Every PMM leader faces the same question from executives: "What's the ROI of product marketing?"
Most answer with activity metrics: launches completed, battle cards created, sales decks updated, customer interviews conducted. These measure effort, not impact.
The uncomfortable truth: if PMM can't connect work to revenue outcomes, you're always one budget cut away from elimination.
After running PMM teams across multiple companies, here are the metrics that actually demonstrate PMM effectiveness.
The Framework: Input → Output → Outcome
Inputs: What PMM does (interviews, research, content creation) Outputs: What PMM produces (positioning docs, battle cards, launch plans) Outcomes: Business results influenced by PMM (win rates, deal velocity, expansion)
Most PMM teams measure inputs and outputs. Executives care about outcomes.
Tier 1: Revenue Impact Metrics (Must Track)
Win Rate vs. Top Competitors
What to measure:
Overall win rate when directly competing against each major competitor (opportunities where both you and competitor were in final consideration).
Why it matters:
If PMM is doing competitive intelligence and positioning well, win rates against specific competitors should improve quarter-over-quarter.
How to track:
Pull from CRM closed-lost reasons. Filter for deals where specific competitors were factors. Calculate win rate trend over time.
Good benchmark: 50-60% win rate against major competitors Great benchmark: 65%+ and trending up
Deal Velocity by Segment
What to measure:
Average days from opportunity creation to close for each target segment PMM has created positioning and enablement for.
Why it matters:
Better positioning and sales enablement should help reps close deals faster by reducing buyer confusion and objection cycles.
How to track:
CRM reports showing time-to-close by segment. Compare quarters before and after positioning/enablement updates.
Good benchmark: 10-15% reduction in sales cycle after positioning refresh Great benchmark: 20%+ reduction
Product Adoption by Launch
What to measure:
For each feature launch, track adoption rate (% of eligible customers using the feature) at 30, 60, 90 days post-launch.
Why it matters:
PMM owns making launches successful. Good launch execution drives faster adoption, which drives retention and expansion.
How to track:
Product analytics showing feature usage by cohort. Compare launches with strong PMM support vs. minimal support.
Good benchmark: 20-30% adoption within 90 days Great benchmark: 40%+ adoption within 90 days
Expansion Revenue Influenced
What to measure:
Revenue from upsell/cross-sell opportunities where PMM-created materials (use case content, expansion playbooks, ROI calculators) were used.
Why it matters:
Shows PMM impact beyond new customer acquisition. Expansion is often higher margin and lower CAC than new logos.
How to track:
Tag opportunities in CRM with content used. Track close rate and revenue for expansion deals using PMM materials.
Good benchmark: PMM materials used in 30%+ of expansion deals Great benchmark: 50%+ of expansion deals with measurable PMM influence
Tier 2: Sales Effectiveness Metrics (Track Quarterly)
Sales Content Usage Rate
What to measure:
Percentage of reps actively using PMM-created materials (battle cards, one-pagers, decks) in the last 30 days.
Why it matters:
Content nobody uses is wasted effort. High usage indicates PMM is creating what sales actually needs.
How to track:
Sales enablement platform analytics or CRM attachment tracking. Survey sales quarterly on what they use.
Good benchmark: 60-70% of reps using core materials monthly Great benchmark: 80%+ usage of core materials
Time to Competency for New Reps
What to measure:
Days from hire to first closed deal for new reps, comparing cohorts before and after improved PMM onboarding/enablement.
Why it matters:
Better positioning, messaging, and sales enablement should help new reps ramp faster.
How to track:
HR/Sales Ops data on ramp time by cohort. Look for correlation with PMM onboarding program launch.
Good benchmark: 10-15% faster ramp after PMM onboarding improvements Great benchmark: 20%+ faster ramp
Sales Confidence Scores
What to measure:
Quarterly survey asking reps to rate confidence (1-5 scale) in:
- Differentiating against competitors
- Explaining product value to buyers
- Handling common objections
- Positioning to different personas
Why it matters:
Confident reps close more deals. PMM's job is to make sales confident in the story.
How to track:
Simple quarterly survey sent to all reps. Track trends over time and by PMM initiative.
Good benchmark: Average 4.0+ across dimensions Great benchmark: 4.5+ with upward trend
Tier 3: Market Intelligence Metrics (Track Monthly)
Competitive Intel Freshness
What to measure:
Percentage of battle cards updated in the last 60 days. Percentage of competitive alerts acted on within 2 weeks.
Why it matters:
Stale competitive intelligence is worse than no intelligence. It gives sales false confidence.
How to track:
Battle card metadata showing last update date. Competitive intel tool showing time from alert to action.
Good benchmark: 80%+ of battle cards updated quarterly Great benchmark: 100% updated quarterly with real-time updates for major changes
Customer Research Velocity
What to measure:
Number of customer interviews or surveys completed per quarter. Time from research to insight delivery.
Why it matters:
PMM should maintain constant connection to customer voice. Research that sits for months loses relevance.
How to track:
Calendar showing completed interviews. Date stamps on research synthesis docs.
Good benchmark: 10-15 customer touchpoints per PMM per quarter Great benchmark: 20+ touchpoints with insights shared within 2 weeks
Message Testing Accuracy
What to measure:
For messages tested before launch, compare predicted resonance scores to actual campaign/sales performance.
Why it matters:
Validates that message testing methodology actually predicts market response.
How to track:
Pre-launch message test scores vs. post-launch engagement metrics or sales feedback.
Good benchmark: 70%+ correlation between test results and market performance Great benchmark: 85%+ correlation
Tier 4: Launch Effectiveness Metrics (Per Launch)
Launch Awareness
What to measure:
Percentage of target audience (sales, customers, partners) who can articulate what was launched and why it matters, 2 weeks post-launch.
Why it matters:
Launches fail when nobody knows they happened. Awareness is table stakes.
How to track:
Quick 3-question survey to sample of each audience. "What launched?" "Who is it for?" "Why does it matter?"
Good benchmark: 60-70% awareness among primary audience Great benchmark: 80%+ awareness
Launch Content Engagement
What to measure:
Open rates, click-through rates, and time spent for launch announcement emails, blog posts, and videos.
Why it matters:
High engagement indicates launch content was relevant and compelling.
How to track:
Email analytics, website analytics, video platform metrics.
Good benchmark: 30-40% open rate, 5-8% CTR Great benchmark: 50%+ open rate, 10%+ CTR
What NOT to Measure
Number of battle cards created: Measures output, not whether they're being used or working
Number of launches: Measures activity, not whether launches drove adoption
Customer interviews conducted: Measures input, not whether insights changed strategy
Slide decks created: Measures busy-work, not impact
Social media mentions: Vanity metric unless tied to pipeline
Focus on metrics that connect PMM work to revenue outcomes. Everything else is just activity tracking.
Building Your PMM Scorecard
Start with 3 metrics:
- One revenue metric (win rate or deal velocity)
- One sales effectiveness metric (content usage or confidence)
- One launch metric (adoption or awareness)
Add more as you mature:
Year 1: Track basics consistently Year 2: Add competitive and research velocity Year 3: Build full scorecard with predictive modeling
Share monthly:
Create a simple one-page scorecard showing:
- Current metric values
- Trend (up/down from last period)
- Key drivers of change
- Actions to improve
Send to executive team, sales leadership, and product leadership.
Making Metrics Actionable
Good metric: "Win rate vs. Competitor X is 52%" Actionable metric: "Win rate vs. Competitor X improved from 48% to 52% after updating battle cards with pricing comparison and adding trap questions to discovery calls"
Always connect metric changes to specific PMM actions. This builds credibility and shows what's working.
The Ultimate PMM Metric
If you can only track one thing, track this:
Revenue influenced by deals where PMM materials were actively used divided by total PMM team cost
This shows ROI in the language executives understand: dollars in vs. dollars out.
Good PMM teams generate 10-15x their cost in influenced revenue. Great teams generate 20x+.
Measure what matters. Prove impact. Secure your budget.