It's essential to understand that the success of your campaigns is not solely measured by the number of leads generated. Recognizing the difference between pipeline driven and pipeline influenced can help evaluate the true impact of marketing on business growth and strengthen collaboration with sales teams.
Pipeline driven: when marketing directly generates opportunities
A pipeline driven approach refers to sales opportunities that are created directly through marketing efforts. In this case, marketing is responsible for initiating the first touchpoint, whether through a webinar registration, downloading a case study, or clicking on an ad. These interactions show that marketing has sparked initial interest.
Example in B2B Tech: A SaaS company specializing in project management solutions hosts a webinar on effective remote team strategies. A prospect registers and, after attending the session, fills out a form to request a demo. This scenario is a classic pipeline driven case where marketing initiates the first point of contact and drives engagement.
Pipeline influenced: when marketing adds value to an existing lead
A pipeline influenced approach means that while marketing wasn't the initial contact point, it plays a significant role in nurturing and guiding the lead. For instance, a salesperson might make the first contact, but marketing keeps the prospect engaged with targeted campaigns, relevant content, and event invitations.
Example in B2B Tech: A salesperson meets a potential client at a digital innovation conference. After this initial touch, the prospect receives a series of follow-up emails with case studies, attends a best practices webinar, and sees LinkedIn ads. Eventually convinced by these successive touchpoints, the prospect completes a form to request a demo. Here, although the lead began with a sales interaction, marketing influenced the journey up to the conversion.
Example in the banking sector: A financial advisor connects with a prospect during a wealth management seminar. Marketing then nurtures the relationship by sending exclusive newsletters, economic reports, and inviting the prospect to a webinar on asset management. Repeated exposure to this tailored content prompts the prospect to schedule a meeting through an online form. This is a prime example of marketing influencing the pipeline.
The importance of marketing-sales alignment
Strong alignment between marketing and sales is crucial for avoiding friction and achieving optimal results. Sales teams often view marketing as a competitor trying to claim credit for lead generation, sometimes believing that their commission might be reduced or their role discredited if marketing is seen as the primary source of acquisition. It's essential to shift this mindset and see marketing as a strategic partner. The goal of marketing is to support sales efforts, enrich interactions, and help fill the pipeline without undermining sales credibility. When sales and marketing work hand-in-hand, understanding the importance of their roles in the customer journey, the overall business impact is amplified.
How to measure a pipeline influenced
Implementing an effective tracking system integrated with a CRM is the first step.
To accurately measure a pipeline influenced, it is important to understand the different attribution models that evaluate the contribution of various marketing interactions throughout the customer journey. Here is an overview of the main attribution models:
Linear model
This model evenly distributes credit across all touchpoints a prospect encounters before conversion. Each interaction receives the same weight, whether it's a first visit to the website, participation in a webinar, or responding to an email.
Advantage: Provides a balanced view of the entire journey and highlights each contribution.
Limitation: May underestimate the importance of certain decisive touchpoints.
U-shaped model (or “position-based attribution”)
This model gives more weight to the first and last touchpoints, usually attributing 40% of the credit to both, with the remaining 20% distributed among the intermediate interactions.
Advantage: Recognizes the key role of the first contact that sparks interest and the last one that triggers action.
Limitation: Doesn’t assign enough weight to intermediary interactions that may have significantly influenced the decision.
W-shaped model
An extension of the U-shaped model, this assigns significant weight to the three most influential points in the customer journey: the first contact, the main conversion point (such as downloading key content), and the final touchpoint before conversion. Each of these points typically receives around 30% of the credit, with the remaining 10% spread across other interactions.
Advantage: Captures the most critical moments while acknowledging secondary interactions.
Limitation: Can be complex to set up and requires a solid understanding of the customer journey.
J-shaped model
This model allocates 20% of the credit to the first interaction and 60% to the conversion interaction, with the remaining 20% distributed among other touchpoints.
This model is relevant if you want to emphasize the importance of the first interaction and conversion, with a primary focus on the conversion itself. Unlike the W-shaped model, the J-shaped model highlights the increased engagement toward the end of the journey.
Advantages:
Captures key influence points: This model acknowledges the importance of specific critical moments that contribute to nurturing a lead, especially toward the end of the journey where engagement is higher.
Highlights cumulative effect: Ideal for complex customer journeys where an intermediary touchpoint plays a major role, such as participating in a product demo or a personalized consultation.
Limitations:
Complexity: Choosing the right intermediate point to emphasize may require in-depth data analysis.
Specific to the journey: This model is only relevant if the customer journey includes influential intermediate moments.
Each attribution model has its strengths and weaknesses, and choosing the right one depends on the company’s objectives and the complexity of the customer journey. To measure an influenced pipeline, the attribution models used should account for all the touchpoints that influenced the lead throughout their journey.
Understanding and measuring the distinction between pipeline driven and pipeline influenced helps not only to prove the value of marketing and sales interactions but also to optimize strategies for maximum impact.
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