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Methodology: how sources are chosen and numbers are cited

Ads for B2B SaaS does not run its own studies. It reads published research and platform documentation, checks the figures against the original, and explains what they mean for a B2B SaaS ad account. This page sets out how.

Which sources are used?

Sources are used in this order of preference:

  1. Platform documentation, such as Google Ads Help and LinkedIn's advertising and developer pages, for how a feature or setting works.
  2. Published studies with a stated sample, where the publisher says how many accounts and how much spend were analyzed. Where a study leaves out its period or how its accounts were chosen, the page says so.
  3. Published benchmark tables without a stated sample. These are labeled as benchmarks from their publisher, not as study findings.

Opinion posts are not used as evidence for a number.

Where no study with a stated sample exists for a channel, the page says so and gives no cost figure. That currently applies to Meta Ads, Microsoft Ads, ChatGPT ads, programmatic and review sites. No B2B SaaS cost benchmark by region was found either, so the region pages use directional sources and say so.

Which sources does the site draw on?

Every study, survey, benchmark and platform page cited anywhere on the site is listed here. Channel, topic and region pages name their sources in the text and link to this list. Articles carry their own source list as well.

Studies, surveys and benchmarks

Platform documentation

How is a number cited?

Every figure is tied to a named study and publisher: in the sentence, beside the table, or in the source line at the top of the page. The sample and date are given where the source states them, and each page lists its sources in full at the end. Where a study quotes a figure from somewhere else, the original source is named.

Figures are copied exactly. They are not rounded, averaged across studies or adjusted.

What are the limits of the data?

Much of the published research used on this site comes from agencies and software vendors analyzing accounts they have access to. That makes it a convenience sample, not a random one. The accounts may be larger, more troubled or more US-based than the market as a whole.

Pages say so wherever such numbers appear. Three further rules apply:

  • A modeled projection is never described as an achieved result.
  • Breakdowns inside one study (by cause, by vertical, by company stage) are different views of the same total and are not added together.
  • A benchmark is a range to compare against, not a target every account should hit.

How are examples and arithmetic handled?

Two kinds of number on this site are not study findings, and both are labeled where they appear.

  • Arithmetic applies a published rate to an example budget, such as 34.0% of $30,000. The inputs are shown.
  • Invented examples illustrate a method, such as building a budget from a pipeline target. They are described as invented.

How often are pages updated?

Every page shows the date it was last updated. A page is revised when a source it relies on publishes a new edition, when a platform changes the feature it describes, or when a reader points out an error.

How are corrections handled?

If a figure on this site does not match its source, the page is corrected and the updated date changes. Substantive corrections are noted on the page.

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