Top business priorities for US companies of different sizes in 2016

The bar chart illustrates the primary business priorities for companies in the USA in 2016, categorised by their number of employees. Overall, it is evident that lead generation and conversion were the most critical goals for businesses regardless of their size, whereas reducing acquisition costs was consistently ranked as the lowest priority.

For smaller companies (0-25 employees) and mid-sized firms (26-200 employees), converting contacts into customers and increasing the number of leads were the top two priorities. Specifically, 71% of the smallest firms prioritised both, while mid-sized companies showed a stronger focus on increasing leads at 79%, compared to 73% for conversion. In contrast, larger organisations (201+ employees) prioritised conversion (66%) over increasing leads (62%).

Regarding other objectives, larger companies placed significantly more emphasis on increasing revenue from existing customers (55%) and demonstrating marketing ROI (58%) compared to their smaller counterparts. For instance, only 33% of the smallest firms focused on marketing ROI. Finally, reducing acquisition costs was the least prioritised goal across all groups, peaking at 30% for the largest companies and dropping to just 20% for the smallest businesses.