Many MSPs struggle to identify which marketing channels drive real results due to long sales cycles and scattered data. Setting up proper tracking with a CRM, UTM parameters, and call tracking enables accurate ROI measurement.
You've spent a couple of thousand dollars on Google, LinkedIn, and Facebook Ads and a few trade shows. All of this has landed you a couple of clients. Great right? Think again.
Do you know which of your marketing efforts brought in those clients?
Was it the ads or the networking event a couple of months ago? If you aren't sure, you are basically throwing darts while being blindfolded, and this is a situation many MSP owners face.
As an MSP owner, you need to know which marketing efforts are worth your money. This blog explains how to measure your MSP lead generation ROI and why it matters.
The short answer is that MSP sales cycles are tracking nightmares. The reasons are as follows:
A prospect downloaded your cybersecurity guide in January, attended your webinar in March, and booked a meeting in June. Which touchpoint gets credit for that $50,000 annual contract?
According to McKinsey, a B2B buyer can interact with an average of 10 channels before making a purchase decision. This could be higher for MSPs, as decision-makers need to be sure that their IT infrastructure is in the right hands.
The long sales cycles, coupled with multiple interactions across channels, also lead to data siloed across various formats. Some data ends up in spreadsheets, and crucial phone numbers end up on sticky notes.
Unless you have an omnichannel setup with all data going through a CRM, measuring your ROI is impossible. Matt from Tactics Marketing puts it this way,
Attribution can be tough. But with care and attention, you can figure out your ROI on even the hardest conversions.
The bottom line is simple. Flying blind will cost you money. You need to know which marketing channels to fund and where to cut back on.
Setting up a tracking system can seem daunting initially, but it really isn't. Here is how you can go about it.
A CRM is the foundation of this entire exercise, and yes, even a basic one will work. HubSpot offers a free version. Zoho's basic package costs less than $15 a month. Get every lead into the system.
Use UTM parameters for every digital campaign. In a nutshell, these are tags you add to a URL to let Google Analytics know where each click came from. They look something like this:
| yoursite.com/services?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=july2025 |
They take less than a minute or two to set up and provide accurate information to track where traffic and conversions are coming from.
Use tools/services like CallRail or CallTrackingMetrics to track all your phone conversations. These tools, among other features, give you different numbers for various marketing channels, which inform you exactly which one is driving results.
Incorporate as many tools as your budget allows to. Automation beats willpower every single time. The fewer the manual processes involved in your tracking infrastructure, the more accurate your lead generation analytics will be.
If you set up the above system, you will soon start seeing a ton of data that you can analyze. However, you don't need to focus on all of them. Focus on these initially:
CPL tells you how much you spend to get one potential lead's contact information. If you have spent $1,000 on a campaign that has got your 20 leads, your CPL is 1,000/20 = 50. It's simple math that can tell you which channel is giving you the best value for your money.
The lead-to-customer conversion rate tells you what percentage of your leads are becoming paying customers. If this number is on the low end, it tells you that you aren't landing quality leads.
Your CAC tells you how much you have spent to land each customer. You calculate it by dividing your total marketing and sales costs by the new customers acquired.
This number should be significantly lower than what each client pays you. If you spent $5,000 total and landed 5 clients, your CAC is $1,000 per customer.
This metric tells you how much revenue each of your clients generates over their entire relationship with you. If a client is paying $2,000 monthly and stays for three years, they are worth $72,000. That context makes a $1,000 CAC look pretty good, and that is what you need to aim for.
These two metrics separate the leads that are showing interest from those who are ready to buy from you. Tracking these two metrics tells you where in the customer journey you are losing your MQLs.
Tracking how to measure MSP lead generation ROI turns marketing from an expense into an investment. Doing so will help you know which campaigns deserve additional funds and which ones are not worth the time and money. Setting up a system that can do this does require some effort up front.
Once it's up and running, you'll wonder how you ever managed without it!
Don't stop here—ask for data points during sales handoffs to verify and qualify clients. For example, if clients claim they found you through your store sign, even if they came in via Google, you need this info. It's easy to collect; start doing it with every onboarding!
Ready to build a tracking system that actually works? Tactics Marketing can help you set up proper lead generation analytics and measure what really matters. We'll show you exactly where your marketing budget goes and how to get better returns.
Get in touch, and let's walk through your numbers!
1. How long should I wait before evaluating the ROI of my marketing campaign?
Give PPC campaigns 30-60 days and SEO efforts 90-180 days. MSP sales cycles average 3-6 months, so short-term metrics might mislead you. Focus on early indicators like lead quality while waiting for closed deals to materialize.
2. What's the difference between ROI and ROAS in MSP marketing?
ROI measures total profit against all marketing costs. ROAS tracks revenue generated per dollar spent on advertising. ROAS helps evaluate individual ad platforms, while ROI gives you the complete marketing picture, including overhead.
3. What tools can automate my MSP marketing ROI reporting?
Google Data Studio, HubSpot's reporting dashboard, and Databox can pull data from multiple sources for unified reports. Most of them have a free version, so use them. You can invest in their premium plans or in a more robust analytics platform once you scale.