What is a typical response rate for a B2B marketing effort?
Response rates for B2B marketing efforts run from fractions of one percent to as much as 5% or more depending on the nature of the offer. Predicting a response rate for an untested list or new offer is impossible. There are so many factors that go into a direct marketing campaign, such as: what is being mailed, quality of the mail piece, the offer, the timing, and the audience. The question to ask is not, “What response rate will I get?” but rather, “What response rate do I need to get?” For most marketers income from a mailing, relative to its costs, provides the answer. If the income generated by a list exceeds the costs to use it, plus the cost of fulfillment, then the list is probably worth re-using. If a list produces less income than its total costs, it is probably not worth re-using.
