B2B SaaS marketing funnel conversion rate benchmarks

A common question that pops up for B2B SaaS Marketing VPs is what are "good conversion rates" for the various stages of the funnel.

This is a very tricky topic since every customer segment and go-to-market approach will drive wildly different answers to this question. Not providing any answer is also not fair. Because there is some data available.

Below is not applicable to every team, company or situation. It's an average of data points we've collected from 7 B2B SaaS startups the past 5 years. We added some data from other CMOs who work with B2B SaaS companies.

It's a starting point. Nothing more.

Inbound marketing funnel conversion rates

Inbound conversion rates will measure the success of your inbound marketing programs, online presence and lead nurturing through content like an eBook, video or whitepaper.

KPI Stages	Next goals	Average
Unique visitors	Get contact details	N/A
Contacts & Subscribers	Nurture to MQL	5.00%
Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL)	Get a meeting	20.00%
Sakes Accepted Leads (SAL)	Qualified by SDR	43.75%
Sales Qualified Leads (SQL)	Qualified by Account Executive	63.33%
Opportunities (CRM)	Assign opportunity amount ($) and product	43.33%
Wins	Revenue committed by prospect	31.25%
All-up conversion rate (top to bottom)	Visitor to win	0.05%

Outbound marketing funnel conversion rates

Your outbound conversion rates will rely heavily on the quality and fit of your initial prospect pool, the channels you use to reach them, and quality of messaging and content you use in those channels.

KPI Stages	Next goals	Average
Outbound contacts (Prospects)	Prioritize targeted outreach and content	N/A
Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)	Get a meeting (BDR)	15.00%
Sales Accepted Leads (SAL)	Qualify by SDR	42.50%
Sales Qualified Leads (SQL)	Qualify by Account Executive	55.00%
Opportunities	Assign opportunity amount ($) and product	50.00%
Wins	Revenue committed by prospect	37.50%
All-up conversion rate (top to bottom)	Visitor to win	0.03%

Setting up your Sales and Marketing funnel

To make this meaningful, you should benchmark your funnel and use that data to inform improvement initiatives. We often see companies that don't define stages, statuses or entry/exit criteria for their funnels.

If your Sales and Marketing teams aren't aligned on the definitions at each stage of the funnel, your conversion measurements won't be accurate. Below is the template we use with our clients to get S&M funnel alignment. This will also set the stage for your Sales and Marketing automation requirements for your Sales and Marketing tech stack.