LinkedIn Ads benchmarks for 2023

Using our clients’ LinkedIn Ads campaigns performance we have produced performance benchmarks for our 2022 campaign activities.

LinkedIn Ads is one of the most popular paid media channels that we choose to run campaigns for our clients. This is mostly because the majority of our clients are B2B organisations and LinkedIn’s audience targeting methods more easily align with, and help us identify, their target audiences better. 

We have analyzed all our clients’ performance data for 2022 activities in the LinkedIn Ads platform to provide benchmarks for 2023, which we always strive to exceed.

To provide the most accurate results for each particular occasion, in our analysis, we have separated our data using several dimensions. This post is broken down into sections for each campaign type within which we look at the most important metrics per type.

In addition, where possible our metrics have been further segmented per region and funnel stage. The regions are divided into AMER, EMEA, APAC, and Global. The funnel stages are divided into Top (TOFU), Middle (MOFU), and Bottom (BOFU).

The data was analyzed on a campaign level which resulted in some limitations. For this reason, we had to group campaigns based on their target regions and when campaigns were targeting countries from two or more areas from our groupings, they were classified as Global. There were no true Global campaigns in our 2022 activities.

LinkedIn single image ads benchmarks

The benchmarks shown here are presented by each metric in the following sequence CTR → CPC → Conv. Rate → CPL. 

For the purposes of this analysis, conversions and Leads as reported by LinkedIn have been considered to be the same since all of our activity conversions correspond to lead generation whether it’s on a native LinkedIn Ads form or a landing page with a conversion form.

LinkedIn single image ads CTR benchmarks

Our 2022 average CTR for single image posts was 0.39%.

The lowest average CTR of single image sponsored posts was shown in campaigns targeting more than one region (marked as global in the table below) while the strongest was observed in APAC. We believe that this is mostly because the APAC region is still not very competition-heavy.

In the table below it is surprising to see that the lower stages of the user journey demonstrated a higher CTR. It would be expected that attracting clicks at lower stages would be more difficult due to the required high intent the audience has to be demonstrating. This however indicates the effectiveness of our ability to target the right people and attract them as well:

Here is also a CTR breakdown per industry for LinkedIn single image ads:

LinkedIn single image ads CPC benchmarks

Our 2022 average cost-per-click (CPC) for single image sponsored posts was $4.41.

Regarding regional breakdown due to high competition in the AMER region, CPC has been the highest. As mentioned before APAC is showing low competition on LinkedIn and this is why we see such a low CPC in that region.

Following the CTR pattern, CPC has been the lowest for bottom-of-the-funnel promotions which is again surprising to see.

Finally, here is a breakdown of the average CPC for LinkedIn single image ads per industry:

LinkedIn single image ads conversion rate benchmarks

Note that the results demonstrated here only take into account campaigns where their goal included some type of form-fill conversion. 

The average conversion rate of our single image ads in 2022 was 2.11%.

The regional breakdown shows a dramatically lower conversion rate in APAC compared to all other regions and an exceptionally high conversion rate for campaigns that were targeting more than one region (global).

Unsurprisingly, BOFU content which requires more commitment from the user is demonstrating the lowest conversion rate from all funnel stages.

Here you will find an industry breakdown for conversion rates.

LinkedIn single image ads CPA benchmarks

Again, the results demonstrated here only take into account campaigns where their goal included some type of form-fill conversion.

The average CPA for single image ads in 2022 was $241.88.

Again following the trend of high competition in the Americas we see that the AMER region has the highest CPA of all.

Unsurprisingly, BOFU campaigns had the highest CPA as well due to the need for more commitment from the user.

Below you will find an industry breakdown for our average CPA of LinkedIn single image sponsored posts.

LinkedIn carousel ads benchmarks

In 2022, fewer of our clients ran LinkedIn Carousel campaigns than Single Image Ads campaigns. Therefore, we have a shorter list of industries to display in the tables below. The benchmarks will be shown below in the same sequence as before (CTR → CPC → Conv. Rate → CPA)

LinkedIn carousel ads CTR benchmarks

Our average LinkedIn carousel ads CTR across all industries and regions in 2022 has been 0.35%.

Looking at regions we can see that high competition and, potentially, saturation, have resulted in lower CTR in the AMER region while the opposite happened in the APAC region.

From a lead funnel perspective, BOFU content promotion has been the most challenging.

There was only a small number of industries for which we used carousel ads last year where the least success we saw in IT Services from a CTR perspective.

LinkedIn carousel ads CPC benchmarks

The average CPC for LinkedIn carousel ads campaigns across all of our clients was $4.49 in 2022.

Again different levels of competition and saturation across regions have played a big part in the variation for this metric.

Not much variation in values can be seen across lead funnel stages but the MOFU stage appeared to be the costlier from an average CPC point of view.

The difference however in CPC across the three industries we targeted with LinkedIn carousel ads is more striking where IT Services is also demonstrating a very high CPC potentially due to higher competition for professionals in this industry.

LinkedIn carousel ads conversion rate benchmarks

We need to point out that for conversion-related metrics, we only analyzed the campaigns that had a form fill as a goal. Therefore the data for these metrics are more limited than for CTR and CPC of the same campaign type.

On the conversion rate side, our overall activity in 2022 demonstrated a 1.83%. The amount of variation across regions is distinguishable but not hugely varied.

No BOFU content was promoted with a form fill as a goal and therefore this funnel stage is missing from the table below and as can be seen the number of industries we targeted was very limited too.

LinkedIn carousel ads CPA benchmarks

The same limitations as in the conversion rate values are true for CPA as well with limited activity across funnel stages and industries.

The average CPA for our LinkedIn Carousel Ads activity in 2022 was $268.02.

LinkedIn video ads benchmarks

We ran video ad campaigns on LinkedIn for a fair amount of our clients in 2022. The benchmarks will be shown below in the same sequence as before (CTR → CPC → Conv. Rate → CPA)

LinkedIn video ads CTR benchmarks

In 2022 our video ad campaigns on LinkedIn demonstrated an average CTR of 0.42%. 

As can be seen in the table below there are some large variations among different regions and funnel stages as well as industries. The most notable outlier is the high CTR in the APAC region.

Funnel stage CTR is consistent with expectations due to the commitment required from the user.

LinkedIn video ads CPC benchmarks

Once again APAC is an outlier in CPC with the lowest average value while AMER is the one with the highest due to increased competition in the region.

It is impressive to see such a high CPC in the Fintech industry which indicates high competition for members of this industry with this platform.

LinkedIn video ads conv. rate benchmarks

The number of campaigns aiming to achieve conversions was smaller and there were no such campaigns targeting BOFU funnel stage. This is also why the list of industries included here is even shorter than for previous metrics of the video ads campaigns.

Our average conversion rate for video ad campaigns for LinkedIn ads was 1.28%. The only region that was vastly different from the rest was AMER, presumably due to higher competition than in the rest of the regions.

LinkedIn video ads CPL benchmarks

Similar limitations with our conversion rate benchmarks have affected the CPA metrics as can be seen below. Again AMER has shown the highest CPA potentially due to high competition.

LinkedIn message ads benchmarks

During 2022 we only ran message ads for one client. In particular, these were all conversation ads and we ultimately had tremendous success with this ad type which we used for multiple campaigns. 

However, all of these campaigns were for middle-of-the-funnel lead generation and they were only targeting either the APAC or the EMEA region with the vast majority of the activity happening in EMEA.

Additionally, it does not make much sense to look at CTR and CPC as metrics for the message ads so instead we are looking at open rate (messages opened/messages sent) and cost per message opened. 

Additionally, our conversion rate here is calculated as “leads/messages” opened and our CPA is “Total cost/leads”. Please see the results below:

How Huble can help improve your LinkedIn Ads' performance

If you are looking to take your PPC campaigns to the next level, Huble’s PPC consultancy can help. 

Our experienced consultants have helped hundreds of businesses leverage their analytics, refine their targeting and maximize their PPC performance. 

Speak with our team today to unlock the full potential of your paid media efforts.