HockeyStack Labs 2024 Benchmark Report

2024 was a high-stakes balancing act of tight budgets and skyrocketing pressure.

And yet, demand didn’t let up. Marketers had to do more with less. Growth at all costs? Gone. Efficient growth? The new mandate.

This report tracks how marketing leaders—CMOs, demand gen teams, content, and performance marketing teams—adjusted their budgets, channels, and priorities throughout the year. We analyzed 135 companies, (from SMBs <300 employees to Enterprise >1k employees), ~$690M in spend and 1,105,245 opportunities to see how top- and bottom-of-funnel performance shifted quarter over quarter.

Read ahead to understand how spend correlated with results quarter over quarter in 2024—and strategize how to optimize for 2025. 

We broke down direct traffic, total web traffic, first conversions, opportunity creation, customer wins, and cost per opportunity. The goal? To map how spending correlated with results—and where it didn’t.

The data tells a clear story:

• Q2 was the “golden quarter.” Direct traffic surged 140%. Total web traffic jumped 112%. Customer wins soared 45%. Marketers leaned into paid, organic, and events, fueling top-of-funnel growth.
• Q3 forced a reality check. Event spending dropped 33%. Organic search budgets doubled (+104%). But despite best efforts, opportunities barely moved (+5%)—indicating traffic increases did not align directly with opportunity conversion during this period.
• Q4 was the breaking point. Opportunities fell 22%. Customer wins dropped 9%. Cost per opportunity jumped 85%. In response, marketers slashed paid and organic spend while referral budgets skyrocketed 144%—betting big on trust-based conversions over expensive acquisitions.

Trends that shaped the year:

• The funnel didn’t keep up. Web traffic kept growing in Q4, but opportunities cratered (-22%)—highlighting a disconnect between top-of-funnel visibility and opportunity creation.
• Referrals became the safety net. Paid and organic spend struggled, but referral budgets surged (+144%) in Q4, making it the fastest-growing channel.
• Acquisition costs spiraled. Cost per opportunity jumped 85% in Q4, at the same time, capturing new leads became significantly harder and more expensive.

What this means for you in 2025:

Marketing leaders are prioritizing efficiency over volume. The teams that won in 2024 didn’t just chase more traffic—they focused on conversion optimization, high-intent channels, and sustainable acquisition strategies.

In 2025, expect to see:

• More budget consolidation around high-performing channels. Referrals, LinkedIn ads, and conversion-driven plays will take priority over broad awareness campaigns.
• AI and automation driving efficiency. With headcounts staying flat, teams will lean on tech to scale pipeline conversion.
• A stronger focus on sales-marketing alignment. Acquisition costs are rising—making every lead, touchpoint, and deal count.

The takeaway?

Teams that pivoted fast, focused on intent over volume, and optimized conversion paths came out ahead. 46% of customers still saw growth in the final quarter despite the high costs of acquisition and fewer opportunities. 

The rest? They’ll need to rethink their playbook—fast.

Let’s dive into the quarter over quarter details. 

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Definitions and inclusions:

1. Events

Events refer to in-person, high-touch marketing engagements designed to generate demand, build relationships, and drive direct interactions with potential customers. These events typically involve physical attendance and real-time participation.

Includes:

• Field events – Small, invite-only gatherings such as VIP dinners, executive roundtables, networking happy hours, and industry meetups.
• Roadshows – Multi-city event series featuring live presentations, product demos, customer panels, and Q&A sessions with sales teams.
• Third-party events – Sponsored presence at industry conferences, trade shows, and exhibitions, including booth sponsorships, speaking engagements, and co-branded event partnerships.

Excludes:

• Webinars and virtual conferences – Virtual-only events do not count toward this category, as they lack in-person engagement. These are tracked separately as webinars in other datasets.

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2. Referral spend

Referral marketing is a trust-based acquisition channel where companies invest in external partners, influencers, and third-party publishers to drive traffic, leads, and conversions.

Includes:

• Influencer campaigns – Paid collaborations with industry influencers, thought leaders, and niche content creators to generate brand awareness and lead flow. This includes both macro-influencers and micro-influencers.
• Paid placements – Direct sponsorships of high-authority newsletters, industry blogs, and professional communities where content is placed for visibility. 
• Content syndication programs – Distribution of whitepapers, case studies, and gated content via third-party lead generation networks to drive top-of-funnel engagement.

Excludes:

• Organic referral traffic – Unpaid, word-of-mouth recommendations and inbound links from external sites (tracked separately under organic sources).

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3. Paid ads

Paid advertising covers direct ad placements on digital platforms, excluding search engines and social media. This category includes ads displayed on third-party sites, product listing platforms, and online communities.

Includes:

• Reddit ads – Sponsored posts, promoted comments, and display ads on niche subreddits targeting engaged communities.
• Capterra ads – Sponsored placements and comparison listing ads on software review platforms like Capterra, G2, and TrustRadius.
• Ad placements on webpages – Native ads, sponsored articles, and banner ads placed on high-traffic websites via direct partnerships or ad networks.

 Excludes:

• Google & Bing search ads – These fall under paid search.
• LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter/X ads – These belong to social media.

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4. Paid search

Paid search refers to search engine marketing (SEM)—advertising that appears in search engine results based on keyword intent and bidding strategies.

Includes:

• Google Ads – Pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns on Google Search, including branded keywords, non-branded keywords, and competitive bidding strategies.
• Bing Ads – PPC campaigns on Microsoft Advertising, which places ads on Bing, Yahoo, and partner search networks.

 Excludes:

• SEO and organic ranking efforts – These are classified under organic search.
• Display and YouTube ads – Google Display Network (GDN) and YouTube video ads are separate categories.

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5. Social media

This includes paid promotional efforts on social networking platforms, focused on engagement, lead generation, and retargeting.

Includes:

• LinkedIn Ads – Sponsored content, InMail campaigns, lead gen forms, and display ads targeting B2B audiences.
• Facebook Ads – Lead generation ads, carousel ads, and conversion campaigns within Facebook’s business ecosystem.
• Twitter/X Ads – Promoted tweets, Twitter cards, and sponsored trends to increase engagement and visibility.

 Excludes:

• Organic social posts and engagement – Unpaid social media efforts fall under organic marketing.
• YouTube Ads – These are classified under video advertising.

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6. Organic search

Organic search refers to efforts to increase visibility in search engine results through content, technical optimization, and link-building.

Includes:

• Budget allocated to content marketing – Investment in writers, editors, SEO strategists, and tools used to create high-ranking blog posts, landing pages, and knowledge-base articles.
• SEO tools and software – Costs for platforms like Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz, and Clearscope used for keyword research, on-page optimization, and competitive analysis.
• Link-building efforts – Budget spent on PR outreach, guest blogging, and authoritative backlinks to improve domain authority.

Excludes:

• Paid search (Google/Bing Ads) – This is classified under paid search.
• Paid content distribution (syndication programs) – Falls under referral spend.

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7. High-intent hand-raisers

High-intent hand-raisers are leads who have explicitly expressed strong interest in purchasing by submitting a contact sales, demo request, or trial signup form. These individuals have moved beyond general engagement and are actively seeking a direct conversation with the sales team.

Includes:

• Contact sales form submissions – Users who fill out a form requesting to speak with a sales representative.
• Demo request signups – Leads who schedule a product demonstration to assess its suitability.
• Trial form signups – Users who create an account for a free or paid trial to evaluate the product.

Excludes:

• Content downloaders – Leads who engage with whitepapers, eBooks, or webinars but have not signaled intent to speak with sales.
• Website visitors – Users who browse key pages like pricing or features but do not submit a sales-related form.
• Newsletter subscribers – Contacts who sign up for updates but do not indicate direct buying interest.
• Low-intent inquiries – Users submitting general customer support or informational requests without a purchase-driven motive.

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8. Conversion rate (high-intent hand-raisers to wins)

Conversion rate measures the percentage of high-intent hand-raisers (people who submitted a contact sales, demo request, or trial signup form) who ultimately convert into customer wins. 

Formula: Conversion Rate (%)=(Customer Wins/High intent hand raisers)×100

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9. Opportunities created

Opportunities refer to qualified pipeline entries that sales teams have accepted as potential deals based on fit, intent, and readiness to engage. These are leads that move beyond initial interest and are formally tracked as revenue-generating prospects.

Includes:

• High-intent hand-raisers (demo requests, trial signups, contact sales forms) that meet qualification criteria
• Leads surfaced through outbound, ABM, referrals, or partner channels that sales deems viable
• Marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) that have been vetted and accepted by sales for follow-up
  
  

Excludes:

• Unqualified hand-raisers or form submissions that don't meet sales-readiness thresholds
• Early-stage leads still in nurture sequences
• Top-of-funnel engagements like content downloads or webinar attendees without sales interaction
  
  

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I: Q2 was the "golden quarter" for visibility growth—but rapid growth brought challenges

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Q2’s traffic boom was impossible to ignore—but it came with a challenge. Despite record-breaking direct and total web traffic, the momentum didn’t carry over into Q3 and Q4. 

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1. Traffic trends and visibility

Direct traffic (+140%) and total web traffic growth (+112%) peaked in Q2. However, the growth wasn’t maintained in Q3 and Q4.

1.1. Direct traffic

• Q2 saw a 140% surge in direct traffic, rising from 8.5M in Q1 to 20.5M.
• Q3 saw a 15% increase (to 23.6M), followed by a 14% decline in Q4 (down to 20.3M).

1.2. Total web traffic

• Jumped 112% in Q2, from 19.52M to 41.38M.
• Continued with 20% growth in Q3, but hit a plateau in Q4 with a 0.12% decline to 49.53M.

1.3 High-intent hand-raisers (first conversions)

• Q2: Opportunities dropped 17% (from 325,497 to 271,685) despite traffic growth.
• Q3: Rebounded slightly with a 5% increase (to 284,603), but fell 22% in Q4 (to 223,344).

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2.  Budgets across channels 

Q2 wasn’t just about spending more—it was about spreading that spend across multiple channels. Organic search, paid social, and events saw major budget increases, coinciding with top-of-funnel growth.

2.1 Paid social media spending

• 19% growth in Q2, increasing from $98.08M in Q1 to $116.87M in Q2.
• Growth slowed significantly in Q3 and Q4, with just 2-3% increases each quarter, reaching $122.00M by year-end.

2.2 Events spending 

• 130% growth in Q2 ($1.8M → $4.1M), highlighting a significant push to capture attention via high-engagement events.
• Steep declines followed: -33% in Q3 and -44% in Q4.

2.3 YouTube video ads spending:

• +816% in Q2 ($13,733 → $125,784), showing a major pivot to visual content for engagement.

2.4 Organic search spend

• 27% growth in budgets in Q2 ($727K → $923K), reflecting an effort to boost long-term visibility.
• But volatile fluctuations followed: +104% in Q3 but a -50% crash in Q4. 

Note: the increase in organic search budget (+104%) doesn’t correlate proportionally with an increase in traffic (+15%).

2.5 Paid search spending

• 9% growth in Q2 ($29M → $31.6M), reflecting a steady investment in search marketing.
• Declines followed: -8% in Q3 and -1.5% in Q4, settling at $28.7M.

The only channels that didn’t see a significant budget allocation in Q2 were referrals, which saw its sharpest hike in Q4 (+144%) from $85M → $208M. Referral spending was relatively flat at $85M from Q1 to Q3. 

Note: ABM, cloud services, and email marketing received budgets below 10K, which paled in comparison to the budgets discussed so far. 

The spending on traffic and engagement tools remained steady across all quarters with the average hovering at $20K.

3. Bottom-of-funnel metrics

Customer wins increased in Q2 as budgets across the board increased. 

3.1 Q2 saw a sharp rise in customer wins (closed deals) 

• Customer wins surged by 45% in Q2 (83,922 → 121,698), reflecting the initial success of increased top-of-funnel activity.
• Growth slowed to 6% in Q3 (129,265), followed by a 9% decline in Q4 (117,614). While the surge didn’t sustain, closed deals remained somewhat steady and didn’t dip to Q1 levels. 

3.2 Despite higher traffic in Q2, the number of opportunities created fell 

• Opportunities dropped by 17% in Q2 (325,497 → 271,685), showing that increased traffic didn’t translate into more qualified leads.
• A slight 5% recovery in Q3 (284,603) was short-lived, as a 22% decline followed in Q4 (223,344), suggesting persistent pipeline struggles.

3.3 Conversion rate (high-intent hand-raisers to wins) jumped

While overall opportunities decreased, the conversion rate from hand-raisers to wins improved, indicating better lead quality but fewer leads overall.

• Conversion rates jumped from 26% in Q1 to 45% in Q2, reflecting improved efficiency in closing deals despite fewer initial hand-raisers.
• The rate held steady at 45% in Q3 and peaked at 53% in Q4, suggesting that while fewer leads entered the funnel, those who did were highly qualified and more likely to convert.

What this data means: 

1. Despite a 17% drop in opportunities created during Q2, customer wins surged by 45%, suggesting that while fewer leads entered the funnel, they were of higher quality or benefited from more efficient conversion efforts (e.g., better sales teams). 
   
   But in Q3 and Q4, while total web traffic continued to grow, opportunities created declined further (-22% in Q4). Although conversion rates improved, this indicates a shrinking pool of leads.

2. Even as total web traffic kept climbing through Q4, the 22% drop in opportunities shows that getting people to your site isn’t the same as bringing in qualified leads—and that gap widened as the year went on.
   
   Total web traffic grew from 41.38M in Q2 to 49.53M in Q4, but opportunities created fell from 284K in Q3 to 223K in Q4 (-22%), highlighting a disconnect between visibility and lead generation as initial strategies lost steam.

3. Video ads weren’t just a flashy Q2 experiment—they became a cornerstone, with an 816% spike in spending that kept growing through Q4, helping maintain engagement even as other channels stumbled.
   
   Organic search spend rose 104% in Q3 (from $923K to $1.89M), but traffic lagged behind with just a 15% increase, subsequently Q4 saw a 50% budget reduction as marketers recalibrated their approach.

4. When campaign and event returns flatlined, marketers doubled down on referrals in Q4, boosting budgets by +144% to tap into trusted networks that delivered stronger conversions.
   
   Referral spending surged from $85M in Q3 to $208M in Q4 (+144%), while campaign and event budgets saw sharp cuts, reflecting a shift toward channels that consistently brought in high-intent prospects when other tactics lost traction. 

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II: Q3 was the "efficiency quarter"—but scaling conversions remained a challenge

Q3 wasn’t about spending more—it was about doing more with less. As marketers pulled back on broad top-of-funnel campaigns, they redirected budgets toward high-conversion paid ads, referrals, and direct channels. 

This shift helped stabilize customer wins (+6%) and improve cost per opportunity (-3%), but the number of new opportunities created failed to keep up with growing traffic.

By Q4, the cracks started to show: cost per opportunity surged 85%, while opportunities dropped 22%, suggesting challenges existed in converting traffic into revenue, rather than in generating traffic itself.

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1. Traffic and opportunity creation trends

At first glance, Q3 seemed promising—traffic was up, paid channels remained steady, and customer wins showed modest growth. But a deeper look at the numbers revealed a troubling disconnect: the funnel wasn’t converting at the same rate.

1.1 Total web traffic kept growing, but the funnel didn’t

• Total web traffic grew 20% in Q3 (from 41.38M to 49.58M) but stagnated in Q4 (-0.12%, landing at 49.53M) 
• Direct traffic increased 15% in Q3 (from 20.57M to 23.61M) but dropped 14% in Q4.

1.2 Opportunities created didn’t keep pace with traffic

Despite the 20% increase in total web traffic, opportunities only grew 5% in Q3 (from 271K to 284K). 

In Q4, opportunities dropped 22%, falling to 223K, despite stable traffic.

More traffic didn’t translate to more opportunities. This disconnect suggests marketers were reaching the wrong audience, struggling with intent, or not optimizing their funnel for conversion.

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2. Shifts in marketing spend: budget cuts and reallocations

2.1 Events budget were slashed to fund high-intent channels

• Event budgets were cut by 33% in Q3 (from $4.1M to $2.8M).
• Referral budgets stayed flat till Q3 but jumped 144% in Q4 (from $85M to $208M).

Marketers ditched broad awareness plays like events in favor of trust-based and direct channels—a strategy that worked in the short term but left fewer leads entering the funnel.

2.2 Organic search budgets doubled in Q3 but were cut

• Organic search budgets grew 104% in Q3 (from $923K to $1.88M), but traffic only increased 15%. 
• In Q4, organic search budgets were cut by 50%.

2.3 Paid ads took priority as organic and event spending stalled

• Paid ad spend grew 29% in Q3 (from $3.1M to $4M)
• LinkedIn ad budgets rose 9% in Q3, continuing a steady increase.

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3. BOFU efficiency: Wins were stable, but costs skyrocketed

Optimizations in Q3 helped teams stretch their resources, but by Q4, the gap between wins and acquisition costs widened into a breaking point.

3.1 Customer wins stayed positive, but Q4 signaled trouble

• Customer wins grew 6% in Q3 (from 121K to 129K) but dropped 9% in Q4.
• Despite fewer opportunities, the conversion rate stayed strong at 45% in Q3 and peaked at 53% in Q4.

Conversion Rate (%)=(Customer Wins/High-intent hand-raisers)×100

Teams became more efficient, but they were closing fewer deals overall as the pipeline didn’t grow as much. 

3.2 Cost per opportunity dropped briefly in Q3 but exploded in Q4

• CPO improved by 3% in Q3 but then jumped 85% in Q4.

• The 22% drop in opportunities in Q4 suggests marketers had fewer leads to work with, driving up acquisition costs.

Marketers squeezed more wins out of fewer leads in Q3, but by Q4, the well started drying up, making every deal more expensive.

What this data means:

1. Marketers threw more money at organic search in Q3, doubling budgets, But with only a 15% bump in direct traffic and a 0.12% decline in traffic in Q4, it was clear that more spend didn’t mean more results—Q4 saw a 50% budget cut in organic search.
2. Q3 was the quarter of efficiency. Marketers slashed budgets in broad awareness channels and focused on paid, direct, and referral channels. This approach worked for a while, but the top of the funnel started shrinking.
3. Traffic grew, but lead volume didn’t—even as web traffic increased 20% in Q3, opportunities only grew 5%. By Q4, opportunities cratered (-22%) despite stable traffic, exposing a possibly growing pipeline problem. 
4. BOFU efficiency improved—until it didn’t. Wins held steady (+6% in Q3), and conversion rates climbed to 53% by Q4, but the cost per opportunity surged 85%, showing that acquiring new leads became much harder. 

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III: Q4 was the "correction quarter"—as lead flow tightened, marketers bet big on referrals

Q3 was about spending smarter—cutting low-ROI channels and focusing on efficiency. Q4? It was about survival. 

Opportunities dropped 22%, customer wins fell 9%, and cost per opportunity skyrocketed 85%—the biggest spike of the year. 

Marketers weren’t just optimizing anymore—they were scrambling. 

Instead of reinvesting in paid channels, they poured budgets into referrals (+144%), making a clear bet that trusted networks would perform better than expensive acquisition strategies.

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1. Traffic and pipeline tightening

1.1 Total web traffic stayed high, but the funnel tightened even more

• Total web traffic plateaued in Q4 (-0.12%), staying at 49.53M, after growing steadily throughout Q2 and Q3.
• Direct traffic fell 14% in Q4, dropping from 23.61M to 20.3M, marking the first major decline in this channel since Q1.

1.2 Opportunities created took their sharpest hit of the year

• Opportunities dropped 22% in Q4—from 284,603 in Q3 to 223,344—despite stable traffic.

1.3 Total customer wins declined for the first time in 2024, but 46% of the customers still saw growth

• Customer wins fell 9% in Q4, declining from 129,265 in Q3 to 117,614 in Q4‍
• 46.07% of customers increased their wins.‍
• 37.08% of customers decreased their wins.‍
• 16.85% of customers had flat wins (±5% change)
• This was the first quarter where wins declined alongside opportunities, possibly indicating that sales teams were closing deals at a high rate, but the pool of prospects was shrinking.

2. Where the money went in Q4

With acquisition costs soaring and conversion rates tightening, marketers had to make tough choices on where to place their remaining bets.

2.1 Referrals became the #1 investment as other channels stalled

• Referral spend exploded by 144% in Q4, jumping from $85M in Q3 to $208M.
• This made referrals the fastest-growing channel in Q4, absorbing budget from declining paid and organic efforts.

2.2 Paid ads and paid search saw declines, reflecting an acquisition slowdown

• Paid ads spend dropped 16% in Q4, falling from $4.06M in Q3 to $3.43M in Q4. 
• Paid search spending fell 3% in Q4, dropping to $27.99M, as marketers likely reduced efforts on expensive CPC-driven channels.

2.3 Organic search got hit with budget cuts after underwhelming results

• Organic search spend was slashed by 50% in Q4, dropping from $1.88M to $940K.
• Despite strong Q3 investment (+104%), after observing a low return on traffic a pullback occurred in Q4.

Note: Interestingly Q4 was also when Google released an algorithm update that shook up organic traffic numbers across the board—even for industry giants like Hubspot. 

2.4 Event spending collapsed, sealing the shift away from traditional lead gen

• Event budgets fell another 44% in Q4, plummeting from $2.88M in Q3 to $1.6M.
• This represented the sharpest quarterly decline in event spending for the year.

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What this data means:

1. Q4 was the quarter where efficiency alone wasn’t enough. Marketers had already optimized, but by the end of the year, the lead pool had shrunk, making every opportunity more expensive.
2. Referrals became the last reliable growth lever. While paid ads, organic search, and events all saw budget cuts, referral spending surged 144%, reflecting a major bet on trust-based lead generation.
3. Acquisition got significantly more expensive. Cost per opportunity jumped 85%, proving that marketers weren’t just spending less—they were getting squeezed.
4. Conversion rates were high, but there weren’t enough leads to sustain growth. Opportunities dropped 22% in Q4, and for the first time all year, customer wins fell too (-9%).

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Other notable trends

The LinkedIn play—a last-ditch effort or a winning bet?

Why it matters: When the axe comes down, marketers cut what isn’t working. LinkedIn didn’t get cut. While paid search and display budgets shrank, LinkedIn ad spend kept growing. That’s not random—it’s a signal that LinkedIn was delivering real results.

The numbers prove it:

• Q2: LinkedIn ad spend jumped 29%, growing from $108.29M to $139.44M.
• Q3: Budgets climbed another 9%, hitting $152.39M.
• Q4: Even when marketing teams got squeezed, LinkedIn still saw a 4% increase, reaching $158.08M.

That’s not desperation spending. That’s confidence.

And it checks out. 42% of marketers planned to use organic LinkedIn marketing in 2024, and 15% were increasing their LinkedIn influencer spend. Why? Because LinkedIn isn’t just another ad platform—it’s where high-intent buyers actually engage.

The big question: Did it pay off?

While LinkedIn held strong, opportunities created still dropped in Q4. So, was the spend worth it? If other channels saw worse declines, then yes—LinkedIn likely brought in better leads than broad-paid efforts. If pipeline numbers keep slipping, though, even LinkedIn won’t be safe from budget cuts in 2025.

For marketers planning next year’s budget, here’s the takeaway: If you have to cut spend, LinkedIn should be one of the last things to go.

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The new marketing equation—intent over impressions

The old playbook—drive as much traffic as possible, fill the funnel, and optimize later—is dead. Q4 made that painfully clear. Marketers who chased volume without prioritizing conversion intent saw their opportunities crater (-22%) and cost per opportunity skyrocket (+85%).

The winners? Those who focused on efficiency early—diverting budgets into referrals (+144%), high-intent paid channels, and customer trust plays instead of mass acquisition. Video ads, LinkedIn, and targeted paid search efforts proved more durable than broad event-based awareness strategies, even as costs rose.

2025 isn’t about cutting or scaling—it’s about precision. If traffic is growing but conversions aren’t, fix the funnel before pouring in more leads. And if acquisition is getting too expensive, double down on trust-based growth.