Campaign ROI Benchmark Report: B2B SaaS CRM for SMBs (LinkedIn Ads)

Executive Summary

Your LinkedIn campaign shows mixed performance with concerning underperformance in CTR and ROAS. While your demo conversion rate (2.8%) is competitive, your CTR (0.9%) is 25-50% below benchmark and your ROAS (2.2x) is 20-38% below industry standards. Your CAC ($195) sits at the high end of benchmarks. Primary opportunity: Improving CTR from 0.9% to 1.3% through audience refinement and creative optimization could reduce CAC to $145, improving ROAS to 3.0x and generating an additional $27,000/month in pipeline value.

Benchmark Comparison

Sources:

• HockeyStack 2025 LinkedIn Ads Benchmark Report for B2B Marketers (70+ B2B SaaS companies, $28M analyzed)
• NAV43 2025 LinkedIn Ads Benchmarks (213M impressions, 1,240 SaaS campaigns)
• Directive B2B ROAS Benchmarks 2025
• The B2B House LinkedIn Ad Benchmarks 2025

Performance Gap Analysis

Demo Conversion Rate (2.8% vs 2.5-3.0% benchmark)

• At 2.8% conversion with $18k monthly spend and $195 CAC, you’re acquiring ~92 demos/month
• At benchmark midpoint (2.75%), you’d acquire ~92 demos (essentially on target)
• Conversion rate is not your bottleneck—this is a strength

CAC ($195 vs $100-180 benchmark)

• 8-95% above benchmark depending on comparison point
• At median benchmark ($140), you’re overpaying by $55/demo
• Spending $5,060/month more than benchmark
• Premium CAC offsets your competitive conversion rate

ROAS (2.2x vs 2.8-3.5x benchmark)

• 21-37% below industry standard
• For SaaS CRM targeting SMBs, 2.8-3.0x is typical baseline
• Gap represents underperformance relative to ad spend efficiency
• Root cause: High CAC driven by low CTR, not poor conversion

CTR (0.9% vs 0.62-1.2% benchmark)

• Above absolute bottom (0.62%) but 25% below median (1.2%)
• Q3 2024 average for B2B SaaS was 0.96%, putting you below seasonal norms
• Low CTR inflates costs—you’re paying for impressions that don’t engage
• Campaigns with CTR >0.7% enjoy ~15% lower CPCs per LinkedIn algorithm

Root Cause Insights

Why is CAC high despite competitive conversion?

Your solid demo conversion (2.8%) proves your offer and landing page work well. But your below-median CTR (0.9%) means you’re paying to show ads to people who aren’t clicking. This pattern indicates:

1. Audience targeting too broad: Reaching beyond your true ICP (CRM buyers at SMBs)
2. Creative not resonating: Ad messaging/imagery isn’t compelling the right people to click
3. Inefficient impression spend: Paying for irrelevant eyeballs before clicks even happen

The opportunity:

You’ve built a solid conversion machine (2.8% is respectable), but you’re feeding it expensive, low-quality traffic. CTR improvements directly reduce CAC without changing what already works (your landing page and offer). LinkedIn’s algorithm rewards engagement—campaigns with CTR >0.7% see ~15% lower CPCs.

Metric interconnections:

• Low CTR (0.9%) → High cost per click → High CAC ($195) → Low ROAS (2.2x)
• If CTR rises to 1.3% (top quartile): CPC drops ~15%, CAC could fall to $145-165, ROAS improves to 2.9-3.2x

Prioritized Recommendations

Priority 1: Refine LinkedIn Audience Targeting (Highest Impact)

Projected Impact: Lift CTR from 0.9% to 1.3%, reduce CAC from $195 to $145, improve ROAS to 3.0x

Specific Actions:

• Narrow job titles to CRM decision-makers: “Sales Manager,” “Director of Sales,” “VP Sales,” “Head of Revenue,” “Sales Operations Manager” (exclude generic “Manager” or “Business Owner”)
• Lock Company Size filter to 10-500 employees (your SMB sweet spot)
• Target industries with high CRM adoption: Professional Services, Technology, Real Estate, Financial Services, Insurance
• Upload list of closed-won customer companies, create LinkedIn Matched Audiences lookalike
• Remove LinkedIn Audience Network (runs on lower-quality placements), focus on feed only
• Test Account-Based Marketing (ABM) approach: 150-250 target companies per campaign segment

Timeline: 1 week to rebuild targeting, 2-3 weeks to measure results
Expected Result: CTR 0.9% → 1.3% (+44%), CAC $195 → $145 (-26%), ROAS 2.2x → 3.0x (+36%)

Priority 2: Creative Refresh with SMB-Specific Messaging

Projected Impact: Additional CTR lift to 1.5%, further CAC reduction to $135

Specific Actions:

• Replace stock images with specific SMB use case screenshots (e.g., “Track 50 deals in one view” not “Enterprise dashboard”)
• Test problem-focused headlines: “Still tracking deals in spreadsheets?” “Losing leads because your team can’t follow up?”
• Add SMB social proof: “Join 2,000+ small businesses,” “Built for teams of 5-50”
• Create role-specific ad variants (Sales Manager vs VP Sales)
• Test 15-30s video testimonials from SMB customers
• Emphasize SMB-friendly pricing, easy setup, no IT required

Timeline: 2 weeks to create, 2-3 weeks to test
Expected Result: CTR 1.3% → 1.5% (+15%), CAC $145 → $135 (-7%)

Priority 3: Landing Page Optimization for SMB Buyers

Projected Impact: Lift conversion from 2.8% to 3.3%, improve ROAS to 3.5x

Specific Actions:

• Simplify demo form: Reduce fields from 7-8 to 4-5 (Name, Email, Company, Phone)
• Add SMB trust signals above fold: “5,000+ small businesses,” “Setup in 1 day,” “No credit card required”
• Include SMB-specific ROI calculator: “Save X hours/week tracking deals”
• A/B test instant demo vs scheduled demo
• Add exit-intent offer: “Watch 2-min product tour instead”
• Show transparent pricing or “Starting at $X/user” to qualify leads

Timeline: 2-3 weeks
Expected Result: Conversion 2.8% → 3.3% (+18%), demos/month 92 → 108

Priority 4: Implement LinkedIn Conversion API (Quick Win)

Projected Impact: 20% lower CPA, 31% increase in attributed conversions

Specific Actions:

• Set up LinkedIn Conversions API (CAPI) for server-side tracking
• Track demo requests as primary conversion event
• Enable enhanced matching with email/company data
• Verify tracking accuracy vs current pixel-only setup

Timeline: 1 week (technical implementation)
Expected Result: Per LinkedIn benchmarks, 20% CPA reduction = CAC $195 → $156, 31% better attribution = improved optimization

Projected Outcomes

If you implement Priority 1 + 2:

• CTR: 0.9% → 1.5% (+67%)
• CAC: $195 → $135 (-31%)
• Conversion: 2.8% maintained
• ROAS: 2.2x → 3.2x (+45%)
• Monthly demos: 92 → 133 (+45%)
• At 20% demo-to-customer close rate: +8 customers/month

If you add Priority 3:

• Conversion: 2.8% → 3.3%
• Monthly demos: 133 → 158 (+25 from conversion lift)
• ROAS: 3.2x → 3.5x

Within 90 days:

• CTR: 1.4-1.6%
• CAC: $130-145
• Conversion: 3.2-3.5%
• ROAS: 3.3-3.7x
• Demos/month: 150-165

Financial Impact Analysis

Current state (monthly):

• Spend: $18,000
• Demos: 92
• Customers (assuming 20% close rate): 18
• Estimated customer value (year 1): Assuming $3,000-5,000 ACV = $54,000-90,000

Projected state after Priority 1 + 2 (monthly):

• Spend: $18,000 (same budget)
• Demos: 133 (+45%)
• Customers (20% close): 27 (+50%)
• Customer value (year 1): $81,000-135,000
• Incremental monthly impact: +9 customers, +$27,000-45,000 annual value

Projected state after Priority 1 + 2 + 3 (monthly):

• Spend: $18,000
• Demos: 158 (+72%)
• Customers (20% close): 32 (+78%)
• Customer value (year 1): $96,000-160,000
• Incremental monthly impact: +14 customers, +$42,000-70,000 annual value
• Annual impact: +168 customers, +$504,000-840,000 ARR

Next Steps

1. Week 1: Rebuild LinkedIn audience targeting using recommendations, implement LinkedIn CAPI, pause Audience Network placements
2. Week 2-3: Launch new targeting segments, monitor CTR daily, create SMB-specific ad creative variants
3. Week 4: Deploy new creative in A/B tests, begin landing page optimization
4. Week 5-6: Analyze CTR and CAC improvements, scale winning audience/creative combinations
5. Week 7-8: Complete landing page tests, roll out winners
6. Week 9-12: Optimize based on demo-to-customer conversion data, refine messaging
7. Ongoing: Monthly benchmark tracking against 1.3%+ CTR, $140 CAC, 3.0x+ ROAS targets

Conclusion

Your campaign is well-targeted at the conversion stage (2.8% demo rate proves your offer works), but you’re overpaying to reach the right audience due to inefficient CTR. This is actually good news—you don’t need to rebuild your conversion funnel, just get more relevant clicks at lower cost. By tightening LinkedIn targeting to true SMB CRM buyers and refreshing creative with SMB-specific messaging, you can reduce CAC by 30% while increasing demo volume by 45-70%. The path to 3.0x+ ROAS is clear: improve CTR to 1.3-1.5% through better audience targeting and creative resonance.