Your conversion rates are what determines if your B2B content marketing is truly effective—without converting visitors to leads, increased traffic or times-on-site are simply a vanity metric. Calculating your conversion rate is simple:
To help you determine if your conversion rates need improvement, our research team has we’ve sourced conversion rate data from our clients between 2019 and 2024, and compiled them into the table below. For the purposes of this report, we defined a conversion action as any action taken by a visitor that demonstrates clear interest in our client’s product or services, including purchases, contact form fills, demo downloads, and free trial signups.
B2B Content Marketing Conversion Rates by Industry and Content Type
| Industry | Blog Article | White Paper | eBook | Webinar | Podcast | Case Study | Overall Website Average |
| Automotive | 1.8% | 2.4% | 1.8% | 1.8% | 2.0% | 2.0% | 2.0% |
| Biotech | 2.1% | 1.9% | 1.7% | 2.5% | 1.3% | 1.5% | 1.8% |
| Business Insurance | 1.9% | 1.9% | 1.7% | 1.3% | 1.2% | 0.8% | 1.7% |
| Construction | 1.6% | 1.2% | 0.8% | 1.7% | 1.1% | 1.0% | 1.9% |
| eCommerce | 1.6% | 1.2% | 0.9% | 0.8% | 1.1% | 0.8% | 2.2% |
| Financial Services | 2.4% | 1.5% | 1.1% | 0.8% | 1.3% | 1.0% | 1.9% |
| Fintech | 1.4% | 1.1% | 0.8% | 1.1% | 1.6% | 1.2% | 1.9% |
| Healthcare | 1.6% | 1.3% | 1.1% | 1.5% | 0.7% | 1.0% | 3.1% |
| Heavy Equipment | 1.9% | 1.3% | 1.0% | 0.8% | 1.4% | 0.9% | 1.7% |
| Higher Education | 1.2% | 1.1% | 0.8% | 1.0% | 1.1% | 0.8% | 2.8% |
| HVAC | 2.1% | 1.5% | 1.1% | 0.8% | 0.9% | 0.7% | 2.1% |
| Industrial IOT | 1.6% | 1.3% | 1.1% | 1.1% | 0.6% | 1.1% | 2.6% |
| IT & Managed Services | 1.1% | 1.3% | 1.0% | 0.8% | 1.1% | 1.2% | 1.5% |
| Law Firms & Legal Services | 1.5% | 1.1% | 1.2% | 1.4% | 0.7% | 0.9% | 7.4% |
| Manufacturing & Distribution | 1.4% | 1.2% | 0.9% | 1.0% | 1.1% | 0.8% | 2.1% |
| Medical Device | 1.8% | 1.4% | 1.2% | 1.5% | 0.9% | 1.1% | 1.5% |
| Oil & Gas | 1.7% | 1.2% | 1.1% | 2.1% | 0.4% | 0.8% | 2.6% |
| SaaS | 1.9% | 1.2% | 1.0% | 1.2% | 1.1% | 0.8% | 1.1% |
How to Increase Your Conversion Rates
While your B2B content marketing conversion rates could change based on a number of outside factors, including seasonality, these are metrics that fall primarily under your control. By investing in the quality of your content, website, and marketing in the following ways, you can increase your conversion rates and see the kind of results that justify the cost.
Target Transactional Keywords
Everything we do in the content marketing world hinges upon keyword strategy. You may be cornering the market on all the terms you can think of that could relate to your business, but how many of those terms indicate a strong intent to purchase? Words like services, solutions, company, and cost all imply that a user is looking for more than just information. They are looking to make a purchase or find a partner to work with. We call these terms “transactional keywords” and they’re absolutely key to increasing conversion rates over the course of a content campaign.
Include Multiple CTAs
Every page on your site needs a CTA with a clear path to conversion. A great CTA helps busy readers cut to the chase with a specific offer, with phrasing like “Request a Demo” or “Watch the Webinar”. Give enough context to let users know exactly what they’re getting. We tend to recommend our clients include one CTA above the fold on every page, as well as an inline CTA at the bottom of blog articles. To make that feel more natural, a sticky sidebar widget can suffice.
Build Customer Personas
Truly understanding the needs and psychology of your readers lets you create content that caters directly to them, building more trust and making it all the more likely that they’ll reach out to your firm. Ask yourself: What are the target audience’s jobs? What KPIs are they concerned about? What are their pain points and frustrations? What makes them feel successful, day-to-day? Your content should implicitly address all of these questions, and establish your company as an authority in their minds by giving them information with actual value.
Improve Website Design
When it comes to B2B sales, appearances really do matter. More than three-fourths of B2B eCommerce buyers consider site design the number one factor in deciding to make a purchase. Your website needs to be smooth, gorgeous, well-designed, and fast. If you’re struggling with conversions, implement back-end improvements to clean things up. Consider investing in custom photography or graphics to express your visual brand story. When you launch your new-and-improved website, your conversion rates will likely make a significant upswing.
Increase Content Quality
Finally, and most importantly, if you want to increase conversion rates, you have to produce top-notch content. It doesn’t matter how many listicles you publish if none of them helps your target audience and influences them to convert. When Drift made a similar overhaul of their blog, they realized that 76% of their traffic came from only 20% of their blog posts. Focus your efforts on top-notch content targeting carefully considered keywords. Offer unique insights in every single post you publish. Elevate your authoritative voice to speak more directly to decision-makers. Invest in thought leadership content that’s well-researched and original. You’ll find that even small improvements in quality bring major rewards when it comes to conversion rates and eventual sales revenue.
Further Reading & Requesting a Copy of this Report
For further reading, see our previous reports on conversion rates and guides to conversion rate optimization and content marketing:
- Conversion Rate By Channel
- B2B Conversion Rates By Industry – 2024
- Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) Best Practices
- Landing Page Conversion Optimization
- Micro Conversion Examples, Ranked by Value
- Content Marketing Strategy: 2024 Guide
- Content Marketing for Lead Generation
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