2025 State of Pipeline Growth Report Reveals Nearly 70% of Marketers Seek Actionable Support Over More Tech

Pipeline360 released its “2025 State of B2B Pipeline Growth” survey, uncovering the biggest challenges facing B2B marketers and the key strategies high-performing teams use to drive success. The findings reveal that top-performing marketing teams excel in six key areas: data utilization, streamlined tech stacks, buyer engagement, lead nurturing, content quality, and sales-marketing alignment.

The survey found that economic uncertainty is the biggest challenge, with 45% of marketers citing it as their primary concern, compounded by unrealistic leadership expectations (36%) and declining buyer engagement (33%), including declining email open rates and form fills. Meanwhile, marketing budgets remain stagnant or shrinking for 63% of organizations, making it even harder to scale programs and drive revenue growth.

Amid rising economic and performance pressures, our survey data shows that B2B marketers are prioritizing outcomes that drive customer retention, growth, and net new acquisition – not simply adding more tools to their tech stack.” Matt Hummel, VP Pipeline360.

In response to these obstacles, nearly 70% of B2B marketers favor actionable support and insights over additional tools, signaling a growing demand for outcomes-driven solutions over tech acquisitions.

“Amid rising economic and performance pressures, our survey data shows that B2B marketers are prioritizing outcomes that drive customer retention, growth, and net new acquisition – not simply adding more tools to their tech stack,” said Matt Hummel, VP of Marketing, Pipeline360. “Marketing is inherently performance-driven, and this shift underscores the need for a smarter and more streamlined approach to pipeline growth and revenue generation.”

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High Performers are Winning with Smarter Strategies

Despite these challenges, the study found a striking contrast between high-performing marketing teams and those struggling to keep pace. The percentage point spread between high performers and low performers include:

• Data utilization: 79% of high performers report being very good or excellent at data handling vs. 14% of low performers, resulting in a 65-point percentage gap.
• Streamlined tech stacks: 72% of high performers report fully optimized and impactful or streamlined and effective tech stacks vs. 12% of low performers, resulting in a 60-point percentage gap.
• Consistent buyer engagement: 72% of high performers report effectiveness of reaching target audiences and buying groups vs. 12% of low performers, resulting in a 60-point percentage gap.
• Superior lead nurturing: 69% of high performers report very good or excellent lead nurturing vs. 10% of low performers, resulting in a 59-point percentage gap.
• Above-average content quality: 85% of high performers report having very good or exceptional content vs. 27% of low performers, resulting in a 58-point percentage gap.
• Strong sales-marketing alignment: 75% of high performers report having mostly or fully aligned marketing and sales teams vs. 24% of low performers, resulting in a 51-point percentage gap.

AI and Personalization are Reshaping Marketing Strategies

As marketers look to improve performance, AI is emerging as a key enabler of success. The survey found that:

• 52% of marketers cite data-driven personalization as the top factor for improving lead nurturing.
• 36% see generative AI as valuable for content creation and email optimization.

These insights highlight AI’s increasing role as the bridge between fragmented data and the personalized experiences buyers expect.

Revenue Metrics Take Center Stage

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The survey also found that the most widely-used metrics show that marketers recognize the value of both brand awareness and demand generation activities, and understand they work in concert rather than in isolation. The top KPIs for marketing teams include website traffic (43%), revenue generated (42%), and SQLs (39%). High-performing teams prioritize revenue metrics, with 50% using revenue generated as their primary KPI.

The Road to Revenue is Getting Longer

Another major challenge facing B2B marketers is lengthening sales cycles, which are putting additional strain on marketing teams:

• 74% of marketers report longer sales cycles.
• 41% are experiencing moderate to significant increases of two to six months.

This shift forces marketing teams to sustain engagement over extended periods, particularly in the middle and bottom of the funnel, where drop-offs are rising.

“Without the right support, these prolonged cycles translate to wasted marketing efforts, missed opportunities, and increased pressure to deliver results with fewer resources,” said Hummel. “These insights underscore the need for a smarter, more integrated approach. At Pipeline360, we’re committed to helping our customers overcome these challenges with seamless, data-driven solutions and services that eliminate roadblocks, streamline operations, and drive measurable outcomes.”

The 2025 State of B2B Pipeline Growth Report was fielded in February 2025 to 534 B2B marketing professionals across the US, UK, Europe, and Asia, with a strong focus on revenue marketing roles, which constituted a plurality of respondents. Survey provider Centiment implemented the survey, and analysis was performed by Leigh Smith, PhD, and head of research at Typeform, and the report was composed by Animalz, a content agency specializing in B2B SaaS content and research.