B2B Personas:

Targeting Audiences
A detailed audience analysis to improve
marketing accuracy
About This Report Salesforce Research 2

Beginning in the fall of 2014, Salesforce began All of these factors — along with demographic
to analyze more than 15 million data points, characteristics — must be understood to answer
spanning a four-year period, from two of the these questions:
largest B2B databases: Data.com and LinkedIn.
Growth and churn data was anonymized in • What is the annual growth of a
accordance with LinkedIn’s members-first specific persona?
standards. In addition, some of the findings come • What is the annual churn of a
from various Salesforce Research studies and specific persona?
third-party resources as noted. • What is the size of your audience?

The combined data — yielding 90 specific B2B The B2B Persona Report answers these questions,
personas — provides deep insights into individuals and more, to provide a foundation for a successful
within a B2B persona defined as a grouping B2B marketing strategy.
of individuals filtered by specific demographic
characteristics: business vertical, department,
and seniority.

Each of these levels has significant impact on a

person’s membership to a persona. To accurately
understand the lifecycle of a persona, we factored
in the length of time an individual has worked
for a company, the vertical and horizontal career
changes, and the individual’s tenure.
Table of Contents Salesforce Research 3

Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

B2B Persona Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Vertical Effect on B2B Personas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Departmental Effect on B2B Personas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Seniority Effect on B2B Personas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Audience Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Survey Methodology and Demographics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Executive Summary Salesforce Research 4

Key findings from 15 million data points

The B2B Persona Report is the first large-scale research project to

provide a high-level yet detailed view of B2B personas resulting
in accurate data on audience growth, churn, and size. These
findings are vital to B2B marketers who spend the majority of their
resources building email databases and social audiences.

The average B2B company has a database of 50,0001 individuals and

spends an average of $1502 to acquire a single email address. Our
research identified social audiences ranging from 10,000 to millions,
with the average social database being 50,000.3 This means an email
database alone is worth $7.5 million, likely making it the largest asset
under a marketer’s control. Include the cost of acquiring social followers,
and the value of an audience quickly reaches into tens of millions of
dollars.

While an email database is a significant asset, measuring its health

can be an elusive task. Knowing exactly how personas grow, churn,
and change in size can help B2B marketers determine the health of
their audiences and accurately estimate reach, while informing better
decisions to fuel marketing success.

1
50,000 is a summation of multiple sources looking at the total size of B2B email databases across all
sizes of B2B businesses.
2
$150 is a summation of multiple sources ranging estimated acquisition cost of $10 well into the
thousands. It accounts for time, resources, and execution to obtain an email address.
3
Average social database size per Pardot State of Market Report 2014.
Executive Summary Salesforce Research 5

Key findings from 15 million data points

B2B Growth Rates Size of B2B Audience

Sales personas have the largest variance in one-year growth. Growth for individual 21.3 million full-time B2B professionals
contributors who are sales professionals in the retail and consumer products vertical is were analyzed for this study. In total, 60
nearly two times higher than the same sales persona in the medical vertical. million full-time professionals make up
the total B2B population, representing
Lowest Annual Growth Average Persona Growth 43% of all employed individuals in the
for Any Single Persona per Year by Seniority
United States.

8% 16% 14% 12%

60,000,000
Finance vertical — director and Individual Manager Director
above finance professionals contributor and above Total B2B professionals across all verticals

B2B Churn Rates

21,276,471
On average, it takes a B2B email database 4.2 years to completely churn, and the
average annual churn rate for any single persona is 17%.

B2B professionals analyzed across six verticals

Highest Annual Churn Average Persona Churn
for Any Single Persona per Year by Seniority

27% 20% 17% 15% 2,918,362

2,882,692
High-tech

Manufacturing
Retail and consumer Individual Manager Director
Retail and
products vertical — individual
contributor sales professionals
contributor and above
6,339,933 consumer products

4,016,529 Medical
Highest Churn
by Department
#
1 Marketing #
2 Sales #
3 HR
1,476,648 Transportation

Growth and churn data provided by LinkedIn, in accordance with its members-first standards.
3,642,307 Finance
Audience size derived from Data.com information in combination with public-facing government data.
01 B2B Persona Salesforce Research 6

Overview

B2B marketers place a high value on More Than Three-Fourths of B2B Marketers View Email
obtaining an email address, and with good
reason. According to our “2016 State of B2B
as Core to Their Business
Marketing”4 report, 79% of B2B marketers Email continues to be an integral touchpoint along the customer journey, with 79%
agree that email marketing is core to their of B2B marketers agreeing that it is core to their business and 51% saying it is directly
business, and 52% plan to increase their linked to their business’ primary revenue source.
email marketing investments.

Obtaining email addresses is a critical step

toward effective contact management.
Without a detailed understanding of the
total audience size, marketers have no way to
judge market penetration or determine how 44%
many emails they need to acquire. Strongly agree

Marketers must account for the volatility

of audience size over time. Change has
79%
strongly agree or agree
two major aspects — growth and churn. The that email is core to
average growth and churn of each persona their business
allows a marketer to accurately set realistic
goals for management and to evaluate the
health of their current marketing audiences.
Through our research, we were able to
track the growth of a persona by tracking
the number of people who moved into a
35%
different persona from the previous year. Agree

4
2016 State of Marketing B2B data, Salesforce Research, March 2016
01 B2B Persona Salesforce Research 7

Overview

Tracking Persona Churn

Tracking persona churn can be difficult. business vertical. We also account for the
Typically, a marketer only has one gauge to difference of vertical and horizontal moves
determine whether an email address has within an organization.
churned — does it bounce? However, this
is not an accurate indicator of a person’s As part of this analysis, LinkedIn explored
membership in a persona because data from more than 7 million records

9 years an email address is only deleted if an

individual leaves the company.
over a period of four years to provide a
clear picture on the lifecycle of a persona.
highest tenure of a persona The Bureau of Labor Statistics5 data
In many organizations, we see both validated that the data is on par with

4.2 years horizontal and vertical employment

changes, which might remove a person
from the target persona without changing
macro trends; however, it did not allow for
granular data segmentation like LinkedIn’s
database. Our analysis of the Salesforce
average tenure of a persona
their email address. So while the email Data.com database revealed two high-

2.6 years address is still valid, the individual may no

longer be a valid audience member of a
target persona. Our research was able to
level findings:
• The average professional employment
is 4.2 years, which accounts for how
lowest tenure of a persona
take this construct into consideration, and both departmental roles and level of
is accounted for in this report. seniority affect audience tenure. This is
5
Data supplied by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
compared to the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Growth and churn data provided by LinkedIn, in To determine the growth and churn of Statistics finding of 4.7 years.
accordance with its members-first standards.
a persona, our databases considered • The highest tenure of any persona
Size of audience derived from Data.com information start and end dates of a individual’s segments is nine years and the lowest
in combination with public-facing government data.
employment within a specific role and tenure is 2.6 years.
02 Vertical Effect Salesforce Research 8

on B2B Personas

A business vertical significantly affects Average Annual Growth by Vertical

growth, churn, and size of a persona. This
is easy to understand in scenarios where When we studied how many new individuals enter into a vertical per year — over the period of
a specific audience might have many four years — we found a slight variation among the six verticals. The retail and consumer products
barriers to entry, such as high levels of vertical boasts the highest annual growth rate. The numbers below are aggregates for all
education or desirability of jobs in that departments and all levels of seniority by vertical.
audience. Regardless of the reasons, the
verticals exhibit distinct differences on the Retail and
tenure and size of the audience. High-tech Manufacturing consumer products Medical Transportation Finance
15% 14% 19% 14% 15% 13%
Growth is measured as the number of
individuals who are new to a vertical
compared to the previous year. Churn
is measured as the combined vertical
and horizontal movement inside an Average Annual Churn by Vertical
organization as well as external moves,
which cause an individual’s email address High-tech has the highest annual churn rate, followed closely by retail and consumer products.
to be invalid within a target audience.
This either means the address is still valid
but no longer a target persona, or an Retail and
individual has moved to a new company High-tech Manufacturing consumer products Medical Transportation Finance
and has a new email but is still a part of 20% 15% 22% 17% 15% 16%
the target audience.

Growth and churn data provided by LinkedIn, in accordance

with its members-first standards.

Audience size derived from Data.com information in

combination with public-facing government data.
03 Departmental Effect Salesforce Research 9

on B2B Personas

Within the traditional targeting of a Average Annual Growth by Vertical and Department
persona, we look at the departmental
role and its effect on the persona. The Marketing has the highest annual growth rate across all verticals, followed closely by sales.
department an individual belongs to can
impact audience growth and churn. Like Retail and
verticals, some departments tend to see a High-tech Manufacturing consumer products Medical Transportation Finance
higher volume of growth or churn, due to IT 13% 14% 16% 15% 15% 13%
the nature of the job inside of the business Marketing 20% 17% 21% 19% 18% 17%
vertical. Marketing has the highest growth Sales 15% 14% 19% 12% 14% 14%
and churn per year, followed closely HR 17% 15% 17% 16% 16% 14%
by sales. Finance 15% 15% 16% 15% 15% 12%

Average Annual Churn by Vertical and Department

B2B marketers who target marketers see the highest growth potential; however, they see a high
percentage of that same audience churn. Marketing has the highest annual churn rate across all
verticals, followed closely by sales.

Retail and
High-tech Manufacturing consumer products Medical Transportation Finance
IT 19% 15% 18% 16% 16% 16%
Marketing 23% 18% 22% 20% 18% 18%
Sales 20% 14% 24% 18% 15% 16%
HR 20% 16% 19% 17% 16% 16%
Finance 18% 16% 17% 16% 16% 17%
Growth and churn data provided by LinkedIn, in accordance
with its members-first standards.
04 Seniority Effect Salesforce Research 10

on B2B Personas

In addition to business verticals and Average Annual Growth by Seniority

departments, it is important to categorize
by seniority when evaluating target There are more individual contributors entering the persona than director-level employees. The
personas. Our research revealed that average is even higher when we compare the total number of individuals and their shift to other
higher seniority levels have slower growth organizations while maintaining the same job title.
and churn rates.
Individual contributor Manager Director and above
16% 14% 12%

Average Annual Churn by Seniority

B2B marketers who target individual contributors see 16% pure growth potential; however, 20%
of the existing audience will churn over that same period.

Individual contributor Manager Director and above

20% 17% 15%

Growth and churn data provided by LinkedIn, in accordance

with its members-first standards.
05 Audience Profiles: Salesforce Research 11

IT Vertical

The size of a persona is critical for IT: Annual Size by Vertical and Seniority
marketers to understand when estimating
the total size of their audience. Marketers Retail and
need to understand both the penetration High-tech Manufacturing consumer products Medical Transportation Finance
into a specific audience, as well as where Total 772,151 680,611 896,552 1,137,637 278,160 489,312
their audience is lacking in membership IC 501,898 442,397 582,759 739,464 180,804 318,053
with their core personas. The following M 193,038 170,153 224,138 284,409 69,540 122,328
charts break down each persona by D+ 77,215 68,061 89,655 113,764 27,816 48,931
total size, annual growth, and churn by
departmental role, business vertical, and
IT: Annual Growth by Vertical and Seniority
seniority.
Retail and
High-tech Manufacturing consumer products Medical Transportation Finance
4,254,423 individuals make up the IC 13% 14% 17% 15% 16% 13%
IT vertical M 14% 13% 15% 15% 13% 13%
D+ 13% 13% 13% 13% 12% 10%

IT: Annual Churn by Vertical and Seniority

Retail and
High-tech Manufacturing consumer products Medical Transportation Finance

IC 20% 16% 20% 17% 17% 17%

M 17% 13% 16% 15% 13% 14%
Growth and churn data provided by LinkedIn, in accordance
with its members-first standards. D+ 16% 14% 15% 14% 13% 13%
Audience size derived from Data.com information in
combination with public-facing government data.
05 Audience Profiles: Salesforce Research 12

Marketing Vertical

2,269,903 individuals make up the Marketing: Annual Size by Vertical and Seniority
Marketing vertical
Retail and
High-tech Manufacturing consumer products Medical Transportation Finance
Total 358,691 319,340 840,942 424,163 132,876 193,891
IC 233,149 207,571 546,612 275,706 86,369 126,029
M 89,673 79,835 210,236 106,041 33,219 48,473
D+ 35,869 31,934 84,094 42,416 13,288 19,389

Marketing: Annual Growth by Vertical and Seniority

Retail and
High-tech Manufacturing consumer products Medical Transportation Finance
IC 24% 21% 25% 22% 21% 20%
M 18% 15% 20% 19% 18% 17%
D+ 15% 13% 16% 16% 13% 14%

Marketing: Annual Churn by Vertical and Seniority

Retail and
High-tech Manufacturing consumer products Medical Transportation Finance

IC 25% 19% 26% 21% 19% 21%

M 22% 17% 21% 19% 18% 17%
Growth and churn data provided by LinkedIn, in accordance
with its members-first standards. D+ 21% 16% 17% 18% 15% 15%
Audience size derived from Data.com information in
combination with public-facing government data.
05 Audience Profiles: Salesforce Research 13

Sales Vertical

4,705,331 individuals make up the Sales: Annual Size by Vertical and Seniority
Sales vertical
Retail and
High-tech Manufacturing consumer products Medical Transportation Finance
Total 728,034 577,116 1,552,203 513,585 315,588 1,018,805
IC 473,222 375,125 1,008,932 333,830 205,132 662,223
M 182,009 144,279 388,051 128,396 78,897 254,701
D+ 72,803 57,712 155,220 51,359 31,559 101,881

Sales: Annual Growth by Vertical and Seniority

Retail and
High-tech Manufacturing consumer products Medical Transportation Finance
IC 15% 14% 21% 11% 15% 14%
M 15% 12% 14% 14% 13% 14%
D+ 13% 12% 12% 14% 11% 11%

Sales: Annual Churn by Vertical and Seniority

Retail and
High-tech Manufacturing consumer products Medical Transportation Finance
IC 21% 14% 27% 18% 15% 17%
M 19% 14% 19% 17% 14% 16%
Growth and churn data provided by LinkedIn, in accordance
with its members-first standards. D+ 19% 14% 16% 17% 13% 14%
Audience size derived from Data.com information in
combination with public-facing government data.
05 Audience Profiles: Salesforce Research 14

HR Vertical

1,2012,014 individuals make up the HR: Annual Size by Vertical and Seniority
HR vertical
Retail and
High-tech Manufacturing consumer products Medical Transportation Finance
Total 160,382 198,964 330,688 309,668 106,056 106,256
IC 104,248 129,327 214,947 201,284 68,936 69,066
M 40,096 49,741 82,672 77,417 26,514 26,564
D+ 16,038 19,896 33,069 30,967 10,606 10,626

HR: Annual Growth by Vertical and Seniority

Retail and
High-tech Manufacturing consumer products Medical Transportation Finance
IC 18% 16% 19% 17% 17% 16%
M 15% 12% 15% 16% 14% 14%
D+ 13% 12% 12% 12% 12% 10%

HR: Annual Churn by Vertical and Seniority

Retail and
High-tech Manufacturing consumer products Medical Transportation Finance
IC 22% 17% 21% 19% 18% 18%
M 17% 14% 18% 16% 15% 15%
Growth and churn data provided by LinkedIn, in accordance
with its members-first standards. D+ 16% 13% 14% 14% 13% 13%
Audience size derived from Data.com information in
combination with public-facing government data.
05 Audience Profiles: Salesforce Research 15

Finance Vertical

8,834,800 individuals make up the Finance: Annual Size by Vertical and Seniority
Finance vertical
Retail and
High-tech Manufacturing consumer products Medical Transportation Finance
Total 899,104 1,106,661 2,719,548 1,631,476 643,968 1,834,043
IC 584,418 719,330 1,767,706 1,060,459 418,579 1,192,128
M 224,776 276,665 679,887 407,869 160,992 458,511
D+ 89,910 110,666 271,955 163,148 64,397 183,404

Finance: Annual Growth by Vertical and Seniority

Retail and
High-tech Manufacturing consumer products Medical Transportation Finance
IC 17% 16% 19% 17% 17% 13%
M 15% 16% 16% 16% 15% 12%
D+ 11% 11% 11% 11% 11% 9%

Finance: Annual Churn by Vertical and Seniority

Retail and
High-tech Manufacturing consumer products Medical Transportation Finance
IC 20% 17% 20% 18% 17% 18%
M 17% 16% 16% 16% 15% 15%
Growth and churn data provided by LinkedIn, in accordance
with its members-first standards. D+ 15% 14% 14% 14% 12% 11%
Audience size derived from Data.com information in
combination with public-facing government data.
Recommendations Salesforce Research 16

B2B marketing as we know it is

fundamentally changing.
The B2B Personas research makes it clear that marketers penetration, annual growth, and annual churn — will see distinct
need to have a clear picture of their audience segments due advantages, including the ability to:
to the high frequency of churn and growth of the personas • Better identify new leads.
that make up their full audience. If you’d like to make this • Manage audiences more effectively.
report’s data more actionable in your strategy, consider the • Send content to the right audience segment.
following recommendations.
This detailed level of audience information opens up prospects
Marketing as we know it is fundamentally changing. We are for new marketing programs, and it provides a better way to value
moving away from silo execution to omni-channel execution, different communication methods for our audience by giving it a
making it even more critical for B2B marketers to understand timeline of usefulness.
their audience. Marketers who can accurately break down
their audience by persona — to truly understand their market Recommendations on the following pages are organized by
marketing channel.
Recommendations Salesforce Research 17

Email
Evaluate email’s role in your marketing strategy based on its • The size of an email database can be used as a
limited lifecycle. measurement of success via penetration rates. Successful
• Evaluate the average cost of obtaining an email address B2B marketers understand the demographics of their email
against its lifetime value. Data shows obtaining email database and compare it to their potential audience size to
addresses for some audiences might not be the best use of estimate penetration into that audience.
resources given the short life span of the email address. • Properly identifying personas helps marketers to improve
• Data management is crucial to email engagement rates. both the acquisition of email addresses and the gating
Many marketers judge email performance based on open process. Marketers can dynamically gate content in real time
rates and click-through rates. The viability of addresses in your based on whether they need email addresses from a
email list can dramatically skew engagement rates. target audience.
• Due to its volatility, email is only one of many
touchpoints marketers should obtain from an audience
member. Relationships with individual audience members
should not end when his or her email addresses changes;
however, if you have no other contact methods, it might.
Recommendations Salesforce Research 18

Social Content
Social can play an integral role in long-term communications. Content can provide additional relevance to a target audience
• The average cost of a social engagement is much less segmented by seniority.
than that of an email address. The churn of social handles • Relevance is often thought of as a factor of intent and
is also not tied to the tenure of an employee, which might digital behavior; however, it also can be a factor of
provide your business with a more valuable investment over condition. This means that B2B marketers who understand
the lifecycle of the relationship than previously imagined. an individual’s persona within a target audience can now
• Future success hinges on integration of omni-channel create new campaign types that deliver relevant content
interactions. Matching an individual’s social profiles to his based on an individual’s lifecycle in that role.
or her email address is critical to creating a successful omni- • Correctly identifying individuals within a persona allows
channel customer journey. marketers to measure content based on penetration into
• Include social interactions as part of your audience specific audience segments. Publishers can track individuals
adoption. Successful marketers know the number of who engage with content in real time, proving the impact a
individuals from their target audience that are in their social piece of content can have on a specific audience segment.
profile; they also know how often they engage with their target Marketers can also show the value of third-party, native, and
audience(s) via social channels. paid content in a more targeted way.
• Understanding audience size can maximize effectiveness
of paid social targeting. The actual size of your audience can
help you to evaluate whether your paid audience segment is
specific enough.
Recommendations Salesforce Research 19

Campaigns Data Management

Expect new campaign types to emerge. Having the correct data is the key to successful marketing
• Understanding an individual’s seniority can help B2B campaigns.
marketers create more targeted campaigns. For example, • The biggest challenge marketers have with data is
an individual that leaves company A to work for company identifying churn within an existing database. Successfully
B has a new email address but is also an existing audience meeting this challenge will require augmented datasets
member. Identifying these individuals, and targeting specific that keep up with vertical and horizontal changes of
campaigns to their new address, can result in a cost-effective audience members.
net-new lead generation campaign. • Augmented data will provide marketers with an edge to
• Sales teams can use this same growth and churn data execute new types of campaigns. As a result, marketing,
to determine when to follow up with accounts. Churn is sales, and other teams get into accounts faster, and better
often a trigger for purchasing behavior that sales can leverage mitigate churn.
to identify new opportunities. • Data management might become a core role of
• Customer retention teams can launch campaigns based marketing. In fact, data management could become a
on churn data. Churn in personnel is a sign of churn in metric marketers are responsible for if:
purchasing behavior. 1. Companies find a better way to value the audience as a
• Marketing can be more proactive with paid advertising business asset.
display and targeted account-based marketing with 2. Audience management becomes easier with the
actionable churn data. Being proactive will help marketers increased data availability.
generate new leads for sales and help mitigate churn of
current customers.
 Salesforce Research 20

Survey Methodology
and Demographics

The B2B Persona report was conducted in partnership with Verticals

LinkedIn and Salesforce Data.com. Data leveraged from Finance – banking, insurance, accounting, real estate
the LinkedIn database was analyzed by LinkedIn analysts in High-tech — computer hardware, computer software, internet, telecommunications
accordance with the user agreement and putting member Manufacturing – chemicals, mining and metals, oil and energy, machinery
privacy first. Historical data from the last four years was Medical – hospital and healthcare, medical device, pharmaceuticals, mental
leveraged for this project. Economy and employment rates healthcare
also were taken into account. Retail and consumer products – food and beverages, hospitality, restaurants,
leisure, travel and tourism, cosmetics, apparel and fashion, retail, food production
Audience size was calculated by comparing Data.com’s Transportation – airlines/aviation, warehousing, maritime, trucking/railroad
dataset to its total penetration into the audience segments
per the United States Bureau of Labor Statics (BLS).
Multipliers based on comparable datasets were then
calculated and used to estimate the total audience sizes. Departments
IT
Total employed numbers — both male and female — over Marketing
the age of 20 is 139.47 million. We report on individuals Sales
employed full time — 40% of the total — based on a BLS HR
estimate of 83.68 million hourly and 55.79 million salaried Finance
workers. The calculated estimates were rounded up to 60
million since we are dealing with an approximation. For the
purpose of this report, we focused only on the six largest Seniority
verticals, five departments, and three levels of seniority — Individual contributor
giving us a view of approximately one-third of the Manager
total population. Director and above — director, VP, CxO, owner, partner, president, or equivalent