Benchmark Library — Every AAJ Figure and Its Source

41 benchmarks used across AAJ reports and free tools, each with its source document, sample size, field window and last-verified date. Every AAJ page that publishes a figure is listed against it, so a figure and its sourcing can never drift apart.

All reports — Free tools — Resource hub

Analytics, Experiments & Budget

22 figures — Analytics, Experiments & Budget hub.

Figure	Value	Source	Sample & field window	Last verified	Used by
Marketing budgets averaged 7.8% of company revenue in 2026, up from 7.7% in both 2024 and 2025.	7.8%	Gartner, 2026 CMO Spend Survey	401 CMOs across North America, the UK and Europe, most at companies above $1B revenue · fielded January-March 2026	Last verified 15 Sept 2026, next review 15 Dec 2026	/, Marketing Budget Benchmarks by Stage 2026, Marketing Budget Calculator
CMOs allocate 15.3% of marketing budget to AI, rising to 21.3% at AI-mature organisations.	15.3%	Gartner, 2026 CMO Spend Survey	401 CMOs across North America, the UK and Europe, most at companies above $1B revenue · fielded January-March 2026	Last verified 15 Sept 2026, next review 15 Dec 2026	Marketing Budget Benchmarks by Stage 2026, Marketing Technology Stack Landscape, Marketing Budget Calculator
56% of CMOs say their budget is insufficient to deliver their strategy, easing from 59% in 2025.	56%	Gartner, 2026 CMO Spend Survey	401 CMOs across North America, the UK and Europe, most at companies above $1B revenue · fielded January-March 2026	Last verified 15 Sept 2026, next review 15 Dec 2026	Marketing Budget Benchmarks by Stage 2026, Marketing Budget Calculator
AI-ready organisations spend 8.9% of company revenue on marketing.	8.9%	Gartner, 2026 CMO Spend Survey	401 CMOs across North America, the UK and Europe, most at companies above $1B revenue · fielded January-March 2026	Last verified 15 Sept 2026, next review 15 Dec 2026	Marketing Budget Benchmarks by Stage 2026
Paid media accounts for 30.6% of marketing budget, equal to 2.4% of company revenue.	30.6%	Gartner, 2025 CMO Spend Survey	402 CMOs across North America, the UK and Europe · fielded February-March 2025	Last verified 15 Sept 2026, next review 15 Dec 2026	Marketing Budget Benchmarks by Stage 2026, Paid Media Budget Allocator
39% of CMOs plan to cut agency spend.	39%	Gartner, 2025 CMO Spend Survey	402 CMOs across North America, the UK and Europe · fielded February-March 2025	Last verified 15 Sept 2026, next review 15 Dec 2026	Marketing Budget Benchmarks by Stage 2026, Paid Media Budget Allocator
22% of CMOs say generative AI has reduced their reliance on external agencies.	22%	Gartner, 2025 CMO Spend Survey	402 CMOs across North America, the UK and Europe · fielded February-March 2025	Last verified 15 Sept 2026, next review 15 Dec 2026	Marketing Budget Benchmarks by Stage 2026
Median marketing spend at private B2B SaaS companies is 8% of ARR.	8%	SaaS Capital, 2026 Spending Benchmarks for Private B2B SaaS Companies	1,000+ private B2B SaaS companies, fifteenth annual survey · fielded March 2026	Last verified 15 Sept 2026, next review 15 Dec 2026	Marketing Budget Benchmarks by Stage 2026, Unit Economics Calculator
Equity-backed B2B SaaS companies spend roughly 100% more on marketing than bootstrapped ones.	~2x	SaaS Capital, 2026 Spending Benchmarks for Private B2B SaaS Companies	1,000+ private B2B SaaS companies, fifteenth annual survey · fielded March 2026	Last verified 15 Sept 2026, next review 15 Dec 2026	Marketing Budget Benchmarks by Stage 2026, Unit Economics Calculator
AAJ's estimate for pre-PMF companies: 30–60% of quarterly burn spent on marketing, sized against burn rather than revenue because revenue is not yet a meaningful denominator.	30–60%	AAJ estimate, from client work and the published benchmarks below — Built from: AAJ client engagements at this stage, cross-checked against the published anchors listed in the Marketing Budget Benchmarks 2026 report (Gartner's CMO Spend Surveys, the Duke/Deloitte/AMA CMO Survey, SaaS Capital's private-SaaS spending benchmarks and Forrester's B2B budget benchmarks); expressed of quarterly burn. — Derived from this band, not observed separately: $0–$100K / yr	AAJ client engagements, B2B SaaS, Pre-Seed to Enterprise · fielded 2023-2026	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	Marketing Budget Benchmarks by Stage 2026, Marketing Budget Calculator
AAJ's estimate for seed-stage companies: 10–20% of funding raised spent on marketing.	10–20%	AAJ estimate, from client work and the published benchmarks below — Built from: AAJ client engagements at this stage, cross-checked against the published anchors listed in the Marketing Budget Benchmarks 2026 report (Gartner's CMO Spend Surveys, the Duke/Deloitte/AMA CMO Survey, SaaS Capital's private-SaaS spending benchmarks and Forrester's B2B budget benchmarks); expressed of funding raised. — Derived from this band, not observed separately: $50K–$250K / yr	AAJ client engagements, B2B SaaS, Pre-Seed to Enterprise · fielded 2023-2026	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	Marketing Budget Benchmarks by Stage 2026, Marketing Budget Calculator
AAJ's estimate for Series A companies: 20–30% of ARR spent on marketing.	20–30%	AAJ estimate, from client work and the published benchmarks below — Built from: AAJ client engagements at this stage, cross-checked against the published anchors listed in the Marketing Budget Benchmarks 2026 report (Gartner's CMO Spend Surveys, the Duke/Deloitte/AMA CMO Survey, SaaS Capital's private-SaaS spending benchmarks and Forrester's B2B budget benchmarks); expressed of ARR. — Derived from this band, not observed separately: $300K–$1.5M / yr	AAJ client engagements, B2B SaaS, Pre-Seed to Enterprise · fielded 2023-2026	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	Marketing Budget Benchmarks by Stage 2026, Marketing Budget Calculator
AAJ's estimate for Series B companies: 12–20% of revenue spent on marketing.	12–20%	AAJ estimate, from client work and the published benchmarks below — Built from: AAJ client engagements at this stage, cross-checked against the published anchors listed in the Marketing Budget Benchmarks 2026 report (Gartner's CMO Spend Surveys, the Duke/Deloitte/AMA CMO Survey, SaaS Capital's private-SaaS spending benchmarks and Forrester's B2B budget benchmarks); expressed of revenue. — Derived from this band, not observed separately: $1M–$5M / yr	AAJ client engagements, B2B SaaS, Pre-Seed to Enterprise · fielded 2023-2026	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	Marketing Budget Benchmarks by Stage 2026, Marketing Budget Calculator
AAJ's estimate for scaling / post-Series B companies: 15–25% of revenue spent on marketing.	15–25%	AAJ estimate, from client work and the published benchmarks below — Built from: AAJ client engagements at this stage, cross-checked against the published anchors listed in the Marketing Budget Benchmarks 2026 report (Gartner's CMO Spend Surveys, the Duke/Deloitte/AMA CMO Survey, SaaS Capital's private-SaaS spending benchmarks and Forrester's B2B budget benchmarks); expressed of revenue. — Derived from this band, not observed separately: $3M–$15M+ / yr	AAJ client engagements, B2B SaaS, Pre-Seed to Enterprise · fielded 2023-2026	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	Marketing Budget Benchmarks by Stage 2026, Marketing Budget Calculator
AAJ's estimate for mature and enterprise B2B SaaS companies: 5–7% of revenue spent on marketing, marketing only.	5–7%	AAJ estimate, from client work and the published benchmarks below — Built from: AAJ client engagements at this stage, cross-checked against the published anchors listed in the Marketing Budget Benchmarks 2026 report (Gartner's CMO Spend Surveys, the Duke/Deloitte/AMA CMO Survey, SaaS Capital's private-SaaS spending benchmarks and Forrester's B2B budget benchmarks); expressed of revenue. — Derived from this band, not observed separately: Scales with revenue	AAJ client engagements, B2B SaaS, Pre-Seed to Enterprise · fielded 2023-2026	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	Marketing Budget Benchmarks by Stage 2026, Marketing Budget Calculator
Forrester's 2024 B2B budget benchmarks report B2B marketing budgets at about 8% of revenue (about 9% for European B2B).	~8%	Forrester, B2B Marketing Budget Benchmarks, 2024 edition — Forrester does not publish this report openly, so the figure cannot be linked to a public document. Stated on the page as a figure in a document not published openly.	Not disclosed publicly · fielded 2024	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	Marketing Budget Benchmarks by Stage 2026
At Google and Bing, only about 10-20% of experiments produce positive results.	10-20%	Harvard Business Review, Kohavi, R. and Thomke, S., "The Surprising Power of Online Experiments", Harvard Business Review, September-October 2017	experiment programs at Google and Bing, as reported by the authors · fielded 2017	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	A/B Testing: The Complete Guide for Startups (Purpose, Methodology, Best Practices)
A Bing ad-headline experiment produced a 12% revenue lift, worth more than $100 million annually in the US.	12%	Harvard Business Review, Kohavi, R. and Thomke, S., "The Surprising Power of Online Experiments", Harvard Business Review, September-October 2017	single controlled experiment on Bing search advertising · fielded 2017	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	A/B Testing: The Complete Guide for Startups (Purpose, Methodology, Best Practices)
Roughly a third of ideas tested at Microsoft improved the metric, a third made no difference, and a third made things worse.	one third	Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, Kohavi, R., Longbotham, R., Sommerfield, D. and Henne, R., "Controlled experiments on the web: survey and practical guide", Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, 18(1), 2009	online controlled experiments run at Microsoft, as reported by the authors · fielded 2009	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	A/B Testing: The Complete Guide for Startups (Purpose, Methodology, Best Practices)
Marketing budgets were flat at 7.7% of overall company revenue in 2025, the same share as 2024.	7.7%	Gartner, 2025 CMO Spend Survey	402 CMOs and marketing leaders in North America, the UK and Europe, the vast majority at companies above $1B annual revenue · fielded February-March 2025	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	How Much Should a Startup Spend on Marketing? (2026 Benchmarks by Stage), Marketing Budget Benchmarks by Stage 2026
AAJ's working band: combined sales-and-marketing spend runs 30–50% of revenue at the earliest stages, which is why marketing-only benchmarks read low against it.	30–50%	AAJ estimate, from client work and the published benchmarks below — Built from: Combined sales-and-marketing spend observed across AAJ early-stage engagements.	AAJ client engagements, B2B SaaS, Pre-Seed to Series B · fielded 2023-2026	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	How Much Should a Startup Spend on Marketing? (2026 Benchmarks by Stage)
The KPI report shown on the measurement post is an illustrative AAJ report layout with example figures, not a market benchmark.	2.6x	AAJ estimate, from client work and the published benchmarks below — Built from: Example figures in an AAJ report template, chosen to show how the layout reads.	AAJ client engagements, B2B SaaS, Pre-Seed to Series B · fielded 2023-2026	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	How do I know if marketing is working?

Go-to-Market & Growth Planning

3 figures — Go-to-Market & Growth Planning hub.

Figure	Value	Source	Sample & field window	Last verified	Used by
35% of failed startups cited no market need, in CB Insights' 2021 analysis of 110+ startup post-mortems.	35%	CB Insights, The Top 12 Reasons Startups Fail — Point-in-time 2021 edition. CB Insights' research page now serves a newer edition with different figures; every citation on this site names the 2021 edition explicitly.	110+ startup post-mortems · fielded 2021	Last verified 15 Sept 2026, next review 15 Sept 2027	/, Marketing Strategy for Startups: A Founder's Framework for Predictable Growth, How to Build a B2B Go-to-Market Strategy from Scratch: A Founder's Playbook
92% of B2B buyers start the buying process with at least one vendor already in mind, and 41% with a single preferred vendor.	92%	Forrester (reported by Digital Commerce 360), Forrester's 2024 Buyers' Journey Survey, as reported in "B2B buyers choose vendors before the buying process begins" — Trade reporting of a Forrester survey whose own document sits behind Forrester's research access; the sample is not disclosed in public reporting.	not disclosed in public reporting · fielded 2024	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	How to Build a B2B Go-to-Market Strategy from Scratch: A Founder's Playbook, Marketing Strategy for Startups: A Founder's Framework for Predictable Growth
B2B buying groups spend only 17% of their total purchase time meeting with potential suppliers.	17%	Gartner, Win More B2B Sales Deals (buyer enablement research, Brent Adamson) — Gartner's full document sits behind its research access; the public landing page states the 17% figure. This is 2018 buyer-enablement research, not a 2024 finding.	not disclosed on the public landing page · fielded 2018	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	How to Build a B2B Go-to-Market Strategy from Scratch: A Founder's Playbook

Marketing Ops, AI & Team

2 figures — Marketing Ops, AI & Team hub.

Figure	Value	Source	Sample & field window	Last verified	Used by
Martech accounted for 19.4% of the average marketing budget in 2026, a five-year low.	19.4%	Gartner, 2026 CMO Spend Survey — Gartner's own press release does not publish the category split; this is trade coverage of the same survey. Replace with the Gartner source if we obtain the full report.	401 CMOs, North America / UK / Europe · fielded January-March 2026	Last verified 15 Sept 2026, next review 15 Dec 2026	/, Marketing Technology Stack Landscape
Paid media reached 31.4% of the average marketing budget in 2026, a five-year high.	31.4%	Gartner, CMO Spend 2026	401 CMOs, North America / UK / Europe · fielded January-March 2026	Last verified 15 Sept 2026, next review 15 Dec 2026	Marketing Technology Stack Landscape

Pricing & Monetization

7 figures — Pricing & Monetization hub.

Figure	Value	Source	Sample & field window	Last verified	Used by
About 85% of SaaS leaders now use some form of usage-based pricing.	85%	Metronome & Greyhound Capital, State of Usage-Based Pricing 2025	100 SaaS companies · fielded 2025-01	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	SaaS Pricing Models in 2026: Seat-Based vs. Usage-Based vs. Hybrid
Roughly 78% of companies using usage-based pricing adopted it within the last five years, and nearly half within the last two.	78%	Metronome & Greyhound Capital, State of Usage-Based Pricing 2025	100 SaaS companies · fielded 2025-01	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	SaaS Pricing Models in 2026: Seat-Based vs. Usage-Based vs. Hybrid
57% of SaaS companies use per-user pricing as their primary model, down from 64% in 2024.	57%	Monetizely, SaaS Pricing Benchmark Study 2025	103 companies' public pricing, anonymised enterprise contract data, and 47 pricing leaders surveyed · fielded 2025	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	SaaS Pricing Models in 2026: Seat-Based vs. Usage-Based vs. Hybrid
61% of SaaS companies now employ some form of hybrid pricing, up from 49% in 2024.	61%	Monetizely, SaaS Pricing Benchmark Study 2025	103 companies' public pricing, anonymised enterprise contract data, and 47 pricing leaders surveyed · fielded 2025	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	SaaS Pricing Models in 2026: Seat-Based vs. Usage-Based vs. Hybrid
44% of SaaS companies charge for AI-powered features.	44%	Maxio (survey by Benchmarkit), 2025 SaaS Pricing Trends Report — Maxio publishes the report; the underlying survey is Benchmarkit's. The report page does not disclose an exact sample size.	hundreds of SaaS companies (report states "hundreds"; no exact n published) · fielded 2025	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	SaaS Pricing Models in 2026: Seat-Based vs. Usage-Based vs. Hybrid
Companies using hybrid models (subscription plus usage) report the highest median growth rate, at 21%.	21%	Maxio (survey by Benchmarkit), 2025 SaaS Pricing Trends Report — Maxio publishes the report; the underlying survey is Benchmarkit's. The report page does not disclose an exact sample size.	hundreds of SaaS companies (report states "hundreds"; no exact n published) · fielded 2025	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	SaaS Pricing Models in 2026: Seat-Based vs. Usage-Based vs. Hybrid
Credit-based pricing more than doubled among the top 500 SaaS companies: 79 now sell credits, against 35 at the end of 2024 — a 126% increase.	126%	Rob Litterst, Growth Unhinged, 2025 state of SaaS pricing changes	PricingSaaS 500 Index — the 500 largest SaaS and AI companies with public pricing pages · fielded Index snapshot at the end of 2025, compared against the end-of-2024 snapshot; published 7 January 2026	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	SaaS Pricing Models in 2026: Seat-Based vs. Usage-Based vs. Hybrid

Retention, Expansion & Advocacy

3 figures — Retention, Expansion & Advocacy hub.

Figure	Value	Source	Sample & field window	Last verified	Used by
Median net revenue retention for bootstrapped private B2B SaaS companies between $3M and $20M ARR is 103%.	103%	SaaS Capital, Benchmarking Metrics for Bootstrapped SaaS Companies	1,000+ private B2B SaaS companies; figures cited are for bootstrapped companies between $3M and $20M ARR · fielded 2026	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	Your NRR is 100% and you are losing a quarter of your customers
Median gross revenue retention for bootstrapped private B2B SaaS companies between $3M and $20M ARR is 91%.	91%	SaaS Capital, Benchmarking Metrics for Bootstrapped SaaS Companies	1,000+ private B2B SaaS companies; figures cited are for bootstrapped companies between $3M and $20M ARR · fielded 2026	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	Your NRR is 100% and you are losing a quarter of your customers
Median revenue growth for bootstrapped private B2B SaaS companies between $3M and $20M ARR fell to 15%, from 20% a year earlier.	15%	SaaS Capital, Benchmarking Metrics for Bootstrapped SaaS Companies	1,000+ private B2B SaaS companies; figures cited are for bootstrapped companies between $3M and $20M ARR · fielded 2026	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	Your NRR is 100% and you are losing a quarter of your customers

Sales & Pipeline

2 figures — Sales & Pipeline hub.

Figure	Value	Source	Sample & field window	Last verified	Used by
AAJ's working band: B2B teams AAJ works with win 15–25% of qualified deals, so they need 4–7x coverage — 4–7x is 1 divided by that win rate, not a borrowed benchmark.	4–7x	AAJ estimate, from client work and the published benchmarks below — Built from: Win rates observed across AAJ pipeline engagements; the coverage multiple is arithmetic on the win rate.	AAJ client engagements, B2B SaaS, Pre-Seed to Series B · fielded 2023-2026	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	Pipeline Coverage & Forecasting Playbook, Pipeline Forecast & Coverage Calculator
AAJ's working band: 40–60% of a team's existing pipeline typically scores below B-tier when first scored against a defined ICP.	40–60%	AAJ estimate, from client work and the published benchmarks below — Built from: ICP scoring runs across AAJ engagements at first pass, before any pipeline clean-up.	AAJ client engagements, B2B SaaS, Pre-Seed to Series B · fielded 2023-2026	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	ICP & Account-Scoring Playbook, ICP Fit Scorer

Unassigned

1 figure.

Figure	Value	Source	Sample & field window	Last verified	Used by
Results panels on AAJ case studies report the outcomes of that specific engagement — AAJ's own measured results for one client, not a benchmark for anyone else.	230%	AAJ estimate, from client work and the published benchmarks below — Built from: Measured campaign results for the named client engagement, reported as that client's own numbers.	AAJ client engagements, B2B SaaS, Pre-Seed to Series B · fielded 2023-2026	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	/case-studies

Website & Conversion

1 figure — Website & Conversion hub.

Figure	Value	Source	Sample & field window	Last verified	Used by
AAJ's working bands for landing-page conversion: cold paid traffic 1–3%, warm email or referral traffic 5–10%, low-friction opt-ins 15–30%, with 3–5% a realistic target for a B2B demo or trial page.	3–5%	AAJ estimate, from client work and the published benchmarks below — Built from: Conversion rates observed across AAJ landing-page engagements, segmented by traffic temperature and offer friction.	AAJ client engagements, B2B SaaS, Pre-Seed to Series B · fielded 2023-2026	Last verified 16 Sept 2026, next review 16 Mar 2027	Why Your Landing Page Converts at 1% (and How to Increase That to 3-5%)