Make the most of your LinkedIn Ads budget: LinkedIn True ROI

“I love wasting my ad budget and not getting the right ROI for my LinkedIn ads.”, said no marketer ever (hopefully).

While 70% of marketers trust LinkedIn to be a valuable channel that drives a good return on investment, many believe the platform is one of the most expensive channels.

Source: https://blog.hootsuite.com/linkedin-statistics-business/ 

With high costs per impression (CPM) and cost per click (CPC), marketers often find it hard to justify LinkedIn’s cost-benefit as a marketing channel. According to a report, LinkedIn's average CPM is around $34.00, compared to Facebook's average CPM, which is $10.61. 

Despite these relatively high costs, there's no denying that LinkedIn ads do work. A substantial 89% of B2B marketers utilize LinkedIn for lead generation and 62% report that it successfully generates leads for them. 

So, what’s the challenge?
The main challenge is accurately measuring the ROI and demonstrating its impact on the pipeline and revenue.

Where does this challenge stem from?

LinkedIn ads work as a display platform, showing ads to accounts discovering content, not researching products. This makes them a low-intent audience needing education and persuasion.

Think of it this way: you wouldn't measure the performance of billboards or TV commercials based only on click-through rates. So, why do it for LinkedIn? Click-through attribution misses the full impact of LinkedIn ads, just like it does for traditional display advertising. Factors helps marketers prove LinkedIn's true ROI.

TL;DR

We're super excited to announce LinkedIn AdPilot, a LinkedIn ads optimization platform that supports a range of functions, including LinkedIn True ROI. This article explores how and why LinkedIn True ROI is the most accurate approach to measuring the real influence of your LinkedIn ads beyond clicks and sign-ups.

Read more about LinkedIn AdPilot here:

• Introducing LinkedIn AdPilot by Factors
• Synchronize all your data across platforms and create accurate audience lists with Audience Builder.
• Control how your ads are shown to your audiences with Smart Reach.
• Let CAPI help you send accurate conversion feedback to Factors, tackling the challenge of cookie deprecation.
• Tackle inefficiencies of manual ad management with Campaign Automation.

What is ‘LinkedIn True ROI’?

LinkedIn True ROI is a method of attributing conversions or actions that were viewed but not clicked. It recognizes that these ads can still prompt the desired action without a direct click.

The Challenge

Marketers struggle to justify LinkedIn ad costs due to poor reporting. This, in turn, leads to high expenses, underestimated impact, and misguided strategies, making it hard to prove LinkedIn ads' true value to leadership.

Click-through attribution misses the broader impact of ad impressions. The click-based approach to LinkedIn ROI ignores how ad impressions influence bottom-of-the-funnel conversions.

Food for thought
💡 The click-through Rate on LinkedIn is mostly 0.5%. By relying on click-through attribution, marketers effectively say that 99.5% of the impressions that are not clicked on do not have any impact or influence on the buyers.

Two interesting concepts that draw back to this challenge:

The Subconscious Influence of Billboards and Other Display Channels

Imagine this: You're driving down a highway lined with billboards. You might not notice each one, but they leave an impression on your subconscious. Later, those billboards can influence your perceptions and decisions about a product or service. And this is even if you don't remember seeing them. Similar influences can come from sidebar ads or sponsored content in your feed.

So, why does your target audience miss your LinkedIn Ads?

• Subconscious Processing:
  
  Users don't engage with these ads during browsing. However, repeated exposure builds brand recognition. While users may not remember specific ads, they may recall the brand when they need related products or services. This influence is amplified in B2B contexts mainly because multiple decision-makers and touchpoints exist across channels. 
  
  A LinkedIn ad may not generate immediate clicks but shapes perceptions and decisions. LinkedIn and similar platforms go beyond clicks and sign-ups. Yet, GTM teams often overlook this broader impact, focusing on immediate outcomes. LinkedIn True ROI assesses ads' indirect effects, giving a comprehensive view of their performance.

Introducing LinkedIn AdPilot: LinkedIn True ROI

Our Ad Pilot introduces 'LinkedIn True ROI', effectively capturing hidden LinkedIn engagement. It recognizes the impact of ads users viewed but didn't click on. AdPilot combines this with other account actions, such as website visits and blog interactions at an account level.

This offers a broader perspective on how LinkedIn contributes to conversions and revenue.

“Even if one person from a specific account visits our website, Factors helps us target decision makers and the larger buying committee as whole to ensure that all the right people from a target account see our ads. Ultimately, this helps our LinkedIn ad budgets go that extra mile further.”  - Abhishek Iyer, Director of Marketing at Descope.

Use Cases for LinkedIn True ROI:‍

LinkedIn True ROI provides avenues for understanding and optimizing your LinkedIn ad campaigns. Here are some ways you can leverage our LinkedIn True ROI to enhance your marketing efforts:

1. Measure LinkedIn ROI Accurately

Accurately measuring LinkedIn ROI is crucial for proving the value of your ads. Click-through attribution typically undervalues LinkedIn’s impact by only counting direct interactions. However, LinkedIn True ROI captures the influence of LinkedIn ads on lead conversions.

Let’s understand this with an example:

1. Number of Opportunities
   
   Let's take Factors’ LinkedIn spending in Q1 2024 as an example. We analyzed one month of LinkedIn ads from an SME SaaS remarketing campaign group. Our analysis showed how different approaches affected deals and pipeline contributions. Click-through attribution data came from LinkedIn’s ad manager, while Factors.ai collected LinkedIn True ROI data for this campaign.
   
   The results revealed that the campaign generated only one opportunity through click-through attribution. However, LinkedIn True ROI showed that the same campaign influenced at least 11 opportunities.

2. Cost per Opportunity
   The cost per opportunity varies starkly based on the number of opportunities and the exact total spend. 
   
   Click-through attribution indicates a high $4,338 per opportunity, whereas LinkedIn True ROI shows a more reasonable $395 per opportunity. This difference, nearly 11 times higher based on clicks alone, can lead to the misconception that LinkedIn is too costly.

3. Pipeline Value
   The impact on the sales pipeline is crucial. Click-through attribution indicates LinkedIn generated $1,800 in pipeline value from one opportunity, with a cost per opportunity of $4,338. In contrast, LinkedIn True ROI reveals 11 opportunities contributing $19,440 to the pipeline at $395 each. Evaluating costs based on ad views rather than clicks provides a more realistic and favorable ROI—$19,440 in pipeline from $4,348 in spend makes far more sense than $1,800.

2. Improve LinkedIn Ads Performance

Understanding which ads drive conversions helps marketers optimize campaigns effectively. Analyzing the most effective ads influencing potential customers allows for refining ad creative, targeting, and budget allocation. This iterative process improves with more data collected.

For example, if certain LinkedIn ads are regularly viewed by target accounts but not clicked, LinkedIn True ROI can reveal their influence on actions like website visits or content engagement. Marketers can then adjust ad creatives for better resonance and increased engagement.

3. Ensure Better LinkedIn (Re)Targeting

LinkedIn True ROI helps improve retargeting strategies by understanding how ads work. Marketers use this to find accounts that see specific ads, making retargeting more personalized and avoiding ad fatigue.

Suppose an account often sees a brand ad but doesn't click. With True ROI, marketers can show them other helpful content like testimonials or product examples. This keeps the retargeting relevant and exciting, guiding prospects further along.

LinkedIn True ROI also shows which types of content work best by spotting patterns in how ads are viewed. This helps marketers plan better content strategies that match their audience's preferences.

4. Gain Granular Insights into Customer Journey

LinkedIn True ROI provides detailed insights into how LinkedIn ads affect each stage of the buying process. Marketers can see how prospects move through the funnel using data from website visits, CRM systems, and other marketing channels.

For instance, a prospect might view a LinkedIn ad, visit the website, download a whitepaper, and later request a demo. While traditional click-through attribution focuses on the final action, LinkedIn True ROI recognizes the LinkedIn ad's initial impact. This helps marketers refine strategies that effectively support the entire customer journey.

“Given that we’re not in the habit of gating our content assets, it’s valuable to understand the full range of otherwise hidden touchpoints that influence conversions.” – Abhishek Iyer, Director of Marketing at Descope
‍

5. Demonstrate Marketing Impact to Leadership

Finally, LinkedIn True ROI helps marketers demonstrate the true impact of their LinkedIn ads to leadership. Marketers can justify their ad spend and secure ongoing investment by providing a comprehensive view of ad influence and ROI.

Accurately attributing conversions to LinkedIn ads can be challenging, especially when dealing with high CPCs and CPMs. LinkedIn True ROI provides the data needed to showcase LinkedIn’s value, presenting a clearer picture of how ads contribute to the sales pipeline.

“It’s very helpful to achieve a bird’s eye view of the customer journey that leads up to a demo — even when a direct attribution isn’t explicitly present in our CRM. In many instances, we see that a lead has been viewing our LinkedIn ads for months before landing on a search ad or blog and then signing up. This helps us validate what we already know: it’s rarely a single touchpoint that leads to conversions.” – Abhishek Iyer, Director of Marketing at Descope

In a nutshell

LinkedIn True ROI is a game-changer for B2B marketers. It unlocks the value of LinkedIn ads by accurately measuring their impact. This capability helps marketers justify ad spend, optimize campaigns, and improve retargeting. It ensures LinkedIn ads are evaluated on their real influence, not just clicks.

With LinkedIn True ROI, marketers can accurately measure and optimize their LinkedIn ads, leading to better results and a higher return on investment.

Ready to uncover the true impact of your LinkedIn ads? Start using Factors.AI’s LinkedIn True ROI feature today to understand your campaign’s effectiveness better. Get in touch with us to learn more and get started.

Looking to know more about LinkedIn True ROI? Click here.