State ofInbound 2018
Global Report

The State of Inbound 2018

Welcome to HubSpot’s comprehensive resource on the current stateof inbound marketing and sales strategy and operations. This year’s
edition is clear, concise, and designed to be your go-to resource forstrategic data.
The world is becoming more inbound. HubSpot’s goal is to provide
the benchmarks and insights to help businesses everywhere
Grow Better.

What’s inside
1. The State of Marketing
2. The State of Sales
3. Sales and Marketing Alignment
4. Reaching buyers
5. Trend Data
6. Who we surveyed

The State of Marketing
Inbound marketing is the primary marketing approach for the majorityof businesses worldwide. Our respondents are confident in theirmarketing strategy and see higher ROI as a result of their inboundmarketing practices.
Marketers today are investing more in video channels, social networks
such as Instagram, and messaging applications such as Facebook
Messenger, in a bid the reach customers and prospects where they
prefer to be online.

Inbound is a global methodology
What is your organization’s primary approach to marketing?
“We primarily conduct inbound marketing”
74%

Global

79%

75%

75%

76%
64%

North America Latin America
Europe,Australia and Southeast Asia
(NORTHAM)(LATAM)
Middle East, New Zealand(SEA)
and Africa(ANZ)(EMEA)

71% of marketers believe in their marketingstrategy
Do you feel that your organization's marketing strategy is effective?

29%

Yes
No

71%

Marketers in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, andAfrica) are most confident in their strategy“Our organization's marketing strategy is effective”(by Region)
71%

69%

67%

NORTHAM

ANZ

SEA

77%
62%

LATAM

EMEA

While junior marketers have less faith in thestrategy set out by managers“Our organization's marketing strategy is effective”(by Title)
76%

80%

C-level executive(CEO, CMO)

VP and Directors

70%

66%

Manager

Individual contributor

Inbound teams are more likely to rate theirmarketing strategy as effective
Do you feel that your organization's marketing strategy is effective? by What isyour organization’s primary approach to marketing?

75%
62%
38%
25%

Inbound Marketing
Yes, our marketing strategy is effective

Outbound Marketing
No, our marketing strategy is not effective

Marketers prioritize converting leads into
customers – BOFU content is crucial
What are your company’s top marketing priorities over the next 12 months?
Converting contacts/leads to customers

69%

Grow traffic to website

54%

Increasing revenue derived from existing customers

44%

Proving the ROI of our marketing activities

42%

Sales enablement

37%

Reducing the cost of contacts/leads/customer acquisition

29%

Other, please specify

3%

Don't know/not applicable3%Marketing priorities around the world
What are your company’s top marketing priorities over the next 12 months?
(by Region)
77%

75%

75%
64%
57%

60%

55%53%

53%

42%40%

39%
34%34%24%

NORTHAM

51%
51%
47%
44%
36%

47%

45%

31%

23%

ANZ

SEA

29%
25%

LATAM

44%
37%
37%
30%

EMEA

Converting contacts/leads to customers

Grow traffic to website

Proving the ROI of our marketing activities

Increasing revenue derived from existing customers

Sales enablement

Reducing the cost of contacts/leads/customer acquisition

Inbound marketing goals include SEO, content
creation, and automation
Thinking specifically about inbound marketing projects, what are yourcompany’s top priorities?
Growing SEO/organic presence

61%

Blog content creation

55%

Marketing automation

50%

Content distribution / amplification

47%

Interactive content creation

36%

Longform (Ebooks, whitepapers) / visual content creation (infographics)

35%

Visual content creation (infographics)

30%

Online tools

28%

Product how-to videos

26%

Webinars

24%

Freemium trials

9%

Don't know

3%

Other

2%

Generating traffic is a constant challenge
What are your company’s top marketing challenges?
Generating traffic and leads

61%

Proving the ROI of our marketing activities

39%

Securing enough budget

27%

Managing our website

25%

Identifying the right technologies for our needs

24%

Training our team

23%

Hiring top talent

22%

Targeting content for an international audience20%

Finding an executive sponsor
Other, please specify

8%4%Top 5 marketing challenges in each region
Rank

NORTHAM

ANZ

1Generating traffic andleads 62%

Generating traffic andleads 63%2

Proving the ROI of ourProving the ROI of ourProving the ROI of ourProving the ROI of ourProving the ROI of ourmarketing activities marketing activities
marketing activities 46% marketing activities 40% marketing activities 39%
37%
40%

3

Targeting content for an Identifying the right
Securing enough budget Securing enough budget
international audience technologies for our
25%
25%
37%
needs 32%

4

Managing our website
24%

5

Identifying the righttechnologies for ourneeds 19%

Managing our website
19%

SEA

LATAM

EMEA

Generating traffic and Generating traffic and Generating traffic andleads 59%
leads 66%
leads 62%

Securing enoughbudget 29%

Identifying the right
Identifying the righttechnologies for our needs technologies for our18%
needs 26%

Managing our
website 27%

Securing enoughbudget 29%

Securing enoughbudget 25%

Managing our
website 28%

Targeting content for
an international
audience 23%

Marketers see higher ROI from inboundmarketing tactics
Which marketing approach has given your organization higher ROI: inboundmarketing or outbound marketing?
13%

Inbound marketing gives us
higher ROI
Could not or do not calculate ROI

16%
53%

18%

Outbound marketing gives us
higher ROI
Don't know/not applicable46% of teams have higher budgets in 2018
How does your company’s current budget for inbound marketing compare tolast year’s?
14%

Higher
8%
46%

No Change

Lower

32%

Don't know/not applicableMarketing spend distribution
How much will your company spend on marketing over the next 12 months?
(Please do not include salary for staff)$25,000 or less32%

$25,001 to 100000

21%$100,001 to $500,000

14%$500,001 to $1M

7%$1.1M to $5M

More than $5M

6%3%

Marketing is investing in video channels
What content distribution channels do you plan to add to your marketing efforts
in the next 12 months?
YouTube45%

Professional Networks (LinkedIn or Xing)

43%

Facebook video

41%

Instagram

39%

Messaging apps (Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, etc)

24%

Podcasts

17%

None of the above

13%

Snapchat

10%

Medium

9%

Slack

5%

Senior marketing leaders are more enthusiastic
about video
What content distribution channels do you plan to add to your marketing
efforts in the next 12 months? (by Title)
54%

51%
45%47% 45%

47%49% 47%

44%44%
40%39%

34%

31%

25%

13%11%

23%

20%

20%

C-level executive (CEO,CMO)
YouTubeFacebook video
Messaging apps
Snapchat
Slack

8% 9%

7%

VP and Directors

16%
12%

15%

14%
8%

38%38%
36%
30%

Manager

5%

5% 7%

3%

Individual contributor

Professional Networks (LinkedIn or Xing)
Instagram
Podcasts
MediumMarketers rate paid advertising as overrated
In your opinion, what's the most overrated marketing tactic?
Paid advertising (print, outdoor, broadcast)

30%

Social media organic

14%

Online paid advertising (social media ads, PPC)

11%

Email marketing

11%

Public/analyst relations

8%

Marketing automation

5%

SEO

5%

Collateral development

5%

Blogging

5%

Sales enablement
Other

3%
2%

The State of Sales
Sales is always focused on closing more, but prospecting isgetting harder and harder. Salespeople say they source the mostleads themselves, showing a potential rift between marketing,
who should generate the most leads for sales teams to work.
Additionally, 27% of salespeople are spending over an hour aday on data entry work instead of selling, meaning critical time islost to administrative work.

Sales always wants to close deals, which requires
making the funnel more efficient
What are your company’s top sales priorities for the next year?
Closing more deals

75%

Improving the efficiency of the sales funnel

48%

Reducing the length of sales cycle

32%

Social Selling

28%

Training the sales team27%

Improving existing sales technologies

23%

Investing in sales enablement

16%

Investing in a CRM

13%

Don't know/not applicable

3%

Other

2%

Top 5 sales priorities in each region
Rank

NORTHAM

1

Closing more deals
85%

ANZ

SEA

LATAM

EMEA

Closing more deals 76% Closing more deals 76%

Closing more deals
70%

Closing more deals 70%

2

Improving the
Improving the efficiency Improving the efficiency
efficiency of the salesof the sales funnel 59% of the sales funnel 49%
funnel 56%

Social Selling 40%

Improving the efficiencyof the sales funnel 47%

3

Reducing the length of Reducing the length of Training the sales team Improving the efficiency Reducing the length ofsales cycle 37%
sales cycle 31%
35%
of the sales funnel 39%
sales cycle 33%

4

Training the sales team
22%

Social Selling 22%

5

Improving existingsales technologies
21%

Training the sales team
19%

Reducing the length of Training the sales teamsales cycle 32%
29%
Social Selling 27%

Social Selling 28%

Reducing the length of Training the sales teamsales cycle 29%27%

Prospecting has gotten harder
What is more difficult to do in sales compared to 2 to 3 years ago?
Getting a response from prospects

40%

Engaging multiple decision makers at a company in the buying process

31%

Closing deals

30%

Connecting via phone

29%

Identifying/prospecting good leads

28%

Avoiding discounting/negotiation

24%

Connecting via email

20%

Incorporating social media into the sales process

16%

Using sales technologies in my day to day job

13%

Sourcing referrals

13%

Doing research before making initial call / writing initial email

10%

Delivering a presentation

9%

Keeping someone on the phone

9%

Other

3%

Top 5 sales challenges in each region
Rank

NORTHAM

ANZ

SEA

LATAM

EMEA

1

Getting a response fromprospects 46%

Getting a response fromprospects 43%

Getting a response fromprospects 47%

Closing deals 36%

Getting a response fromprospects 34%

2

Connecting via phone 42%

Connecting via phone 33%

Identifying/prospecting
good leads 35%

Getting a response fromprospects 36%

Closing deals 31%

3

Engaging multiple decision
makers at a company in thebuying process 28%

Engaging multiple decision
makers at a company in thebuying process 29%

Closing deals 34%

Engaging multiple
decision makers at acompany in the buying
process 36%

Connecting via phone
29%

Engaging multiple decision
Identifying/prospecting
makers at a company in thegood leads 31%
buying process 33%

Engaging multiple
decision makers at acompany in the buying
process 29%

4
5

Identifying/prospecting goodleads 25%

Closing deals 28%

Connecting via email 25%

Avoiding
discounting/negotiation 25%

Avoiding
discounting/negotiation
30%

Avoiding
Identifying/prospecting
discounting/negotiation
good leads 25%
25%

Presale activities stump 55% of salespeople
today
In your opinion, what part of the sales process do reps struggle with most?
Prospecting

37%

Closing

Identifying the lead

Qualifying

28%

18%

17%

Salespeople in Southeast Asia struggle to close
deals, prospecting is painful in North America
In your opinion, what part of the sales process do reps struggle with most?
(by Region)
49%

34%
22%

24%

39%

36%

36%

30%
23%

25%

23%
16%

12%

25%

24%

28%
23%

12%

13%

LATAM

EMEA

5%

NORTHAM

ANZ
Identifying the lead

SEA
Prospecting

Qualifying

ClosingMany reps are spending their time on data entry
instead of prospecting or selling
On average, how much time per day does your sales team spend performing
data entry or other manual tasks?
0 to 30 min

25%

31 to 60 min

35%

61 to 120 min

More than 120 min

19%

8%

Senior leaders underestimate the the amount oftime salespeople spend on data entry
On average, how much time per day does your sales team spend
performing data entry or other manual tasks?
Individual contributor

11%

Manager

10%

VP and Directors
C-level executive (CEO, CMO)

18%

28%

8%

5%

39%

28%

27%

10%

More than 120 min

19%

23%

39%

38%

61 to 120 min

19%

36%

31 to 60 min

0 to 30 min

Phone and email are the best channels for sales,
but GDPR may impact those in Europe
What has been the most successful channel for your sales representatives toconnect with a prospect?
Telephone

36%

Email

30%

LinkedIn

12%

Other

11%

Facebook

7%

Other social media network
Twitter

3%0%C-level respondents connect via email, but otherroles rely on phone calls to prospect
What has been the most successful channel for your sales representatives
to connect with a prospect? (by Title)
42%

41%
33%

32% 31%

35%
30%

23%
18%
14%

12%
7%

8%

7%
3%

C-level executive (CEO,
CMO)
Email

3%

1%

Telephone

Facebook

2%0%Manager
Other social media network

11%

9% 8%

4%
0%

VP and Directors
LinkedIn

10%

9% 9%

0%

Individual contributor
TwitterOther58% of sales teams are increasing in size
Is your company increasing or decreasing the size of the sales team over the
next 12 months?
No change

31%

Increase 11 to 25%

17%

Increase by more than 50%

17%

Increase up to 10%

14%

Increase 26 to 50%

11%

Don't know/not applicable
Decreasing team size

9%2%

Salespeople say they source the most leads
overall
Which is the top source of leads for your sales organization?

Referrals

32%

Leads from marketing

Other please specify

28%

3%

But senior leaders and ICs disagree on the top
source of leads
Which is the top source of leads for your sales organization? (by Title)
49%
42%

44%

39%
33%

30%

26%

24%

C-level executive (CEO,CMO)
Referrals

22%

VP and Directors
Leads directly sourced by sales

31%

27%

Manager23%

Individual contributor

Leads from marketingOn the whole, referrals are rated as the highest
quality leads
Rate the quality of your leads from the following sources (1 to 5 scale)

Referrals

5%

10%

Leads directly sourced by sales

3%

11%

Leads from marketing

8%

21%

26%

30%

33%

19%

1 - Very poor quality

33%

38%

2

3

4

5 - Very high quality

16%

21%

7%

Sales and Marketing Alignment
Teams with SLAs between sales and marketing have better
cooperation and performance. Marketing teams understand theimpact of their strategy, and sales appreciates the leads theyreceive from marketing. Joint SLA efforts lead to growth.

Just 26% of respondents operate under amarketing and sales SLA
How would you characterize your company’s sales and marketing relationship?
Generally aligned

47%

Tightly aligned/There is a SLA

26%

Rarely aligned

11%

Don't know

Misaligned

9%7%

Teams in EMEA and ANZ have the mostalignment
How would you characterize your company’s sales and marketing
relationship? (by Region)
EMEA

30%

47%

ANZ

29%

48%

NORTHAM
SEA
LATAM

26%

Tightly aligned/There is a SLA

6%

52%

23%
19%

11%

Generally aligned

6%
9%

49%
40%

5%

9%

5%

17%

15%

Rarely aligned

Misaligned

5%Marketers with SLAs have faith in their strategy
Do you feel that your organization's marketing strategy is effective?
(By the company’s sales and marketing relationship)
85%
76%

76%
54%
46%
24%

24%

15%

Tightly aligned/There is a
SLA

Generally aligned
Yes, our strategy is effective

Rarely aligned
No, our strategy is not effective

Misaligned

Marketers with SLAs say they provide highquality leads to sales
Which source provides the highest-quality leads for your sales team?
(By the company’s sales and marketing relationship)
69%
61%
50%

49%
33%

29%
16%

20%

16%

Tightly aligned / There is a
SLA

20%

Generally aligned

Inbound practices

Outbound practices

21%

Rarely aligned

18%

Misaligned

Self sourced leads from sales teamSalespeople with SLAs call out marketing as the
top generator of leads
Which is the top source of leads for your sales organization?
(By the company’s sales and marketing relationship)
44%
39%
29%

39%

39%

38%

32%

30%

32%
27%

26%
16%

Tightly aligned / There is a
SLA
Referrals

Generally aligned
Leads from marketing

Rarely aligned
Leads directly sourced by sales

Misaligned

Teams with SLAs see higher ROI from inboundmarketingIn your opinion, which marketing approach has given your organization
higher ROI? (By the company’s sales and marketing relationship)
65%
53%
39%

15%

17%

18%

21%

27%
16%

10%

Tightly aligned/There is a
SLA

Generally aligned

Inbound marketing gives us higher ROI
Could not or do not calculate ROI

36%

35%

Rarely aligned

Misaligned

Outbound marketing gives us higher ROI

SLAs means growth: Sales teams more likely togrow when there’s an SLA
Is your sales team increasing or decreasing size next year? (By thecompany’s sales and marketing relationship)
70%

65%
57%

56%
42%

41%
33%

27%

3%

Tightly aligned/There is a
SLA

2%

Generally aligned

Increasing size of sales team2%

1%

Rarely aligned
No change

Decreasing size of sales team

Misaligned

SLAs means growth: Marketing teams with SLAs
are more likely to get increased budgets
How does your company’s current budget for inbound marketing compare
to last year’s? (By the company’s sales and marketing relationship)
52%

48%
38%
33%

31%

34%

32%

30%
20%

14%
7%

Tightly aligned/There is a
SLA

6%Generally aligned
HigherRarely aligned
No Change

Lower

Misaligned

Reaching Buyers

Your customers are your best salespeople and brandambassadors – everyone from the most senior executive to anindivdual contributor trusts the recommendations of friends,
family, and customer references to business purchases.
More and more, buyers are going to social networks andmessaging applications to engage with businesses – especiallythose in Latin America and Asia.

Customers are advocates – word of mouth help
people make buying decisions
What sources of information do you rely on when making purchase decisions forbusiness software?
Word of mouth (friends, social media) referrals

55%

Customer references

46%

Media articles

38%

Vendor-authored materials (eBooks, blog posts, whitepapers, case studies)

38%

Analyst reports / recommendations (Gartner, Forrester)

34%

Crowdsourced review sites (Quora, G2 Crowd, TrustRadius)
Salesperson

27%
22%

Senior leaders especially favor word of mouth to
make purchase decisions; sales is last
What sources of information do you rely on when making purchase decisions forbusiness software?
61%
48%

56%

54% 54%
41% 40%35%

43% 43%
28%

37%

32%

19%

C-level executive (CEO, CMO)

51%

50%

40%

39% 38% 37%
27% 25%27%

VP and Directors

Word of mouth (friends, social media) referrals
Vendor-authored materials (eBooks, blog posts, whitepapers, case studies)
Analyst reports / recommendations (Gartner, Forrester)
Salesperson

Manager

34% 35% 33%
24%

20%

Individual contributor

Customer references
Media articles
Crowdsourced review sites (Quora, G2 Crowd, TrustRadius)Preferences are consistent globally
What sources of information do you rely on when making purchase decisions forbusiness software? (by Region)
65%

64%
49%
42%40%
36%35%25%

NORTHAM

47%
37%38%
28%
25%22%

52%
45%
35%36%37%
30%
23%

ANZ

Word of mouth (friends, social media) referrals
Vendor-authored materials (eBooks, blog posts, whitepapers, case studies)
Analyst reports / recommendations (Gartner, Forrester)
Salesperson

SEA

46%44%
38%42%
34%
15%17%

LATAM

53%
47%
38%
34%34%
26%
22%

EMEA

Customer references
Media articles
Crowdsourced review sites (Quora, G2 Crowd, TrustRadius)

Businesses today run on email
How do you prefer to communicate for business purposes?
Email

83%

Face-to-Face

59%

Phone

55%

Video conferencing (Skype, Google Hangout)Social Media (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter)

Messenger Apps (Whatsapp, WeChat, Facebook Messenger)

41%

35%

32%

Senior staff are more interested in using
messaging for communications
How do you prefer to communicate for business purposes? (by Title)
82%
64%

59%

58% 56%
46%
39%

85%

83%

78%

58% 56%

56%

46%
35%

C-level executive (CEO,CMO)

34% 34%

VP and Directors

38%

34%

Manager

50%
35% 33%30%

28%

Individual contributor

EmailFace-to-Face

Phone

Video conferencing (Skype, Google Hangout)Social Media (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter)

Messenger Apps (Whatsapp, WeChat, Facebook Messenger)

Messenger apps are popular in Latin America
and Southeast Asia
How do you prefer to communicate for business purposes? (by Region)
92%

89%

84%

82%
74%

66% 67%
58%

60% 58%

54%
41%

39%
26%

Email

51%
39% 42%

53%
42%

36%
26%

22%

18%

NORTHAM

40% 39% 42%

35%

59%

56% 53%ANZ

SEA

Face-to-Face

LATAM

EMEA

Phone

Video conferencing (Skype, Google Hangout)Social Media (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter)

Messenger Apps (Whatsapp, WeChat, Facebook Messenger)

Trend data
We’ve been asking questions around priorities and challenges
for years. Peek into our archives to see what has changed, andwhat’s been consistent, for businesses over the years.

Review sites have grown in importance while
analyst firms declined
What sources of information do you rely on when making purchasedecisions for business software?
55%
54%
55%
57%

Word of mouth (friends, social media) referrals
46%
45%
45%
46%

Customer references
38%
39%
38%

Vendor-authored materials (eBooks, blog posts, whitepapers, case studies)

38%
39%

Media articles

34%
33%
37%

Analyst reports / recommendations (Gartner, Forrester)
27%
23%
24%
24%

Crowdsourced review sites (Quora, G2 Crowd, TrustRadius)

22%
19%
19%
20%

Salesperson
2018

2017

2016

2015

43%

43%
42%

49%

Sales says they source the most leads
themselves
Which is the top source of leads for your sales organization?
44%
37%

38%

38%
32%

33%

36%

33%
28%

23%

Leads directly sourced by sales

Referrals
2018

2017

2016

25%

22%

Leads from marketing2015

Marketing priorities have been consistentthrough the years
What are your company’s top marketing priorities over the next 12months?
69%
70%

Converting contacts/leads to customers

74%
70%
54%
55%
57%

Grow traffic to website
44%
45%
46%
44%

Increasing revenue derived from existing customers

42%
39%

Proving the ROI of our marketing activities

42%
41%
37%
29%

Sales enablement

32%
29%
24%

Reducing the cost of contacts / leads / customer acquisition

27%
23%

2018

2017

2016

2015

As have sales priorities
What are your company’s top sales priorities for the next year?
71%
70%
72%

Closing more deals
44%

Improving the efficiency of the sales funnel
Social Selling

22%

Training the sales team

24%

32%

29%

31%

23%
23%
25%
27%

Improving existing sales technologies

Investing in a CRM

27%
27%
27%
26%

Reducing the length of sales cycle

Investing in sales enablement

28%
29%
28%

16%
16%
16%
16%
13%
14%
13%
14%

2018

2017

2016

2015

48%
47%
47%

75%

Marketers have increased the quality of theirleads
Which source provides the highest-quality leads for your sales team?
(Select one) (Marketing answered)
60%

59%
52%

31%
21%

26%
18%

Inbound practices (e.g. SEO, referrals, Self-sourced leads from sales teamsocial media, content/blog, hypertargeted display/social ads)
2018

2017

2016

16%

16%

Outbound practices (e.g. Cold
Calling, TV/Outdoor Ads, Trade
Shows, Purchased lists)

It’s harder to get people on the phone, but sales
has figured out how to leverage social media
What is more difficult to do in sales compared to 2 to 3 years ago?
40%
38%
40%

Getting a response from prospects
30%

Closing deals
28%

Identifying/prospecting good leads

27%

Engaging multiple decision makers at a company in the buying process

27%
27%
24%
25%
23%

Avoiding discounting/negotiation
Connecting via phone

20%
20%
16%

Incorporating social media into the sales process
Connecting via email

14%
13%
13%
14%
13%
12%
11%

Using sales technologies in my day to day job
Sourcing referrals
9%

Keeping someone on the phone

11%
11%
10%
11%
12%
9%
10%
8%

Doing research before making initial call / writing initial email
Delivering a presentation
2018

30%

2017

2016

19%

17%

22%
20%

29%

31%

35%
34%

Prospecting has been consistently difficult
In your opinion, what part of the sales process do reps struggle with most?
43%
37%

38%

36%

33%
28%
18%

21%

30%

21%

20%

Identifying the lead

28%

17%

Prospecting
2018

17%
13%

Qualifying
2017

2016

2015

ClosingMore salespeople are spending up to 60
minutes a day on data entry
On average, how much time per day does your sales team spend
performing data entry or other manual tasks?
35%
32%
25%

25%

33%

28%
19%

19%

19%
13%
8%

0 - 30 minutes

31 - 60 minutes
2018

61 - 120 minutes
2017

2016

10%

More than 120 minutes

LinkedIn has become a sales channel
What has been the most successful channel for your sales representatives
to connect with a prospect?
36%
36%
36%

Telephone
30%

Email

26%
29%
12%

LinkedIn

8%
9%
11%

Other please specify

15%
14%
7%

Facebook

12%
9%
3%

Other social media network
Twitter

4%
3%
0%
1%
1%

2018

2017

2016

Marketing teams have invested in video,
Instagram, and messaging
What content distribution channels do you plan to add to your marketing efforts inthe next 12 months?
48%48%
45%

43%

46%
41%
39%

39%37%
33%
24%24%
20%

YouTubeProfessional
networks(LinkedIn or
Xing)*

Facebook
video

Instagram

Messagingapps(Whatsapp,
Facebook
Messenger,
etc)
2018

*New option in 2018

2017

17%
15%
11%

Podcasts

2016

19%22%
13%

None of the
above

13%
10%10%

9% 8% 8%SnapchatMedium

5% 4% 5%SlackHow do you prefer to communicate for businesspurposes?
How do you prefer to communicate for business purposes?
88%
83% 86%
59% 60% 61%

55% 56% 56%
42%
35% 39%EmailFace-to-Face

Phone

2018

41% 38% 39%

32% 31% 29%

Social MediaVideo conferencing Messenger Apps
(LinkedIn, Facebook,(Skype, Google(Whatsapp, WeChat,
Twitter)
Hangout)
Facebook
Messenger)
2017

2016

Who we surveyedThis year, over 6200 respondents 99 countries answered ourquestions. Our respondents come from a mix of industries, company
sizes, and levels of seniority.
The State of Inbound Survey ran from February through March 2018.
The sample set is comprised mostly of voluntary responses frominvitations to HubSpot contacts and partners. HubSpot supplemented
a smaller number of panel responses in certain geographies(southeast Asia and central Europe) to ensure a valid sample size.
Sample was sourced via Luc.id, a survey panel provider.

Location
Where are you based?
14%

NORTHAM

28%
6%

ANZ
SEA

16%

LATAM
EMEA

36%

Company typeIs your company any of the following?

43%

HubSpot customer or partner
agencyNot HubSpot customer or partner

57%

Company profile
To whom does your company primarily sell?
5%

5%

Other businesses
Consumers

35%

55%

Nonprofit/government
Don't know/not
applicableCompany size and revenue
How many full-time employees does your company have?
More than 1000

10%201 to 1000

10%

26 to 200

11 to 25

Fewer than 10

23%

16%

42%

Company size and revenue
What best describes your company’s average annual revenue? (Please estimate
in USD)
1B or more
500M to 999M
10M to 499M

3%

2%

10%

1M to 9.9M
250,000 to 999,999
Less than 250,000

16%

14%

32%

Level of seniority
What best describes your level in your company?
C-level executive (CEO, CMO)

Vice president

Director

Manager

Individual contributor

23%

3%

11%

27%

28%

Industries represented
Which of the following best describes the principal industryof your organization?
Marketing Agencies

18%

Other

15%

Information Technology and Services

10%

Education

8%

Consumer Products

7%

Industrial and Manufacturing

6%

Software5%

Media and Publishing5%

Nonprofit/Government

4%

Ecommerce

4%

Financial Services

4%

Healthcare and Medical4%

Travel and Tourism

4%

Telecommunications

2%

Sports and Recreation

1%

Research

1%

Staffing and Recruiting

1%Created by:Mimi An, Principal Research Analyst, manages HubSpot
Research. She focuses on original market research anddata mining HubSpot’s product data. Before joining
HubSpot, Mimi was a strategic program manager andmarket researcher at Intel and also served as market
intelligence consultant at Forrester Research.
Mimi An