If you’ve ever sat in a quarterly review celebrating a record number of MQLs while quietly wondering “but did they buy?”, this post is for you.
Most attribution dashboards freeze the story at the conversion. In B2B SaaS, that’s only Chapter 1. The real plot unfolds inside your CRM: contacts become opportunities, opportunities become revenue, and revenue (sometimes) turns into expansion.
Today we’ll walk through a revenue‑first approach to attribution—one that marries ad data with HubSpot lifecycle stages so you can see which campaigns influence paying customers, not just curious browsers.
Why Lead Attribution Falls Short
Sarah, a demand‑gen lead at a Series B SaaS company, used to report three headline numbers every month: cost‑per‑lead, channel conversion rate, and total MQLs. The board nodded; the CEO nodded; but Sarah lost sleep.
LinkedIn leads looked pricey at $47 each. Google Ads leads looked thrifty at $14. The spreadsheet said “keep spending on Google.”
Three months later the revenue picture flipped the story: twelve LinkedIn leads closed for $78 k ARR; the bulk of the “efficient” Google leads churned before onboarding finished. Efficiency without context is a mirage.
Enter HubSpot: Turning Marketing Data into Revenue Data
When you connect HubSpot to Spectacle, every lifecycle change—Contact → MQL → SQL → Deal Won pushes back into your attribution timeline. Now the funnel isn’t a silo; it’s a living dataset.
Funnel Stage | Contacts | Cost‑per‑Stage | Notes |
Contact Created | 960 | $2.31 | Raw inflow from all paid + organic |
MQL | 211 | $10.49 | Lead score ≥ 65 |
SQL | 107 | $20.71 | Accepted by sales |
Deal Won | 24 | $92.33 | Closed‑won revenue attributed |
Notice what happens to cost figures: they expand as you travel down‑funnel—and that’s the point. Cheap leads that never convert are no bargain.
In the most recent release of July-25 we include also any custom properties of contacts or deals allowing for more variations of this journey
Account‑Level Attribution (Because Buying Is a Team Sport)
A mid‑market deal rarely hinges on a single visitor. Spectacle automatically groups engagements from every contact at the same company, then weights credit across touchpoints.
Example journey for Acme Corp.
Month 1: Marketing Director spots a LinkedIn post.
Month 2: Head of Sales downloads a white paper via Google search.
Month 3: Both attend a webinar promoted by email.
Month 4: Sales books a demo after a retargeting ad.
Month 6: CEO signs the $45 k contract.
Traditional tools log five isolated conversions. Revenue attribution shows one cohesive account path—and instantly explains why that webinar sponsorship was worth the spend.
Reading Channel Performance Through a Revenue Lens
Channel | Customers | Closed Revenue | CAC | LTV : CAC |
12 | $56 k | $158 | 9.9 : 1 | |
Google Ads | 8 | $25 k | $89 | 3.5 : 1 |
Organic Search | 6 | $17 k | $45 | 6.2 : 1 |
If you only looked at lead volume, Google would win. When you weight by revenue and payback, LinkedIn is the obvious hero—even at triple the CPL.
Granular Insights That Change Budgets—not Just Reports
Keyword revenue – “marketing attribution software” drives 9× more revenue per click than “B2B analytics tools.” Bid accordingly.
Deal velocity – Prospects who view the pricing page and a case study close 38 days faster than the average. Surface that combo in nurture sequences.
Content influence – ROI calculator users sign 23 % larger contracts; competitive‑comparison readers cut sales cycles by 18 days. Promote each asset where it matters in the funnel.
Implementing Revenue Attribution in Three Steps
Connect HubSpot – OAuth takes 60 seconds; select lifecycle and deal fields to sync.
Map Revenue Events – Choose which HubSpot milestones (e.g., Deal Won, Expansion) feed Google Enhanced Conversions and Customer Match in Spectacle.
Rebuild Dashboards – Swap “Leads” for “Customers” and “Revenue” in your performance tabs. You’ll never look at CPL the same way again.
Pro Tip: Start with one business question—Which paid campaign creates the most ARR per $1 k spent? Build the report, present the answer, and expand from there.
From Lead Factory to Revenue Engine
Once Sarah linked her CRM, she stopped talking about marketing cost‑per‑lead and started presenting marketing contribution to revenue. Budget conversations became simpler: invest where the money returns, cut where it doesn’t.
You can do the same. Attribution connected to revenue isn’t just a nicer report; it’s the foundation for smarter spend, tighter sales alignment, and predictable growth.
Ready to follow the pound from click to contract? Connect HubSpot → [See Revenue Attribution in Spectacle →]