Not all marketing KPIs are created equal. Some are meant to be measured at fixed intervals, while others have to be closely monitored round the clock.

In today’s post, we’ll take a look at the latter group. Specifically, we’ll focus on several outbound multi-channel lead generation KPIs that need constant monitoring. These metrics need to be displayed on your dashboard all the time to give you a good grasp of your day-to-day marketing activities.

Tracking and Improving What Matters

In the old days, outbound lead generation used to be all about cold calling and paid advertising. The priority was volume over relevance, quantity over quality, reach over precision.

Today, outbound lead generation relies on targeted, relevant, and timely prospect outreach. The focus is now on high-quality interactions and conversions.

This is why outbound marketing now plays a key role in winning new and repeat customers, as well as driving results for ABM programs.

With its recent functions and focus, outbound lead generation performance is now measured using a new set of metrics. These numbers include KPIs that track campaigns on a tactical and logistical level, not just the strategic picture.

It’s important that you closely monitor these KPIs. These numbers give you a sharp view of what’s happening in the trenches, and complements the bird’s eye view you get from looking at other marketing metrics.

Here’s a screenshot of Callbox’s Pipeline CRM showing these KPIs in action. We’ll go over some of these numbers in the next section.

Outbound Multi-Channel Lead Generation KPIs

Modern B2B lead generation campaigns are typically made up of a number of marketing channels. These include a combination of outbound and inbound initiatives.

An effective outbound B2B lead generation program includes:

Phone

Email

Social Media (LinkedIn)

Live Chat

Remarketing

Phone

Phone outreach fulfills various functions in the modern outbound marketing program. Marketers use it to connect with top-of-funnel prospects as well as convert leads further down the pipeline.

This has led to an explosion in the types of metrics to measure the performance of phone-based outreach campaigns, covering various areas like data quality, activity/volume, reach rates, conversation quality, etc.

But the core KPIs to look at in order to get a feel for day-to-day phone-based outreach operations are:

Total Calls: This is the number of calls made in a given time (usually per hour, per day, etc.)

DM Reached: The number of target decision makers successfully contacted (also expressed as percentage of total calls or positive contacts)

Positive Contacts: The number of answered calls (also expressed as percentage of total calls made)

Success Calls: Calls which resulted in an appointment, lead completion, or any target action

Email

Different types of outbound emails (such as cold emails, nurturing emails, follow-up emails, etc.) enable personalization at scale in a lead generation program. That’s why no matter what the naysayers claim, emails continue to be a go-to channel for practically every B2B marketer alive today.

Email KPIs fall into various categories (such as deliverability, engagement, response, conversions, etc.), but the important metrics to track in real-time include:

Emails Delivered: The total number of sent emails that didn’t bounce (often expressed as a percentage of total email send-out volume)

Opens: The number of sent emails opened by recipients (also taken as percentage of total emails sent); what constitutes an “open” can vary from ISP to ISP

New Email Contacts: The number of new valid records added to list (can indicate how fast email database is growing)

Email metrics like click-through rates, bounce rates, and spam complaints are also crucial KPIs to monitor. But these are best observed over time, since these tend to be noisy in real-time.

Social Media (LinkedIn)

LinkedIn remains the best social media platform for B2B lead generation. LinkedIn currently has 630 million users and continues to add users at a rate of two per second. Plus, nearly half (45%) of LinkedIn users are in upper management.

Depending on the specific LinkedIn lead generation tactics you’re using, here are the daily KPIs you need to keep track of for this channel:

Connections: The number of LinkedIn contacts you have a first-degree connection with (gained either when they accept your invitation or you accept theirs).

Groups: The number of LinkedIn Groups you’ve joined and are actively participating in (measures potential for reaching a targeted audience and building authentic relationships)

Invites Sent: How many invitations to connect you’ve sent out at a given time (used as base for comparison with number of connections)

InMails Sent: The number of InMails sent out

Leads: The total number of LinkedIn connections that meet your lead profile

Live Chat

Marketers and sales reps increasingly rely on live chat to engage outbound leads. Live chat is an ideal channel for boosting outbound lead generation results, since it’s the fastest and simplest way to start a one-on-one conversation with a lead.

To stay up-to-date with how your live chat channel is performing, make sure to track the following KPIs:

Inquiries: The number of chat inquiries received in a given time (useful to determine surges in chat volumes and to respond accordingly)

Appointments or Leads: How many qualified appointments or completed leads generated via live chat

Remarketing

Remarketing is a fine example of using outbound tactics to turn inbound prospects into leads. It works by targeting online ads at people who have already interacted with your company before (such as a prior website visit).

This is why remarketing now forms a key component of the modern outbound lead generation program. These are the remarketing KPIs to closely watch in real-time:

Clicks: These are the number of clicks your remarketing ad receives

Impressions: The number of times your remarketing ad is shown

Click-Through Rate: A ratio showing how often people who see your ad end up clicking it.

These KPIs are also ideal stats to test out when running an A/B experiment on your remarketing ads.

Conclusion:

These are some of the outbound multi-channel lead generation KPIs you need to constantly monitor. Of course, there are other important KPIs you also have to periodically track and analyze, though not as often as these metrics. Keep in mind that you cannot improve what you can’t measure.