KPIs that actually matter: What leading CMOs are measuring now

Why outcome-driven measurement is defining the next era of enterprise marketing

In an environment where every marketing dollar is under scrutiny, high-performing CMOs are shifting focus, from surface-level activity metrics to meaningful, business-driving impact. Success is now measured in outcomes, not outputs.

According to the Avasant B2B Marketing Execution Report, CMOs are shifting their focus to KPIs that reflect real business outcomes: customer acquisition costs (CAC), return on investment (ROI) per program or channel, customer lifetime value (CLV), and time-to-market. These aren’t just better metrics. They’re better decision-making tools.

And the organizations measuring them most effectively aren’t necessarily the ones with the biggest teams or the flashiest tools. They’re the ones who’ve modernized their operating model to prioritize speed, agility, and specialist capacity.

The rise of outcome-first measurement

The Avasant report is clear: marketing has outgrown vanity metrics. 

Across the board, leading marketing organizations are aligning their KPIs with business-level outcomes. What does that look like?

• Net new revenue: The top priority KPI for marketing leaders. It signals the direct contribution of marketing to pipeline and business growth, across acquisition, expansion, and cross-sell motions. 
• Customer lifetime value (CLV): A long-view metric that links marketing effectiveness to retention, loyalty, and total account value. 
• Time-to-market: Especially critical in fast-moving industries, it measures how quickly teams can launch, optimize, and scale campaigns, often a leading indicator of revenue performance.

What’s driving this shift? The research states that it’s the increasing complexity of modern marketing, the pressure for measurable ROI, and the emergence of AI and automation as accelerators of both speed and performance.

Execution is the lever. Outsourcing is the unlock.

Here’s the catch: traditional org structures weren’t built for outcome-based marketing.

Most enterprise teams are locked into fixed delivery models, with bloated internal teams and expensive agency retainers. But the companies outperforming their peers are building hybrid operating models designed for performance, not legacy.

Avasant found:

• 60.6% of Demand Center functions are now externally delivered 
• 61.4% of Channel Marketing delivery is outsourced 
• By contrast, only 19.4% of Strategic/Executive functions are external, confirming that CMOs are keeping strategy in-house, while offloading high-skill, high-velocity execution to specialized partners.

This isn’t about cost-cutting. It’s about impact-maximizing.

With modular execution partners, CMOs can scale campaign delivery, optimize touchpoints, and integrate performance feedback loops without ballooning internal complexity. At the same time, freeing up their strategic leaders to drive real growth.

AI as an outcome accelerator

Execution speed and quality are no longer a tradeoff.

While 72% of CMOs are prioritizing AI and automation, the report reveals that most teams lack the operational clarity to implement and scale AI effectively. The teams getting it right are embedding AI within flexible delivery models that streamline:

• Segmentation and targeting 
• Personalized content creation 
• Campaign optimization and reporting

Supported by outsourced execution layers, tools like ChatGPT/OpenAI (used by only 27.6% of organizations) and Jasper AI (8.6%) are powering fast, data-driven decision-making. But this only works when AI is prioritized, and integrated into modern, modular workflows, not siloed experiments. 

Tech spend alone won’t move KPIs

Interestingly, Avasant reports that while 20% of the marketing budget is still spent on traditional MarTech, only 3.5% is being invested in emerging technologies like GenAI.

That gap points to a key insight: tools alone don’t drive performance. How they’re deployed, and who’s operating them, matters more.

By partnering with teams who specialize in activating the stack (not just installing it), CMOs can unlock greater ROI from their tech investments, and start tracking KPIs that reflect meaningful progress.

From tracking activity to measuring outcomes

The transition to outcome-based marketing requires a shift in mindset as much as in your operating model. It means:

• Prioritizing agility over volume 
• Evaluating execution based on impact, not output 
• And designing delivery models that align resources to what actually moves the business forward

CMOs no longer need more tools, dashboards, or larger teams. They need clarity, speed, and scalability, all anchored in metrics that matter.

Rethink how you deliver, and what you measure

It’s time to raise the bar on execution. The data is clear: the CMOs leading the next wave of performance are optimizing for revenue, velocity, and customer value, and architecting delivery systems that support those goals. 

Download the full Avasant Marketing Execution Report to explore the KPI trends shaping enterprise growth. 

See how 2X partners with enterprise CMOs to drive outcome-oriented marketing by combining scalable execution models, AI-enhanced workflows, and always-on access to specialized talent. 

Our marketing-as-a-service (MaaS) model is designed to deliver measurable impact across the funnel, enabling teams to overcome resource constraints and accelerate results without increasing internal load.