Why most B2B lead gen campaigns are optimising for the wrong metrics

Many B2B paid media campaigns focus on maximising lead volume. Marketers often celebrate hitting high lead counts at a low cost per lead (CPL), believing this indicates success. But the reality? Most of these leads never translate into revenue and only go as far as a stat shared on LinkedIn or a case study used in sales pitches.

The issue is simple: not all leads are high quality or contribute meaningfully to the sales pipeline. Optimising for sheer lead volume often means flooding sales teams with low-intent prospects, resulting in wasted time, frustration, and poor conversion rates.

Instead, B2B advertisers should optimise for metrics that directly impact revenue, such as sales-qualified leads (SQLs) and pipeline value. Lead volume should be treated as a leading indicator – not the ultimate measure of success.

The single most important goal for B2B marketers managing Paid campaigns is to move your main optimisation metric as far down the funnel as you can without dropping volumes too low and losing statistical significance.

Why optimising for the cheapest leads fails

A lead generation campaign that prioritises the lowest CPL often produces low-quality leads. Here’s why:

• Unqualified Prospects: If your forms are too easy to complete or promoted to broad audiences, you’ll attract unqualified individuals with little interest in buying.
• Wasted SDR Time: Sales development representatives spend hours chasing leads that never intended to buy, lowering efficiency.
• High Drop-Off Rates: Many of these leads never respond to outreach, leading to poor conversion rates from marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) to sales-qualified leads (SQLs).

Common mistakes in lead gen optimisation

1. Relying on Form Fills: A completed form does not indicate buying intent. Many leads download content for research, not because they’re ready to purchase.
2. MQLs Without Deeper Qualification: Marketing-qualified leads are often based on arbitrary criteria (e.g., job title, company size) rather than actual intent.
3. Ignoring Sales Feedback: If sales teams struggle to convert marketing-generated leads, it’s a sign that the lead gen strategy needs adjustment.

What B2B advertisers should optimise for instead

To improve lead quality and revenue impact, focus on these key metrics:

1. Sales-qualified leads (SQLs)

SQLs are leads that meet key criteria and have demonstrated genuine buying intent. Unlike MQLs, these leads have been vetted by sales and are more likely to convert into opportunities. If you’re able to move your optimisation metric in ad campaigns from MQLs to SQLs you will see an instant improvement down-funnel.

2. Pipeline impact

Rather than measuring leads in isolation, track how many progress to actual revenue opportunities. This includes:

• Lead-to-SQL Rate: The percentage of leads that become sales-qualified.
• SQL-to-Opportunity Rate: How many SQLs turn into pipeline deals.
• Pipeline Revenue Contribution: The value of deals sourced from marketing-generated leads.

3. Lead-to-close rate

The ultimate measure of a lead gen campaign’s effectiveness is its ability to generate paying customers. By tracking lead-to-close rate, advertisers can optimise for campaigns that drive actual revenue, not just lead volume. Of course, this level of reporting and optimisation takes a much longer time frame and can’t be used for day-to-day granular optimisation, but absolutely should be set up and referred back to at appropriate time intervals to ensure the ship is pointing in the right direction.

How to implement a better optimisation strategy

1. Align Paid Media goals with sales

Marketing and sales teams must define what a “high-quality lead” looks like. Work together to establish:

• Ideal customer profiles (ICPs)
• High-intent signals
• Lead scoring criteria

By aligning lead gen efforts with sales needs, marketers can focus on delivering leads that are more likely to convert.

2. Use CRM & offline conversion tracking

Most B2B deals happen offline. To measure true performance, integrate platforms like Google Ads and LinkedIn with your CRM (e.g., HubSpot, Salesforce). This allows you to pass back real revenue data and optimise campaigns based on:

• SQL conversion rates
• Pipeline influence
• Closed-won revenue

3. Prioritise high-intent actions

Instead of optimising for content downloads or generic form fills, focus on actions that indicate strong buying interest:

• Demo Requests: These leads actively want to see your product in action.
• Pricing Inquiries: Someone asking about pricing is closer to making a purchase decision.
• Direct Sales Engagement: Leads who book a meeting or engage in a live chat are typically high-intent prospects.

4. Test conversation-based lead gen

Traditional lead forms often fail to capture true intent. Consider interactive approaches like:

• LinkedIn Conversation Ads: Engage leads in a chat-based format to qualify them before handing them off to sales.
• Chatbots & Live Chat: Allow prospects to ask real-time questions and book meetings instantly.
• In-Platform Messaging: Instead of directing users to landing pages, keep interactions native to LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google.

Conclusion

B2B marketers must shift from optimising for lead volume to prioritising pipeline impact. When campaigns are designed to maximise SQLs, pipeline revenue, and lead-to-close rates, marketing teams drive real business outcomes – not just vanity metrics for a great end of month marketing report or case study.

By integrating CRM data, aligning with sales, and focusing on high-intent actions, advertisers can ensure their lead gen efforts result in more predictable revenue and a higher return on investment.

Key takeaways:

• Lead volume is only a leading indicator – pipeline revenue should be the primary KPI.
• Cheap leads often lead to wasted sales time and poor conversion rates.
• Optimise for SQLs, pipeline impact, and lead-to-close rate instead of form fills.
• Use CRM data and offline conversion tracking to measure true revenue impact.
• Prioritise high-intent actions like demo requests, pricing inquiries, and direct sales engagement.

If your lead gen campaigns aren’t contributing to sales pipeline growth, it’s time to rethink your strategy. Focus on what truly moves the needle – revenue, not just leads.

Want to know more? Get in touch with Hallam to find out how we can help maximise your paid media strategy.