LinkedIn Ads ROI for SaaS: What Metrics Actually Matter

You're running LinkedIn ads. The platform gives you 50 different metrics. But which ones actually tell you if you're making money?

Let's cut through the noise.

The Only Metric That Really Matters

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) vs. Lifetime Value (LTV)

If you acquire a customer for $2,000 and they're worth $10,000, you win. Everything else is just a clue to help you get there.

But since B2B sales cycles are long, you need leading indicators. Here are the ones that matter.

Metrics You Should Watch Daily

Cost Per Click (CPC)

What it tells you: How expensive it is to get someone to your landing page.

Good benchmark for SaaS: $8-15

Why it matters: If your CPC is $30+, something's wrong with your targeting or ad creative.

Conversion Rate (Visitor to Lead)

What it tells you: How many people who click actually give you their information.

Good benchmark for SaaS: 5-15%

Why it matters: Low conversion rates mean your landing page or offer needs work. Fix this before spending more on ads.

Cost Per Lead (CPL)

What it tells you: How much you're paying for each email address or demo request.

Good benchmark for SaaS: $80-200 (varies widely by product price)

Why it matters: This is your most important short-term metric. You need to know this number cold.

Metrics You Should Track Weekly

Lead-to-Opportunity Rate

What it tells you: What percentage of your LinkedIn leads are actually qualified and worth talking to.

Good benchmark for SaaS: 20-40%

Why it matters: If only 5% of leads are qualified, you're targeting the wrong people or attracting tire-kickers with your offer.

Opportunity-to-Customer Rate

What it tells you: How many qualified leads actually buy.

Good benchmark for SaaS: 15-25%

Why it matters: If LinkedIn leads convert worse than other channels, maybe they're not the right fit for your product.

Metrics You Can Ignore

Impressions: Nobody cares how many people scrolled past your ad

Engagement Rate: Likes are nice but they don't pay the bills

Video View Rate: Unless video views are your conversion goal, this doesn't matter

Click-Through Rate (CTR): A high CTR with terrible conversion rates just means you wasted more money getting unqualified clicks

How to Calculate Your Actual ROI

Here's the formula that matters:

1. Add up all LinkedIn ad spend for a period (let's say $10,000)

2. Count how many customers you got from those ads (let's say 5)

3. Calculate revenue from those customers (let's say $50,000)

4. Your ROI is (Revenue - Ad Spend) / Ad Spend = ($50,000 - $10,000) / $10,000 = 400% ROI

The Timeline Problem

The tricky part: you might spend money in January but not see the customer revenue until April or May.

Solution: Track leads by month, then calculate ROI retroactively once deals close. Over time, you'll know "we get X customers per month from LinkedIn at Y cost."

The Bottom Line

Focus on Cost Per Lead first. That's your controllable metric. Then track what percentage of those leads become customers and how long it takes.

Everything else is just noise.

Want better ROI from your LinkedIn ads? Stirling generates ad variations proven to lower your cost per lead, so you get more qualified leads for less.