2026 B2B Marketing CPA Survey: 36.0% of Marketers Report Rising CPA, with SEO Ranking as the Top Area for Future Investment

ResaP®, a one-stop research data marketing service, announced the results of its 2026 survey on CPA by B2B marketing tactic, conducted among 100 marketing professionals working at B2B companies. Key findings: 1. Around 40% of B2B marketers felt that CPA had risen over the past year. The tactic most associated with rising CPA was seminars/webinars, cited by 58.3%. 2. For both target CPA and actual CPA, 37.0% answered “do not know/cannot answer,” indicating that CPA measurement infrastructure remains insufficient. 3. In response to rising CPA, the top tactic respondents want to strengthen going forward is SEO, at 27.0%. Only 6.0% plan to continue strengthening paid marketing tactics. The survey was planned by ResaP®, IDEATECH’s research marketing service, and conducted online from April 14 to April 15, 2026. Valid responses were collected from 100 marketing professionals working at B2B companies. Among paid marketing tactics currently being used, the most common answer was “none in particular,” at 38.0%. Among companies using paid tactics, advertising accounted for 33.0%, exhibitions for 30.0%, and seminars/webinars for 26.0%. For target CPA, both “10,000 yen to less than 15,000 yen” and “30,000 yen or more” were selected by 17.0% of respondents. However, 37.0% answered “do not know/cannot answer.” For actual CPA, “10,000 yen to less than 15,000 yen” was the most common at 19.0%, followed by “5,000 yen to less than 10,000 yen” at 12.0%, while 37.0% again answered “do not know/cannot answer.” Regarding CPA changes over the past year, 14.0% said CPA had “risen significantly” and 22.0% said it had “risen somewhat,” meaning 36.0% felt CPA had increased. Meanwhile, 20.0% reported no change, 10.0% reported a decrease, and 34.0% answered “do not know/cannot answer.” Among tactics where CPA decreased, seminars/webinars and exhibitions each accounted for 30.0%, while advertising, affiliate/external media placements, and referral sales each accounted for 20.0%. This question had a small sample size of 10 respondents and should be treated as reference data. Among those who reported CPA decreases, 30.0% felt lead quality had declined, with 20.0% saying it had “declined slightly” and 10.0% saying it had “declined considerably.” Among tactics where respondents felt CPA had risen, seminars/webinars stood out at 58.3%, followed by exhibitions at 38.9%, advertising and affiliate/external media placements at 36.1% each, outbound at 19.4%, and referral sales at 13.9%. In terms of tactics respondents want to strengthen in response to rising CPA, SEO ranked first at 27.0%, followed by CRM at 23.0%, SNS initiatives at 22.0%, and AI-powered marketing initiatives at 21.0%. By contrast, only 6.0% said they would continue strengthening paid marketing tactics. Open-ended responses included plans such as pursuing cost-effectiveness, using AI for globalization, leveraging influencers, handling activities in-house, and verifying return on investment. The survey highlights two simultaneous challenges in B2B marketing: rising CPA and inadequate measurement infrastructure. As the cost of paid tactics continues to increase, companies may need to shift toward medium- to long-term initiatives that leverage owned assets, such as SEO, CRM, and SNS, while also building systems to visualize and measure CPA. IDEATECH states that its ResaP® and RepoP® services support high-quality content production based on survey-driven market insights. The company says this enables businesses to publish credible content, shift from one-way sales outreach to customer-appreciated sales activities, acquire higher-quality leads, and improve close rates.