Inbound marketing has completely overturned conventional marketing that focused on continuously pushing the product onto the customer. The inbound marketing statistics below show how digital strategies like SEO, blogging, and social media marketing are better suited to the mindset of the modern consumer. They also underscore an ongoing shift in the inbound marketing domain itself. Read on for some general stats and facts on inbound marketing and how it compares to outbound marketing.
Inbound Marketing Statistics (Editor’s Choice)
- Roughly one-third of marketers cite brand awareness as their top marketing goal.
- Leads generated through inbound marketing cost 61% less than outbound leads.
- Facebook generates the highest ROI among other social media channels.
- At least 70% of consumers who use search engines only click on organic results.
- Only 18% of marketers believe outbound practices generate high-quality leads.
- SEO-generated inbound leads have a 14.6% close rate.
General Inbound Marketing Stats
1. For over 80% of marketers, social media is the primary approach to inbound marketing.
Changing customer attitudes has urged digital marketing specialists to implement creative campaigns to grow brand authenticity. Marketers cited social media as the prime channel for campaigns that let them develop a brand identity, followed by website and email marketing.
(HubSpot)
2. 82% of marketers report actively using content marketing.
Having acknowledged the inbound marketing effectiveness, marketers are investing in content marketing more than ever. HubSpot’s annual State of Inbound Marketing survey revealed a 12% surge in marketers that shifted their focus from traditional advertising or sales campaigns to inbound techniques.
(HubSpot)
3. Content marketing ranks as the most effective tactic for almost 20% of marketers worldwide.
17.4% of marketers find content marketing effective, on par with those who think the same about marketing automation. That shows there is no foolproof tactic for excelling at inbound marketing, and any method requires careful consideration. The other key tactics, as these inbound marketing success statistics show, are big data (15.3%), AI and machine learning (12.9%), social media marketing (7.8%), etc.
(Statista)
4. 34% of marketers cite successful product/service launches as their primary marketing goal.
Other cited objectives include building brand reputation/enhancing target attributes (31%) and increasing brand awareness (31%). Most respondents preferred inbound marketing tactics to achieve these goals, including personalized content (52%) and prioritizing effective segmentation for potential customer orientation (37%).
(Record Trend)
5. Analytics tools are the most widely used technology for inbound marketing among B2B firms.
88% of the respondents cited analytical tools, like web analytics or dashboards, as the leading technology they use to assist their marketing efforts, followed by social media publishing, email marketing software, content creation, collaboration, and workflow technologies. B2B inbound marketing statistics note a significant increase in content creation, workflow, and collaboration tools, jumping to 58% from 45%.
Content Marketing Institute’s inbound marketing report also shows that while the tool adaptability rate is rising, 24% of marketers cite the lack of integration with the tools as an obstacle to executing campaigns.
(Content Marketing Institute)
6. Lead nurturing helps companies generate 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% lower costs.
One of the advantages of inbound marketing is that it helps nurture leads across multiple channels. Stats on inbound marketing show that leads are generally not immediately ready to commit to a purchase when generated; marketers can use different channels to provide leads with the required information and push them gradually toward a sale. Lead nurturing has several other benefits, including a nearly 50% higher value of orders than non-nurtured leads.
(Invesp)
7. Inbound marketing leads cost 61% less than outbound leads.
Inbound vs. outbound marketing statistics demonstrate that the former is clearly more effective in comparison. 41% of marketers believe inbound marketing ROI to be measurable, and companies relying on such projects save $14 for each newly acquired customer.
(Invesp)
8. 89% of marketers find influencer marketing ROI comparable or superior to other marketing channels.
Influencer marketing does not apply to all lines of businesses, leaving many small business owners dubious still. Yet, the practice has proven to be among the most effective inbound marketing trends—marketers that found industry-leading influencer marketing partners reported great ROI numbers.
(BigCommerce)
9. 70-80% of users ignore sponsored search results.
While it is the quickest way to high visibility, an overwhelming majority of customers overlook paid search results. This stat further underlines the importance of investing in organic reach techniques.
(Ironpaper)
Statistics on Success of Inbound Marketing
10. Each dollar spent on inbound marketing generates 3x as many leads as outbound marketing.
Inbound marketing proved to be in sync with the changing customer attitudes. More and more people ignore advertisements coming from channels that disrupt the content they are engaging with while developing interest in content-based, interactive, and helpful marketing campaigns—and becoming more eager to share contact information.
(Protocol 80)
11. Facebook generates the highest ROI among other social media channels.
Instagram is the most popular choice among marketers, but teams report Facebook delivering better ROI, as inbound marketing statistics show. While Facebook and Instagram are relatively close in terms of ROI effectiveness, at over 40% and 30%, respectively, there’s a significant gap until LinkedIn. Only about 10% of marketers find the business-oriented social media platform as delivering scalable ROI.
(HubSpot)
12. Properly executed inbound marketing is 10x more effective for lead conversion than outbound.
Among other benefits, inbound marketing also lets you reach your targeted audience better. Moreover, the inbound audience’s behavior can be better analyzed, which allows you to adjust your strategies. In addition, many of the tools used in inbound marketing can stay relevant over a long period, which further enables a high inbound marketing conversion rate.
(IMPACT)
13. Only 18% of marketers believe outbound practices generate high-quality leads.
Meanwhile, inbound marketing stats show a whopping 60% of marketers believe inbound practices generate high-quality leads. Inbound marketing doesn’t only get you more leads at a low cost; these leads are also more likely to spend more when converted since they come to you based on their own decision, looking to fulfill a need through your product or service.
(HubSpot)
14. SEO-generated inbound leads have a 14.6% close rate.
This compares to around 1.7% for outbound sales conversion rates. Sales and marketing professionals know the impact of these figures on a campaign. The main reason for the much better conversion seen in inbound marketing is that the leads here get initiated by the potential customers themselves when they visit a website or make a call.
(The Smarketers)
15. Omnichannel campaigns see 90% higher customer retention rates than single-channel campaigns.
An inbound marketing strategy can consist of a wide range of channels, with more than one often utilized by marketers. Statistics on the success of inbound marketing show that customers prefer businesses to be consistent in their messaging across all the channels they use. Omni-channel campaigns result in nearly 20% better engagement rates and 250% better purchase frequency than single-channel campaigns.
(ClickZ)
16. An integrated inbound strategy can drive up to 1270% ROI.
A case study shows a well-designed integrated inbound strategy that includes customer segmentation, quality content creation, gating existing content for lead generation, and applicable data analysis can improve all stages of the sales funnel. The company that integrated such strategy saw a 51.64% increase in email click rates, 1,408% more blog views and 168% in total leads alongside a significant ROI.
(Prism Global Marketing Solutions)
Inbound Marketing Channels
17. 53% of online shopping experiences begin with an organic search.
Inbound marketing stats show that SEO offers 20 times more traffic opportunities than PPC on both mobile and desktop. Traffic is not limited to websites, as 76% of customers said they tend to search for something nearby and visit a business within a day, with 28% of these searches resulting in a purchase.
(Search Engine Journal)
18. At least 70% of consumers who use search engines only click on organic results.
Consumers seem to have become wary of paid ads on search engines and rely on results that rank high organically. Another interesting stat is that organic search results can generate leads 5.66 times better than paid search ads. Of course, the greatest benefits of organic search are reserved for those ranking near the top of the results.
(Gordo Web Design)
19. Companies using blogs see 97% more links to their websites being shared than those that don’t.
Inbound marketing stats show that this tactic remains one of the most effective ways to engage, inform, and attract leads. Statistics also show that 55% of decision-makers consider blogs their organization’s top content marketing priority. The reason for this can be found in the high returns a well-maintained, informative blog can earn, with businesses prioritizing their blogging efforts getting 13X higher ROI from content marketing.
(HubSpot)
20. LinkedIn brings the best overall results for organic content distribution for B2B firms.
Statistics about B2B inbound marketing show that almost all B2B marketers (96%) cited LinkedIn as the primary channel through which they distributed their content organically in the past year—vouching for the positive results it provides. Twitter and Facebook followed after with 82% each.
(Content Marketing Institute)
21. At least 80% of consumers have purchased a piece of software or an app after watching the brand’s video.
If content marketing using text is effective, using video is even more so. Content marketing stats consistently prove that visual media sees high engagement amongst audiences, which is also reflected in demand from nearly 55% of consumers for a greater amount of video content from the brands they support. Whether it’s on blogs, websites, or social media accounts, a significant number of consumers admit to being influenced by video content.
(Oberlo)
22. Inbound marketing statistics show email marketing can earn you an average return of $42 for every $1 spent.
An outbound channel that also finds effective use in inbound marketing is email, which remains relevant in the age of social media and messaging. With effective tactics, such as segmentation, marketers can ensure high open rates — of as much as 50% — while the multitude of marketing automation tools makes it easy and cheap to send timely emails to mailing lists.
(HubSpot)
Conclusion
It is difficult to argue that any business in the digital age can do without inbound marketing. Outbound strategies are not entirely irrelevant. Still, these inbound marketing statistics show tactics such as SEO and content marketing cater better to consumers who believe in conducting their own research before making a purchase. Meanwhile, marketing teams need to be on their toes because strategies that might have worked for years might turn out to be redundant.
Sources
- HubSpot
- Statista
- Record Trend
- Content Marketing Institute
- Invesp
- Invesp
- BigCommerce
- Ironpaper
- Protocol 80
- IMPACT
- HubSpot
- The Smarketers
- ClickZ
- Search Engine Journal
- Gordo Web Design
- HubSpot
- Oberlo
- HubSpot
- Prism Global Marketing Solutions
By Idil Woodall