LinkedIn has shared new research from Factors.ai, a LinkedIn Marketing Partner, revealing how B2B buying decisions take shape and what marketers can do differently to win more deals. The report, From Benchmarks to Blueprints: The LinkedIn Revenue Engine for B2B, draws on data from more than 850 B2B companies, 50,000+ closed deals and over $5 billion in deal value.

The research concludes that today’s winning companies engage buyers earlier, reach more of the buying committee, and combine paid and organic strategies.

The buying journey starts 124 days before the CRM knows it

• Buyers begin researching, evaluating and discussing solutions around 124 days before they speak to a seller, with much of that activity happening on LinkedIn.
• Forms, demo requests and lead scoring models are designed to capture demand once buyers are ready to act. A strategy focused solely on demand capture is therefore reacting to a decision that is already well underway.

Win rates rise when more contacts are engaged

• Reaching six or more contacts before a deal is created in the CRM can lift win rates by 17 percentage points. Engaging three or more additional contacts during the active cycle lifts win rates by a further 16 points.
• According to Forrester, the typical buying decision now includes 13 internal stakeholders and nine external influencers.
• Factors.ai found that 76% of LinkedIn ad spend explicitly targets director-level through to owner roles, which may leave key members of the buying committee under-engaged.
• Who is reached matters as much as how many. The strongest results came from engaging a combination of internal end users, influencers and technical evaluators, which increased win rates by 22 percentage points.

It’s not paid or organic – it’s both

• Companies that pair LinkedIn Ads with organic LinkedIn activity achieve 2.4x higher win rates than those running paid campaigns on their own.
• LinkedIn Ads put a brand in front of the right buyers at scale, while organic content such as thought leadership posts, executive commentary and Company Page activity builds credibility over time.

LinkedIn Ads drive measurable results

• LinkedIn Ads now command 39.8% of B2B display budget share, up 8 percentage points since 2024.
• LinkedIn-sourced deals close with a 34% higher average contract value than deals sourced from other platforms.
• LinkedIn delivers a 1.6x return on ad spend, compared with 1.18x on Google.

What top-performing marketing teams do

• Engage buyers early – Don’t wait for a lead to enter the CRM, as the 124-day window before a deal is created is where preference takes shape.
• Reach the full buying committee – Prioritise a mix of roles, not just headcount.
• Combine paid and organic – Pair LinkedIn Ads with organic LinkedIn activity.

For more information, visit linkedin.com.