B2B Sales Statistics

Even if most customers never consider it, B2B (business-to-business) sales are a huge part of today’s economy. After all, how can new products be made if computer companies can’t buy processor chips or if ice cream makers can’t buy milk? Without B2B sales, there can be no B2C (business-to-consumer) sales, and shopping would grind to a standstill.

Whether you’re a B2B business owner or simply looking to check the economy’s health, it’s valuable to know how the B2B industry is doing. Here are over 50 up-to-date vital sales statistics that provide a snapshot of B2B sales in 2023.

Customer Expectations

B2B buyers are becoming less concerned about privacy, despite the looming phase-out of third-party cookies which were used to track customer interactions online. However, B2B buyers are very stringent about excellent service from a company’s sales reps, customer service, and online purchasing process.

1. Eighty-two percent (82%) of B2B buyers believe it’s appropriate for B2B marketers to collect a client’s brand purchase history, and more than half say that it’s appropriate to collect information on clients’ important life events.
   Source: Statista

2. Seventy-eight percent (78%) of B2B clients expect performance guarantees during the selling process.
3. Seventy-two percent (72%) of B2B clients expect real-time customer service at all hours.
4. Seventy-four percent (74%) of B2B clients expect to see product availability online.
5. Seventy-two percent (72%) of B2B clients expect a consistent experience across all channels and to be able to purchase from any channel.
   Source: McKinsey

Buying Process

B2B purchases are often a large investment for the buyer company, so purchasing managers and decision-makers are very thorough when researching and vetting a B2B seller.

6. B2B buyers read an average of 13 pieces of content before making a buying decision.
   Source: Marketing Charts

7. B2B buyers are 57-70% through their buying research before contacting sales.
   Source: WB Research

8. In B2B sales, between four and five individuals are often involved in the sales process, along with around three decision-makers.
   Source: HubSpot

8. Eighty-four percent (84%) of B2B decision-makers begin their buying process with a referral.
   Source: WB Research

Customer Loyalty

To ensure customer loyalty and encourage repeat purchases, B2B sellers should go above and beyond in their total product offering by focusing on how the product brings value to the customer. Discounts and promotions are also an effective way to encourage repeat purchases.

10. Customer loyalty was 60% higher in companies that delivered at least six elements of value beyond the bare industry minimum, such as functionality, ease of doing business, individual gain for the buyer, and inspirational value for the company.
    Source: Bain and Co.

11. When asked what the top strategies to sell to existing customers were, B2B companies responded with discounts and promotions (69%), establishing a rapport (66%), and membership rewards programs (60%).
    Source: HubSpot

Budgeting and Spending 

Though traditional and digital ad spending for B2B companies are on the uprise, marketing and sales budgets contract in 2023 as companies prepare for a recession. Sales reps are also investing more in in-person events, which provide higher-quality leads at a lower cost.

12. B2B traditional ad spending in the US was $17.7 billion, and digital ad spending was $14.3 billion.
    Source: Statista

13. Less than half of B2B businesses (44%) expect an increase in marketing budget, 24% expect no change, and 32% expect a budget decrease. This starkly contrasts with the 2022 budget figures, where 69% of companies expected a marketing budget increase.
    Source: Demand Gen Report

14. As pandemic shutdowns ease, in-person tradeshows and events became the most popular spending category for B2B companies, representing 33% of total marketing spending.
    Source: Sagefrog Marketing Group

Management

Though the B2B segment has been growing and making more sales, as operations scale up, so too do the inefficiencies in their sales processes. When selling costs rise rapidly, money is often left on the table.

15. Sales and marketing efforts by B2B companies waste an overall $2 trillion in excess sales, general, and administrative (SG&A) costs and lost revenue potential.
    Source: BCG

16. Though businesses’ use of applications increased by 10% in the past year, less than 30% of these apps are integrated, leading to information silos.
    Source: Salesforce

17. Thirty-three percent (33%) of B2B organizations are investing in RPA task automation technology to improve productivity.
    Source: Salesforce

Marketing Tactics

More and more B2B sellers are outsourcing marketing efforts to marketing companies, though most still use in-house marketing. The most popular marketing tools were search engine optimization and one-on-one marketing tactics.

18. Between in-house and outsourced marketing efforts, 44% of B2B companies use in-house, 21% outsource to marketing companies, and 35% use both.
    Source: Sagefrog Marketing Group

19. Outsourced marketing has increased in popularity, with 21% of B2B companies in 2023 hiring marketing companies as opposed to 8% the previous year.
    Source: Sagefrog Marketing Group (2023), Sagefrog Marketing Group (2022)

20. Seventy-five percent (75%) of B2B companies that increased their market share said they used direct one-on-one marketing tactics.
    Source: McKinsey

20. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has become the most widely used marketing tactic in 2023, with approximately half (49%) of businesses implementing SEO strategies.
    Source: Sagefrog Marketing Group

Lead Generation

Though digital marketing tools such as SEO, SEM, and social media are generally the most popular for generating qualified leads, SaaS companies found traditional channels such as word-of-mouth to be the most effective.

22. Generally, the most qualified leads came from a combination of Search Engine Optimization (34%), Search Engine Marketing (30%), and paid social media (29%).
    Source: Sagefrog Marketing Group

23. For SaaS B2B companies, the most preferred marketing channels for lead generation were word-of-mouth (34%), paid searches (18%), and partnerships (14%).
    Source: BCG

Lead Nurturing

Lead scoring and nurturing remain key elements for a company’s growth and success. The best ways to nurture and score leads were by using information-driven campaigns, marketing automation, and meeting face-to-face.

24. To nurture top-of-funnel leads, companies claimed that webinars (48%), lead nurture campaigns (43%), and industry events/trade shows (41%) were the most effective engagement tactics.
    Source: Demand Gen Report

25. When asked for the best B2B sales strategies for converting new customers, 61% of respondents claimed that meeting face-to-face was the most effective, tied by selling based on solutions and results rather than the product itself.
    Source: HubSpot

26. Nurtured B2B leads generate 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads at a 33% lower cost.
    Source: Zippia

27. Among B2B SaaS companies, those with advanced lead-scoring systems grew 75% faster than those with basic technology.
    Source: BCG

28. Businesses that use marketing automation to nurture prospects experience a 451% increase in qualified leads.
    Source: Spotio

Sales Process

Getting a lead through the sales funnel is as difficult as ever, as sellers need to converse with buyers several times before making a sale. The best ways to improve your sales process are to analyze your data, establish a rapport, and offer incentives.

29. The average conversion rate from a lead to a customer is 2.7% for B2B services and 2.3% for B2B tech.
    Source: Ruler Analytics

30. B2B sellers communicate with prospects an average of seven times before making a sale, with 35% of companies communicating two to four times, 27% communicating five to seven times, and 16% communicating eight to 10 times.
    Source: HubSpot

31. High-performing salespeople are 19% more likely to analyze their data to optimize their sales process.
    Source: HubSpot

32. To sell to new customers, the most effective sales strategies were found to be establishing a rapport (71%), offering discounts and promotions (61%), and creating a membership rewards program (48%).
    Source: HubSpot

Social Media

Most B2B companies use social media, with Facebook taking the lead for the most used and most effective social media platform for generating leads.

33. Almost all (97%) B2B companies have a social media presence.
    Source: Sagefrog Marketing Group

34. The most used social media marketing tactics are Facebook Ads (55%) and organic social media posts (46%).
    Source: Sagefrog Marketing Group

35. When asked which social media platforms were the most effective for finding new prospects, 70% of B2B companies responded with Facebook, followed by Instagram (64%), LinkedIn (55%), Youtube (52%), and TikTok (50%).
    Source: HubSpot

Email Marketing

Email marketing is fairly popular among B2B sellers to distribute content, though its popularity and efficacy seem to be dropping slightly in the face of more effective marketing and sales strategies.

36. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of B2B marketers use email newsletters to distribute content.
    Source: Content Marketing Institute

37. To distribute their email newsletters, 83% of B2B organizations use their own email list or provider, 2% use a social media platform, and 15% use both.
    Source: Content Marketing Institute

38. Email marketing software usage decreased from 75% in 2022 to 68% in 2023.
    Source: Content Marketing Institute

39. B2B email marketing has an open rate of 15.1%, which is lower than the B2C rate of 19.7%.
    Source: Influencer Marketing Hub

40. Approximately 16% of all emails go missing or are caught by popular spam filters.
    Source: Email Tool Tester

SaaS (software as a service) Industry

The B2B SaaS industry is growing at an astounding rate due to companies’ low investment and operating costs, as products can be developed and delivered remotely to meet growing demands for cloud-based services, AI, and machine learning solutions.

41. B2B Saas grew and increased their revenue by 179% in 2022, about ten times the rate of non-B2B SaaS companies (17%). This follows a five-year-long pattern of growth.
    Source: BCG

42. Finance and AI were the top-growing B2B SaaS segments, with annual growth rates of 324% and 294%, respectively.
    Source: BCG

43. The fastest-growing companies typically invest 25-30% of revenue into their go-to-market (GTM) strategy when launching a new product.
    Source: BCG

Ecommerce 

Though B2B ecommerce is a large industry and sees a majority of SMEs as its buyers, it represents only a fraction of B2B sales and a fairly inefficient way for B2B sellers to gain customers.

44. B2B ecommerce in the United States is valued at approximately $6.4 trillion.
    Source: Statista

45. B2B ecommerce was estimated to be approximately 17% of B2B sales in 2023.
    Source: Statista

46. Over half (56%) of retail small and medium enterprises (SMEs) make their transactions via e-commerce.
    Source: Statista

47. The average conversion rate from a lead to a customer for B2B ecommerce is 1.8%.
    Source: Ruler Analytics

Future Challenges in B2B Sales

A large challenge for B2B sales is Google’s plan to phase out third-party cookies by 2024, upending current online lead generation and qualification strategies. Additionally, company infrastructures are struggling to keep up with the influx of new content and tools.

48. Without internet cookies to track online behavior, B2B companies are prioritizing intent/signal data gathering tools (37%), multichannel lead nurturing (34%), and account-based marketing (34%) to attract and retain leads.
    Source: Demand Gen Report

49. Only 28% of content marketers say their B2B company has the technology in place to manage company-wide content.
    Source: Content Marketing Institute

50. Ninety-two percent (92%) of organizations say that at least one department in their company requires both integration and automation.
    Source: Salesforce

Future Goals in B2B Sales

Despite the challenges, B2B companies are still optimistic about 2023. Businesses are currently prioritizing video and owned-media assets, AI and automation, and more personalized and rich marketing tactics.

51. Most (76%) of B2B companies expect revenue growth in 2023.
    Source: Demand Gen Report

52. Seventy-eight percent (78%) of content marketers say their organization will invest or continue to invest in video and owned-media assets in 2023, up from 69% last year.
    Source: Content Marketing Institute

53. Forty-two percent (42%) of B2B businesses are planning to experiment with artificial intelligence (AI) and automation in 2023.
    Source: Sagefrog Marketing Group

54. When asked what areas of demand generation will be prioritized in the budget for 2023, 46% of responding companies indicated account-based marketing, 43% indicated content marketing, and 38% indicated sales enablement.
    Source: Demand Gen Report