In a recent episode of the B2B Marketing Leaders Podcast, Olga Bondareva, founder of ModumUp, talks about B2B marketing metrics and KPIs with experts from different B2B companies:
- Bridget Locke, VP of Strategic Marketing at VitalPath
- Ravi Raj Pareek, Senior Marketing Data Manager at Sage
- Nick Starikov, Manager, Marketing Analytics and Insights at Sun Life
Downstream metrics beat top-of-funnel volume
The panel kept coming back to the same point: it’s relatively easy to generate more MQLs, but volume alone says little about the quality of the pipeline behind them. Bridget Locke’s team at VitalPath ran a campaign for its laser-components business, a shorter-cycle part of a medtech company where full device programs can span three to six years from early engagement to full-scale manufacturing. The three-month campaign offered quotes in 24 hours and prototypes in two weeks, and the leads it generated contributed roughly $500,000 in pipeline over the following six months. What mattered most wasn’t the number of names collected, but what happened next: how leads engaged with different touchpoints and content, and whether they continued moving through the funnel after the campaign ended.
Ravi Raj Pareek saw something similar in a previous role: they had plenty of MQLs, but too few were turning into meaningful pipeline. Once the team started reviewing ICP fit, MQL-to-opportunity conversion, opportunity value, and pipeline by channel, the weak spots at the top of the funnel became obvious. Nick Starikov shared a similar example from his current work. Connecting sales feedback with lead-source data helped the team see that conversion varied significantly by channel and identify where improvements were needed.
When metrics tell the wrong story
A metric can be accurate and still tell a misleading story. The problem is often how teams interpret it. Ravi points to three common biases: measuring results too early, comparing audiences that aren’t truly comparable, and aggregating data until the real performance drivers disappear.
Nick also cautions against relying too heavily on before-and-after comparisons when a controlled creative or targeting test isn’t possible. External factors can easily distort the result.
Bridget illustrates the point with a recent event. VitalPath sent three people, sponsored the event, and took part in a thought-leadership session with an audience of roughly 30 to 35 people. The raw lead count was small, but the event ultimately contributed to two pipeline opportunities: one sourced directly from the session and another influenced by pre-event LinkedIn activity and website engagement. For Bridget, those two qualified opportunities were more valuable than 200 top-of-funnel leads. The bigger lesson was that marketing needs to explain success in terms the rest of the business can understand.
Unrealistic targets and reverse-funnel math
When stakeholders set aggressive targets, Nick works backward from the sales goal to show how many opportunities, activities, and how much spend would be needed to get there. That exercise can lead to a more feasible plan. He also looks at the size of the addressable market: in a previous real estate classifieds role, one regional partner-growth target was higher than the number of agencies available in that market.
Bridget and Ravi use the same reverse-funnel logic. Bridget also looks for more immediate opportunities among existing customers and in the middle of the funnel - for example, helping component-only customers understand VitalPath’s broader capabilities while longer-term new-business efforts continue.
KPIs, OKRs, and what actually defines success
Nick emphasizes the “key” in KPI: a team should have only one or two measures that ultimately define success, usually deals or revenue. If top-of-funnel leads become the main goal instead, marketing and sales end up optimizing for different things.
Bridget's team uses a tiered model: metrics get checked frequently to see if KPIs are on track, while OKRs set the longer-term priorities the rest of the organization can follow. Ravi keeps his framework simple - a KPI tells you whether things are on track or not, and the metrics behind it tell you why.
Attribution, ROI, and where AI fits
Long B2B sales cycles make it hard to assign clean credit. Bridget uses the CRM as the source of truth for marketing data, while recognizing that perfectly precise attribution is difficult when buyer journeys involve many touchpoints over time. For her, the goal is a credible attribution story the broader team agrees on - one that shows leadership how marketing contributes to the business. Nick points out that a new sale often generates years of additional value, so acquisition ROI looks very different once lifetime value is factored in.
On AI, Ravi uses tools like Snowflake Cortex and Power BI Copilot, but final decisions stay with people. Nick and Bridget make the same point: AI can speed up analysis and surface patterns, but the panel agreed that people still need to validate the conclusions - especially in businesses with long sales cycles and complex buyer journeys.
You can check out the full episode on the B2B Marketing Leaders Podcast:
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/HqMaR9vJXWg
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0urmP66UI5x0AN57ZzhJLg