B2B vs B2C marketing statistics at a glance
| Category | Statistic | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Budget | Marketing takes 8.96% of revenue overall: B2C product 11.99%, B2B services 10.07%, B2C services 7.24%, B2B product 7.02% | The CMO Survey, 2026 |
| Budget | Weighting the four sectors by respondent count, B2C spends 10.35% of revenue on marketing and B2B 8.25% | The CMO Survey, 2026 (computed) |
| Cycle | The average B2B buying journey runs 10.1 months, down from 11.3 months in 2024 | 6sense, 2025 |
| Cycle | A B2B decision involves 13 internal stakeholders and 9 external influencers | Forrester, January 2026 |
| Cycle | Up to 160 interactions with the winning vendor per B2B deal, if no two buyers share a touch | 6sense, 2025 (computed) |
| Cost | Business Services pays $93.69 per search lead; Arts and Entertainment pays $26.84 | LocaliQ, June 2026 |
| Cost | B2B categories average $78.75 per lead against $45.50 for consumer categories, a 1.73x gap | LocaliQ, 2026 (computed) |
| Conversion | B2B dominated industries convert at 6.47% and B2C dominated ones at 2.60%, a 2.5x gap | Ruler Analytics, May 2026 (computed) |
| Channels | Social takes 19.31% of the B2C product budget and 9.50% of the B2B product budget | The CMO Survey, 2026 |
| Org | Marketing owns lead generation in 75.5% of B2B product firms and 47.5% of B2C product firms | The CMO Survey, 2026 |
How much do B2B and B2C companies spend on marketing?
B2C firms spend 10.35% of revenue on marketing and B2B firms spend 8.25%, weighted by respondent count across the four sectors The CMO Survey reported for 2026, in a survey fielded that January. That survey is the backbone of this page because it asks one panel one set of questions, then splits the answers into B2B product, B2B services, B2C product and B2C services. It has run since 2008, and nothing else splits the segments that cleanly.
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| Marketing is 8.96% of company revenue on average: B2C product 11.99%, B2B services 10.07%, B2C services 7.24%, B2B product 7.02%. 154 firms answered. | The CMO Survey, 2026 |
| Marketing is 9.64% of the total company budget: B2C product 13.83%, B2C services 11.52%, B2B services 9.20%, B2B product 7.03%. 146 firms answered. | The CMO Survey, 2026 |
| Digital marketing spending over the prior 12 months grew 16.57% at B2C services firms, 12.56% at B2C product, 7.10% at B2B services and 4.13% at B2B product. All firms averaged 8.20%. | The CMO Survey, 2026 |
| Outside agencies run 47.89% of digital marketing at B2C product firms and 43.57% at B2C services firms, against 28.38% at B2B product and 25.19% at B2B services. All firms averaged 33.59%. | The CMO Survey, 2026 |
| 79.2% of 1,500 global marketers expect at least a slight budget increase in 2026, and 73% say budgets face more scrutiny than in the past. | HubSpot, April 2026 |
The four-way split matters more than the two-way one. B2B services firms spend 10.07%, nearer B2C product firms at 11.99% than B2B product firms at 7.02%. The honest version of "B2B spends less" is that B2B manufacturers spend less, while agencies, consultancies and software firms selling to businesses spend like consumer brands.
The number I keep coming back to is the agency one. B2C product teams outsource almost half their digital work, B2B services teams a quarter. That is structural: consumer marketing is production heavy, B2B marketing is relationship heavy and stays in house. A B2B CMO benchmarking agency spend against a consumer peer is benchmarking a different operating model.
How long is the B2B buying cycle, and how many people decide?
The average B2B buying journey runs 10.1 months and involves a buying group of at least ten people, according to 6sense's 2025 Buyer Experience Report of nearly 4,000 buyers. No consumer study measures a comparable journey, because most consumer purchases have no journey to measure. The nearest honest B2C counterpart is the checkout, where Baymard Institute puts documented cart abandonment at 70.22%.
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| The average B2B buying journey is 10.1 months, down from 11.3 months in 2024. Nearly 4,000 buyers responded across North America, APAC and EMEA, plus 766 more in a supplemental survey. | 6sense, 2025 |
| B2B buyers complete 61% of the journey before contacting a vendor, down from 69% in 2024, moving first contact six to seven weeks earlier. | 6sense, 2025 |
| Each member of a B2B buying group has 16 interactions with the winning vendor, statistically unchanged since 2023. The report puts a typical group at 10 or more people. | 6sense, 2025 |
| Buyers name about four vendors on Day One out of five evaluated, buy from that list 95% of the time, and the first vendor contacted wins 81% of deals. Without a pre-ranked shortlist that win rate falls to 57%. | 6sense, 2025 |
| A B2B buying decision now includes 13 internal stakeholders and nine external influencers, rising for more complex purchases. | Forrester, January 2026 |
| Procurement professionals are decision makers in 53% of business buying cycles and engage from the start. | Forrester, January 2026 |
| More than 60% of business buyers use a trial before buying, rising to 78% among buyers spending $10 million or more. | Forrester, January 2026 |
| Documented cart abandonment averages 70.22% across 50 studies published 2006 to 2025. Among abandoners who were not simply browsing, 40% blame extra costs such as shipping and tax; a separate 42% of US shoppers say they left because they were only browsing. | Baymard Institute, 2025 |
6sense and Forrester disagree on group size, ten against 22 once external influencers are counted, and that is a definition problem rather than a data problem. Use the smaller number for targeting and the larger one when you explain a stalled deal to a board.
The 61% figure changed my planning this year. Buyers contacting vendors six weeks earlier reverses what every content strategy has assumed since 2018. The late-stage comparison content you over-invested in now lands before buyers have a shortlist, and the shortlist is where 95% of the money gets decided.
What does a lead cost in B2B versus B2C?
A B2B lead from search ads costs $78.75 on average and a consumer lead costs $45.50, a 1.73x gap, computed from LocaliQ's June 2026 search benchmarks, which cover thousands of LocaliQ and WordStream advertiser accounts on Google Ads and Microsoft Ads. Both sides come from that one dataset, measured one way, and the gap explains why B2B teams who adopt consumer efficiency targets spend every quarterly review defending themselves.
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| Business Services pays $93.69 per lead at a 4.85% conversion rate and $5.87 per click. Industrial and Commercial pays $75.19 at 8.20%. Career and Employment pays $67.36 at 3.05%. | LocaliQ, June 2026 |
| Consumer categories pay less per lead: Arts and Entertainment $26.84, Restaurants and Food $30.57, Animals and Pets $31.50, Beauty and Personal Care $39.25, Sports and Recreation $44.26, Travel $44.70, Shopping, Collectibles and Gifts $49.40. | LocaliQ, 2026 |
| Apparel, Fashion and Jewelry is the consumer outlier at $97.51 per lead on a 4.50% conversion rate, above every B2B category. | LocaliQ, 2026 |
| Across all 23 categories: $5.42 per click, 6.64% click-through rate, 8.18% conversion rate, $66.69 per lead. | LocaliQ, 2026 |
| B2B dominated industries convert at Legal 7.9%, Software 7.6%, Education 6.3%, Finance 6.3%, Marketing and Advertising 6.2%, Professional Services 6.1%, Construction and Engineering 4.9%. From 110 million sessions and 5 million conversions tracked across Ruler Analytics' own client base. | Ruler Analytics, May 2026 |
| B2C dominated industries in the same dataset: Beauty and Cosmetic 3.5%, Retail and eCommerce 2.4%, Travel 1.9%. The all-industry average is 5.13%. | Ruler Analytics, 2026 |
| By channel, paid search converts at 5.4%, email at 4.9%, organic search at 4.9% and organic social at 2.23%. | Ruler Analytics, 2026 |
| The median landing page converts at 6.6%, with industry medians from 3.8% to 12.3%, across 41,000 pages and 464 million visitors. This benchmark is from 2024 and is the oldest number here. | Unbounce, 2024 |
Two conversion numbers here point in opposite directions and both are correct. In LocaliQ's ad-platform data consumer categories convert better, because a consumer conversion is often a call on a high-intent query. In Ruler Analytics' site-side data B2B industries convert 2.5 times better, because there the conversion is only a form.
I have watched more than one B2B team get told their 4% site conversion rate was bad because a consumer benchmark said 8%. It was not bad. They were counting a completed payment against a completed form. The only cross-segment cost comparison I trust here is LocaliQ's, and even there Apparel at $97.51 should stop you turning 1.73x into a law.
Which channels do B2B and B2C marketers use most?
B2C product firms put 19.31% of their marketing budget into social media and B2B product firms put 9.50%, from the same CMO Survey question in the 2026 edition. The channel gap is wider than the budget gap, and the five-year forecast widens it further, so both segments expect to keep diverging.
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| Social media takes 19.31% of the B2C product budget, 16.24% of B2C services, 15.65% of B2B services and 9.50% of B2B product. All firms averaged 14.25%; in five years the same marketers expect 29.43% and 17.44%. | The CMO Survey, 2026 |
| 21.71% of B2C product sales and 21.08% of B2C services sales happen online, against 9.41% for B2B product and 7.90% for B2B services. All firms averaged 13.26%, from 290 responses. | The CMO Survey, 2026 |
| Marketing owns lead generation in 75.5% of B2B product firms and 71.4% of B2B services firms, against 47.5% of B2C product firms. All firms averaged 67.1%, from 252 responses. | The CMO Survey, 2026 |
| Influencer marketing is used by 23.6% of B2C marketers and 18.6% of B2B marketers, from one survey asking both segments the same question. | HubSpot, April 2026 |
| 76% of B2B marketers name LinkedIn their most effective thought leadership channel, ahead of email newsletters at 54% and speaking events or webinars at 52%. 1,015 B2B marketers responded between June and August 2025. | Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, 2026 |
| Computer Hardware profiles earn a median 34 inbound engagements per post and Consumer Product Manufacturing 33, from 3 billion messages across 1 million public profiles, posted during 2024. Brands publish 9.5 posts a day on average. | Sprout Social, 2025 |
| Engagement rate by followers in the 2026 edition: TikTok 2.60%, down 10% year on year, Instagram 0.48%, Facebook 0.15%, X 0.12%. From 70 million posts published January 2024 to December 2025, so the numbers describe 2025. | Socialinsider, 2026 |
The Sprout Social row should annoy anyone who repeats that social does not work in B2B. Computer Hardware pulls 34 inbound engagements per post and Consumer Product Manufacturing 33, measured the same way in one report. B2B accounts are not less engaging; they are funded at half the rate. More sits on the B2B social media statistics page.
The lead generation row explains a lot of organisational friction. In three quarters of B2B firms marketing owns the pipeline number; in fewer than half of B2C product firms it does. When a B2C-trained executive asks why B2B marketing is obsessed with lead counts, the answer is that it gets measured on them.
How do email benchmarks differ between B2B and B2C?
No single study benchmarks B2B and B2C email with one method, so every comparison in this section crosses sources and reads as directional only. The closest thing to a same-source split is Mailchimp's industry table, where Business and Finance lists opened at 31.35% and Ecommerce lists at 29.81% in December 2023.
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| Averaged across GetResponse's industry table: 42.53% open rate, 5.14% click-through rate, 11.95% click-to-open rate. GetResponse's own headline average, weighted by continent instead, reads 39.64% and 3.25%. Legal Services leads clicks at 12.11% with a 25.63% click-to-open rate. Based on 4.4 billion messages sent during 2023, so this is dated. | GetResponse, 2024 |
| Business and Finance lists open at 31.35% and click at 2.78%; Ecommerce lists open at 29.81% and click at 1.74%. December 2023, campaigns to at least 1,000 subscribers. Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates open rates, so read them as a floor. Dated. | Mailchimp, December 2023 |
| Ecommerce campaign open rates rose to 30.7% in 2025 from 26.6% in 2024, a fifth consecutive annual rise, and automated emails opened at 38%. | Omnisend, 2026 |
| An automated ecommerce email earns $2.87 per send against $0.18 for a scheduled campaign, a 16x gap, and click-to-conversion rose from 5.9% in 2024 to 9% in 2025. | Omnisend, 2026 |
| B2B outreach gets measured on a different scale: 126 million outreach emails and 151 million touchpoints across more than 80 industries, plus 442 senior decision makers surveyed. | Sopro, 2026 |
The B2B and B2C email worlds are not measured by the same people, which is why the benchmarks never line up. Ecommerce platforms benchmark on revenue per send; outreach vendors benchmark on replies and meetings. A B2B programme judged against Omnisend's $2.87 per send, a figure from a different study of a different channel, was set up to fail.
Two of the rows above are nearly three years old and I kept them because nothing better exists with both segments in one table. That is a gap in the industry, not in my research. Whoever publishes a 2026 email benchmark split cleanly by B2B and B2C will own that citation for years.
Who spends more on brand, and who spends more on acquisition?
Every sector spends more on acquisition than retention, but the size of the tilt splits by segment: B2C product firms run an acquisition budget 34.34% larger than their retention budget while B2B services firms run one 18.41% larger, from The CMO Survey's 2026 data. B2B teams also plan the larger brand increases for the year ahead, which inverts the usual stereotype.
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| Acquisition budgets exceed retention budgets by 25.96% on average. B2C product tilts hardest at 34.34% (median 40%), then B2C services 30.59%, B2B product 24.92% and B2B services 18.41% (median 20%). 162 firms answered. | The CMO Survey, 2026 |
| Expected brand building budget change over the next 12 months: B2B services +8.31%, B2B product +5.14%, B2C product +5.02%, B2C services +3.88%. All firms averaged +5.87%. | The CMO Survey, 2026 |
| AI covers 29.06% of marketing effort at B2B services firms, 22.84% at B2C product, 22.66% at B2B product and 19.75% at B2C services. All firms averaged 24.17%, expected to reach 55.91% within three years. | The CMO Survey, 2026 |
| 95% of B2B marketing organisations use AI-powered applications and 45% name AI tools their top 2026 investment area. 1,015 B2B marketers responded. | Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, 2026 |
| 51% of B2B marketers use neither account based marketing nor account based experience. Among those running ABM, 65% say it outperforms their traditional marketing. | Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, 2026 |
The brand case in B2B rests on the Ehrenberg-Bass and LinkedIn B2B Institute work on out-of-market buyers and on Les Binet and Peter Field's effectiveness data, which the brand vs performance marketing statistics page covers. B2B budget holders appear to have accepted it: B2B services firms plan the biggest brand increase of any sector at 8.31%.
The ABM row is the quiet one. Half of B2B marketers run no account based programme, and two thirds of those who do say it beats their normal marketing. Either that 65% is wishful thinking from the people who chose it, or half the category is leaving money on the table. My bet is that ABM works and is harder to staff than to buy.
How we calculated the original numbers
Four figures on this page appear nowhere else. Here is the arithmetic, so you can check it or swap the inputs.
- 1.25x: the B2C marketing budget premium. The CMO Survey publishes marketing spend as a percent of revenue for four sectors, not two. Weighting each by respondent count gives B2B = (61 x 7.02 + 41 x 10.07) / 102 = 8.25%, and B2C = (34 x 11.99 + 18 x 7.24) / 52 = 10.35%. The ratio is 1.25 and the gap is 2.10 percentage points. Sector samples are small, so treat this as a direction rather than a decimal.
- $78.75 against $45.50: the cost per lead gap of 1.73x. From LocaliQ's 2026 search benchmarks, the three clearly business-facing categories (Business Services $93.69, Industrial and Commercial $75.19, Career and Employment $67.36) average $78.75. The eight clearly consumer-facing ones (Arts and Entertainment $26.84, Restaurants and Food $30.57, Animals and Pets $31.50, Beauty and Personal Care $39.25, Sports and Recreation $44.26, Travel $44.70, Shopping, Collectibles and Gifts $49.40, Apparel $97.51) average $45.50. I classified them; LocaliQ does not label its 23 categories, and I left the other 12 out as mixed. Apparel is in on purpose, because dropping it would flatter the result.
- Up to 160 interactions with the winning vendor per B2B deal. 6sense reports a buying group of 10 or more people and 16 interactions per person with the winning vendor. Ten times 16 is 160, and that multiplication holds only if no two members ever share a touch. A demo attended by four people almost certainly counts four times in a per-person figure, so 160 is a ceiling on distinct vendor contacts rather than a measured total. Even at the ceiling it is 16 a month across the 10.1-month journey, before counting the vendors that lose.
- 2.5x: the conversion rate flip. From Ruler Analytics' May 2026 dataset of 110 million sessions across its own client base, seven B2B dominated industries average (4.9 + 6.3 + 6.3 + 7.9 + 6.2 + 6.1 + 7.6) / 7 = 6.47%. Three B2C dominated ones average (3.5 + 2.4 + 1.9) / 3 = 2.60%. The ratio is 2.49. I left three of the 13 industries out as mixed: Automotive 7.9%, Real Estate 2.8% and Health and Social Care 2.3%. Count Automotive as consumer and the gap drops to about 1.6x, which is the honest sensitivity here. The gap itself is definitional: one conversion is a form, the other a payment.
What the 2026 numbers say
The budget gap is real and smaller than the stereotype. B2C outspends B2B by 25% as a share of revenue, not by double, and B2B services firms at 10.07% spend more than B2C services firms at 7.24%. Selling model predicts budget better than the B2B or B2C label does.
The buying group is the whole difference. Ten or more people, up to 16 interactions each, 10.1 months, and 61% of the journey finished before anyone talks to you. That is what a B2B lead buys its way into, and it is why the lead costs 1.73 times a consumer one.
Everything else is a definition fight. Conversion rates flip on whether the conversion is a form or a payment, and engagement per social post is near identical between hardware and consumer goods brands while budgets differ by half. Before quoting any B2B versus B2C number, including mine, check both sides were counted one way.
FAQ
Do B2B or B2C companies spend more on marketing?
B2C companies spend more: 10.35% of revenue against 8.25% for B2B, weighted by respondent count across the four sectors The CMO Survey reported for 2026. The raw sector figures are B2C product 11.99%, B2B services 10.07%, B2C services 7.24% and B2B product 7.02%, so the split tracks selling model more than the B2B or B2C label. 154 firms answered.
How long is the average B2B sales cycle in 2026?
The average B2B buying journey is 10.1 months, down from 11.3 months in 2024, according to 6sense's 2025 Buyer Experience Report of nearly 4,000 buyers. Buyers finish 61% of that journey before contacting any vendor, down from 69% a year earlier.
How many people are in a B2B buying group?
At least ten people internally, according to 6sense (2025), or 13 internal stakeholders plus nine external influencers, according to Forrester's State of Business Buying published in January 2026. The gap is a counting difference: 6sense measures the group that decides, Forrester includes analysts and consultants.
Is a B2B lead more expensive than a B2C lead?
Yes, by about 1.73x. Business-facing categories average $78.75 per lead in LocaliQ's June 2026 search benchmarks and consumer categories average $45.50, computed from that one dataset of advertiser accounts. Apparel at $97.51 shows consumer categories can still beat every B2B one.
Do B2C marketers use more social media than B2B marketers?
Yes. Social media takes 19.31% of the B2C product marketing budget and 9.50% of the B2B product budget, from The CMO Survey's 2026 edition. Per post the engagement is close: Sprout Social's 2025 report gives Computer Hardware 34 inbound engagements per post and Consumer Product Manufacturing 33.
Which segment converts better, B2B or B2C?
B2B, by 2.5x on site conversion: 6.47% against 2.60% in Ruler Analytics' May 2026 dataset of 110 million sessions from its own clients. The gap is definitional, because a B2B conversion is usually a form and a B2C one a payment. In ad-platform data the order reverses.
Sources
- The CMO Survey, Firm and Industry Breakout Report, 35th Edition (March 2026, fielded 7 to 29 January 2026, 308 respondents)
- The CMO Survey results index (2026)
- 6sense, The B2B Buyer Experience Report for 2025 (2025)
- Forrester, The State Of Business Buying, 2026 (January 2026)
- LocaliQ / WordStream, Search Advertising Benchmarks (June 2026)
- Ruler Analytics, Conversion Rate Benchmarks (May 2026)
- Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, B2B Content and Marketing Trends: Insights for 2026 (October 2025)
- HubSpot, State of Marketing (April 2026)
- Baymard Institute, Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics (2025)
- Omnisend, Email Marketing Statistics (2026)
- Sprout Social, Social Media Benchmarks by Industry (2025)
- Socialinsider, Social Media Benchmarks (2026)
- GetResponse, Email Marketing Benchmarks (2024, covering 2023 data)
- Mailchimp, Email Marketing Benchmarks by Industry (December 2023)
- Unbounce, Conversion Benchmark Report (2024)
- Sopro, State of Prospecting 2026 (2026)
More comparisons sit on the statistics hub, including content marketing ROI statistics and dark funnel statistics.
Methodology. Numbers were collected in September 2026 and checked against the original publisher's page or PDF, not against roundups. CMO Survey figures come from the 2026 Firm and Industry Breakout Report, with each table's page number logged in the research file. Comparisons drawn from one study that measured both segments are called same-source; every other comparison crosses studies and is labelled directional. Vendor claims without a stated sample were excluded. Last updated 22 September 2026.