The metric ladder
| Step | Metric | Typical owner |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clicks and cost per click | Marketing |
| 2 | Companies identified | Marketing |
| 3 | Companies that fit your profile | Marketing and sales |
| 4 | Meetings | Sales |
| 5 | Opportunities and pipeline value | Sales |
| 6 | Closed revenue | Sales and finance |
Cost per step
Divide the full cost, including media, management and tools, by each step. The ratios between steps show where the funnel leaks.
Why it matters
A published B2B pilot reported clicks at $5.68 and zero tracked conversions. Without the steps after the click, there was no way to tell whether those clicks were worth it.
Velocity
Also track days from first AI visit to meeting and to opportunity. It tells you when to expect results and when to stop waiting.
A filled-in example (fictional)
| Step | Count | Cost per step ($17,700 quarter) |
|---|---|---|
| Clicks | 1,700 | $10 |
| Companies identified | 380 | $47 |
| In profile | 120 | $148 |
| Meetings | 14 | $1,264 |
| Opportunities | 6 | $2,950 |
Questions
What's a good cost per opportunity?
Compare it with your other channels and your average deal value.
Should we count meetings booked by sales outreach?
Yes, if the account was identified from AI first. That's the point of the signal.
How do we avoid double counting?
Count each company once per step per quarter.
Where funnels usually leak
| Leak | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Clicks but few identified companies | Mobile-heavy traffic, consent declines | Desktop campaign, consent design |
| Companies but few in profile | Broad context hints | Narrow hints, exclude segments |
| In-profile companies but few meetings | Slow or generic follow-up | Same-day alerts, topic-based openers |
| Meetings but few opportunities | Wrong stage of question | Shift budget to decision questions |
Report the ratios, not just the counts
Counts rise with budget. Ratios tell you whether the system works: in-profile share, meeting rate and opportunity rate. When ratios hold as budget grows, scale. When they fall, you've reached the edge of the questions that work.
Start here: AI ads for B2B. More articles in Measurement and reporting.