Marketing Sourced Opportunities
TL;DR
Marketing Sourced Opportunities represent deals in the sales pipeline that originated from marketing efforts. This metric directly connects campaign performance to pipeline creation, revealing how effectively marketing drives sales-ready interest.
What is a Marketing Sourced Opportunity?
A Marketing Sourced Opportunity (MSO) is any qualified sales opportunity where the initial lead or deal was generated through a marketing channel—such as paid media, content downloads, SEO, events, or email campaigns.
In most B2B SaaS CRMs, this is tagged via the original lead source or campaign attribution logic.
If Marketing brings in the lead and Sales converts it to an opportunity, it’s marketing sourced.
Why It Matters in B2B SaaS
- Makes marketing accountable for revenue pipeline, not just lead volume
- Tracks how well campaigns generate qualified interest
- Highlights the efficiency of marketing channels at producing sales-ready opportunities
- Bridges the marketing-sales gap with attribution clarity
- Critical for budget planning, GTM forecasting, and proving marketing ROI
How to Measure Marketing Sourced Opportunities
1.Define what qualifies as “sourced by marketing”
- Typical triggers: lead created via a marketing channel, marketing-generated form fill, first-touch attribution
2.Ensure CRM tracking of original source
- Integrate your marketing automation and CRM (e.g., HubSpot + Salesforce) for seamless source tagging
3.Filter opportunity records in CRM
- Segment all open and closed opportunities by lead source = marketing
4.Report on volume and value
- Track both the number of MSOs and the total pipeline value they represent
5.Break down by campaign, region, segment
- Understand which efforts generate high-quality opportunities
Best Practices
- Align Sales and Marketing on attribution models (first-touch, last-touch, multi-touch)
- Segment MSOs by persona or industry to refine targeting
- Combine with conversion rates to assess pipeline quality
- Benchmark MSO volume against total opportunity count to gauge marketing's pipeline share
Final Thought
In modern SaaS GTM, generating leads isn’t enough. You need to generate opportunities that Sales can close. Marketing Sourced Opportunities provide the bridge between brand building and bottom-line results.
FAQs
What's the difference between a lead and a marketing sourced opportunity?
A lead is a contact. An opportunity is a qualified deal with potential value. MSOs show how many deals—not just contacts—marketing creates.
Do webinars and events count?
Absolutely. If a contact from a marketing-run event becomes an opportunity, it’s marketing sourced.
Should I track MSOs by campaign?
Yes. This enables precise ROI measurement and helps allocate budget to campaigns that deliver pipeline.
What percentage of opportunities should be marketing sourced?
It varies. In inbound models, 50–70% may be MSOs. In outbound-heavy models, it may be 20–40%.
Discover Petavue
Your AI-Powered Advantage
Request a Strategic Overview
Identify High-Impact Accounts
AI-driven insights pinpoint exactly which accounts and segments deserve your focus, and why.
Optimize Every Interaction
Proactively uncover customer friction points to enhance CX and boost adoption.
Guide Your Next Steps
Receive clear, expert-guided recommendations on the precise actions to take for growth.
Achieve Scalable Efficiency
Get fast, accurate intelligence across sales, marketing, and CX, without scaling headcount.
Identify High-Impact Accounts
Use AI to spotlight the accounts most likely to convert—ranked by revenue potential, engagement signals, and deal velocity.
Optimize Every Interaction
Uncover what drives buyer engagement at every stage—so your reps show up with the right message, at the right time, every time.
Guide Your Next Steps
Receive clear, expert-guided recommendations on the precise actions to take for growth.
Achieve Scalable Efficiency
Get fast, accurate intelligence across sales, marketing, and CX, without scaling headcount.
Identify High-Impact Accounts
Use AI to spotlight the accounts most likely to convert—ranked by revenue potential, engagement signals, and deal velocity.
Optimize Every Interaction
Uncover what drives buyer engagement at every stage—so your reps show up with the right message, at the right time, every time.
Guide Your Next Steps
Receive clear, expert-guided recommendations on the precise actions to take for growth.
Achieve Scalable Efficiency
Get fast, accurate intelligence across sales, marketing, and CX, without scaling headcount.