higher ROI on Inbound campaigns than outbound marketing. (HubSpot State of Inbound 2015)

2. Inbound campaigns achieve higher ROI than outbound. This holds true across different company sizes and budgets. (HubSpot State of Inbound 2015)

3. 44% of brands who use marketing automation software will see ROI within 6 months, and 75% will see ROI after one year. (Groove Digital Marketing)

4. According to the HubSpot State of Inbound 2015, marketers who demonstrated positive marketing ROI in 2015, were more than twice as likely to receive higher budget.

5. Having a Marketing-Sales service level agreement (SLA) leads to higher ROI. The presence of an SLA also correlates with increases in budget and staff. (HubSpot State of Inbound 2015)

6. 52% of marketers say difficulties in accurately measuring ROI are their greatest frustration in social marketing. (Adobe)

Inbound Investment

7. Inbound marketing costs 62% less per lead than traditional outbound marketing. (HubSpot)

8. 55% of marketers who blog report below average costs-per-lead via that channel. (Mashable)

9. The cost of 3 out of 4 Inbound Marketing channels is less than the cost of any outbound marketing channel. (Mashable)

10. By investing more in Inbound marketing vs. outbound, companies save an average of $20k per year. (HubSpot State of Inbound)

Lead Generation/ Conversion

11. Companies see a 55% increase in leads when they increase the number of web-based landing pages from 10 to 15. (HubSpot)

12. Companies who excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% lower cost. (Forrester Research: Rethinking The B2B Tech Marketing Mix In The Digital Age) 

13. Inbound leads cost 60% less than outbound leads. (Search Engine Journal)

14. On average, brands who publish 15 blogs per month convert 1,200 new leads per month. (HubSpot)

15. 54% more leads are generated by Inbound tactics than traditional paid marketing. (HubSpot State of Inbound)

16. Nurtured leads commit to a 47% higher purchase value than non-nurtured leads. (Annuitas)

17. Companies that use marketing automation see 53% higher conversion rates than those not using automation. (Aberdeen Group)

18. Only 25% of the leads you generate will be ready to buy in the next 12-24 months. The other 75% will need nurturing.

Inbound Adoption

19. 3 out of 4 marketers across the globe prioritise an Inbound approach to marketing. (HubSpot State of Inbound 2015)

20. Leading marketers recognise that Inbound is a long game. Both past success and past failure with Inbound correlates with an Inbound marketing budget increase. (HubSpot State of Inbound 2015) 

21. According to the HubSpot State of Inbound 2015, Inbound Marketing is the preferred marketing strategy regardless of company type. Inbound tactics are now being used by B2Bs, B2Cs and non-profits.

Content

22. Companies who published 16+ blog posts per month got almost 3.5X more traffic than companies that published between 0-4 monthly posts. (HubSpot)

23. B2B companies who blog only 1-2 times per month generate up to 70% more leads than those that don’t. (HubSpot)

24. 57% of businesses have acquired a customer through their company blog, and 42% have acquired a customer through Twitter. (Mashable)

25. 80% of decision makers favour receiving brand information via an article series more than via ads. (Content Marketing Institute)

26. B2B companies who blog generate 67% more leads per month than those who don’t. (Social Media B2B)

27. Social media and blog sites account for 23% of all time spent online. (Content Marketing Institute)

28. Blogging gives websites 434% more indexed pages and 97% more indexed links.  (HubSpot and ContentPlus)

29. Businesses with websites of 401-1000 pages receive 6x more leads than those with 51-100 pages. (HubSpot Lead Generation Lessons from 4,000 Businesses)

30. People are more likely to visit a B2B tech company’s website after seeing a tweet from the company. (KoMarketing Associates)

Inbound Sales

31. SEO leads have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads (such as direct mail or print advertising) have a 1.7% close rate. (Search Engine Journal)

32. Companies who utilise Inbound content platforms and offer buyer persona driven content see a 45% increase in their volume of Sales Accepted Leads (SALs). (Kapost: Quantifying the Cost of Inefficient Content Processes)

33. Marketers who are involved in sales software selection are 13% more likely to see a positive ROI, and 11% more likely to receive an increased budget. (HubSpot State of Inbound 2015)

34. Prospecting is deemed the most difficult stage of the sales process. 42% of sales reps state that this is their biggest challenge. Often this is due to salespeople lacking vital information before reaching out to leads. Inbound sales enablement can ease this issue. (HubSpot State of Inbound 2015)

35. Nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads. (The Annuitas Group)

36. 43% of companies say their sales teams have only a lead’s basic contact information before reaching out.

37. 19% of buyers would first want to connect with a salesperson at the awareness stage (when they are first learning about a product), compared to 60% of buyers who want to connect with a salesperson after they’ve researched products and have a shortlist.

38. 61% of organisations that are engaged in social selling are reporting a positive impact. (Sales For Life)

Other

39. Websites with c.51-100 pages generate 48% more traffic than websites with 1- 50 pages. (B2B Marketing)

40. 84% of audiences aged 25 to 34 have left a favourite website due to interruptive (non-Inbound) advertising. (Mashable)

The statistics speak for themselves. If delivered correctly, an Inbound marketing and sales process will attract and nurture your best-fit leads through their purchasing journey, resulting in solid ROI, and a successful marketing strategy.