How successful marketing teams are optimizing performance in 2026 (and what metrics they’re tracking)

HubSpot’s 2026 State of Marketing report uncovered some good news: 65% of marketers are meeting or exceeding their performance benchmarks. But that success doesn’t happen by accident. Behind those results are clear priorities, rigorous testing, and a sharp focus on the right metrics.

This post explores how the most successful teams are optimizing performance in 2026, and which KPIs they trust most to guide their decisions.

Table of Contents

• Why Performance Optimization Matters in 2026
• The Top Marketing KPIs to Track in 2026
• Marketing Optimization Trends to Expect in 2026
• How to Optimize Marketing Performance

Why Performance Optimization Matters in 2026

Marketers report that their budgets are facing more scrutiny than in past years, and expectations are rising. Leaders want to tie revenue to marketing activities, which means every line item in their budget needs to deliver an ROI.

Major roadblocks to success include:

• Measuring marketing ROI (33%).
• Generating quality leads (29.6%).
• Keeping up with platform and algorithm changes (29.8%).
• Sales and marketing misalignment (27.6%).
• Effectively using AI (25.7%).

That means that marketers can’t afford to set a campaign and let it run for months without checking on the results. Measuring, analyzing, and optimizing should be quick and frequent, allowing brands to double down on what works best.

The Top Marketing KPIs to Track in 2026

Based on HubSpot’s 2026 State of Marketing report, the top key performance indicators (KPIs) marketers are prioritizing focus squarely on quality, revenue impact, and efficiency. These reflect a shift away from vanity metrics and toward performance that directly supports business goals.

Here are the top five marketing KPIs that marketers cited as critical for success.

1. Lead Quality and Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs)

This KPI measures how well incoming leads align with your ideal customer profile and sales readiness. This metric reflects an emphasis on quality over quantity, with 39.4% of marketers watching this KPI.

Lead scoring can help you rate leads and identify which lead sources are delivering high-quality leads, then optimize for them. Prioritizing lead quality appears to be working, since 94% of marketers say that lead quality improved over the past year.

2. Conversion Rates

Conversion rates (lead-to-customer) track the percentage of leads that become paying customers. With 33.9% of teams prioritizing this KPI, it reflects a strong focus on optimizing the full funnel, not just top-of-funnel activity and vanity metrics. High performers test calls-to-action (CTAs), audience targeting, and messaging weekly to boost this metric.

3. Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI)

ROMI calculates the revenue generated relative to marketing spend. With 31.1% of marketers tracking ROMI, we see an increased pressure to tie marketing spend to business outcomes.

To measure ROMI, use the following formula:

(Revenue Generated – Marketing Expenses) / Marketing Expenses

Multiply that number by 100 for a percentage.

4. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

CAC calculates the average cost of bringing in one new customer. To calculate it, take the total cost of your marketing activities for a set time and divide it by the number of new customers acquired during that period.

CAC shows how efficiently a marketing team converts spending into new customers, and gives a clear benchmark for improvement.

5. Lead generation volume

While quality and efficiency are the heroes, volume still matters: 29.2% of marketers cite lead volume as a key metric for success. Lead volume speaks to both messaging and reach.

It’s also interesting to look at what’s absent from the top KPIs in 2026. What’s noticeably less important is social media engagement (just 15% say it’s a top KPI) and email open/click rates (8.4%). While website traffic is still important, coming in at number six, it’s almost always paired with conversion or lead quality metrics. The most successful marketers in 2026 will measure what moves the revenue needle, not simply volume or clicks.

Marketing Optimization Trends to Expect in 2026

Optimization sounds complex, but it boils down to two basic levers: cut costs or improve outcomes. Teams can reduce costs by finding ways to produce marketing content more quickly and affordably, notably with AI. They can boost outcomes by identifying which channels and formats are working, then investing more heavily in those.

Our data from over 1,500 marketers reveals four dominant trends shaping how teams optimize today.

1. Real-time Campaign Refinement

Marketing is no longer “set it and forget it.” The most successful teams treat campaigns as living initiatives, adjusting the targeting, timing, and creative based on early signals. Of marketing teams, 67.4% already use AI for campaign performance optimization, and an additional 21.9% plan to start in the next 12 months.

“Because web traffic is declining, A/B tests take nine weeks for significance, and we can’t wait that long. Direct feedback is now essential,” comments Johann Wrede, CMO of UserTesting. “At UserTesting, we constantly ask: ‘What do you think of this campaign creative? How does this messaging land?’”

All signs point to campaigns becoming more iterative, being refined in interactive cycles. The numbers speak for themselves: 27.4% of marketers analyze their campaign performance monthly, 44.2% weekly, and 15.3% daily. Half of marketers say they can implement and measure changes to active campaigns in days, while almost a quarter say they can in mere hours.

Pro tip: Implement Loop Marketing for this kind of constant, live feedback and update cycle on your active campaigns.

2. AI-Powered Production and Workflows

Marketers are using AI for many purposes — 94.6% of marketers use AI in some capacity, and 25.6% say they use it extensively. The State of Marketing data shows that this saves teams time and increases productivity. This comes from both administrative support — drafting emails, posting to social, streamlining workflows — and enhanced production.

AI assistance is becoming popular for content creation, media creation, and content repurposing. Nearly half of marketers (48.6%) are exploring AI to create personalized content, which our research shows has a high ROI. Teams can use AI to tailor messaging by segment, behavior, or lifecycle stage. This trend enables brands to scale personalization without proportional increases in time or cost.

3. SEO Evolution for AI-Driven Search

For two decades, SEO has been the gold standard for optimizing web content. As search engines evolve and searchers skim AI-generated summaries instead of clicking through to pages, marketers are rethinking keyword targeting.

40.6% of marketers are updating SEO strategies for algorithm shifts, and 24% are optimizing specifically for generative AI (like Google’s AI Overviews). Gaining search visibility in 2026 means creating content that answers questions clearly and earns mentions in AI search engines.

Pro tip: Check out our guide on how to create and implement an AI search strategy in 2026.

4. Cross-Channel Content Repurposing

To maximize ROI on content creation, teams are systematically adapting core assets into multiple formats, like turning webinars, reports, or videos into social, email, or ad content. A third (35.1%) are repurposing content across platforms to extend reach and maximize production ROI. For best success, brands should optimize the content for each channel rather than posting the exact same text or images on different platforms.

How to Optimize Marketing Performance

So, how can brands optimize their marketing performance amidst all of these changes? Here’s what the 1,500 marketers we surveyed (and a few experts) shared that works.

1. Prioritize lead quality over quantity.

Teams that produce high-quality leads are far more likely to exceed their goals. Focus on segmentation, behavioral triggers, and tighter ICP alignment so your campaigns will resonate with audiences — and prompt them to respond.

Work with sales to audit your lead sources monthly so you can identify your highest-performing channels. Retire channels or campaigns that drive volume but have poor sales outcomes. Increase your investments in channels and campaigns producing the best leads.

2. Mind the gap.

One of the best ways to improve campaign performance is to look for leaks in your pipeline. When we asked marketers which factors influenced their optimization decisions, their top answers were: 1) Areas with the largest performance gaps, and 2) Stages with the highest dropoff rates.

Essentially, you can reverse-engineer better campaigns by analyzing where prospects are dropping out of the journey and where your content is underperforming.

Then, work to improve campaigns in those areas. You can start with tweaks to your messaging or images, or you might need to overhaul your targeting or channel strategy if that doesn’t work.

3. Test extensively, and test the right elements.

Testing is the best way to determine which approach will produce the best results. A/B testing is still a valid testing method, but it isn’t the only one. Consider other methods such as:

• Audience segmentation refinement. This technique converts your broader audience into smaller, more defined groups (e.g., by behavior, demographics, or buyer stage) and tailors content or offers to each segment. More relevant messaging leads to higher engagement, better lead quality, and improved conversion rate.
• Conversion rate optimization. CRO systematically tests and improves elements of the customer journey to increase the percentage of visitors who take a desired action. The higher efficiency you create from existing traffic, the more leads or sales you’ll gain without increasing spend.
• Message timing optimization. This technique adjusts when messages are sent or displayed based on user behavior, time zones, or lifecycle stage (e.g., sending a follow-up email two hours after a download versus two days later). In theory, this increases message relevance and responsiveness, leading to increased open rates, clicks, and conversions.

“We are constantly asking, ‘What do you think of this campaign creative? How does this messaging land?’” shares Johann Wrede, CMO of UserTesting. “Web traffic is declining, and A/B tests take nine weeks for significance, and we can’t wait that long. Direct feedback is now essential.”

Testing shouldn’t be random — it should focus on high-leverage variables that directly affect conversion. The most-tested optimization areas identified in our survey are:

1. Visual elements (55.5%).
2. Audience targeting parameters (44.2%).
3. CTA wording and placement (43.3%).
4. Landing page design and structure (42.1%).
5. Offer structure and pricing (34.4%).

Perform at least one test per active campaign, and use AI to analyze results and automate improvements. Even small tweaks to copy and design compound over time.

4. Align KPIs with revenue, not vanity metrics.

We already covered the top KPIs teams should be tracking, like lead quality, conversions, and ROMI. Vanity metrics like website traffic, social likes, and impressions are no longer the best metrics to follow. Instead, look for ones that tie to revenue and meaningful actions.

It’s also important to find the balance between pivoting and giving approaches time to work.

“I think the important thing about testing new channels is that we also need to give them time to do their work,” advises Amy Kenly, VP of marketing at The Launch Box. “Investing a few weeks or a month and then not seeing the vanity metrics that we might expect doesn’t tell us the whole story. This is especially true if you’re taking an approach with more human touch points — you need to give new channels sometimes a little bit more time. Don’t give up too quickly.”

Map every campaign to at least one revenue-linked KPI. If you can’t tie it to your pipeline or sales, question what it’s doing for your brand. Kenly advises assigning ownership of each KPI to a team member for accountability.

Drive marketing ROI with campaign optimization.

Marketers already work hard, but optimizing performance is a way to work smarter. AI tools give marketers more data points than ever before — but it’s your judgment that’s needed to pivot campaigns according to the data. So measure what matters, test relentlessly, and align every tactic to business outcomes.

Want the full picture? Download the complete 2026 State of Marketing Report for exclusive data on marketing trends, AI adoption, channel performance, and more.

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