Original research

    The Partnerships Benchmark 2026

    What 100+ partnership professionals actually do: how they are measured, how much of their pay is at risk, which partnership types they rate most valuable, and which tactics they say work.

    Respondents
    102
    Fieldwork
    Oct–Dec 2025
    Questions
    47
    Cover of the Partnership Professionals Survey Results report

    Five gaps worth closing

    Each of these describes a gap between what partnership teams are shown to deliver and how their organisations resource, measure or reward them.

    2:1
    Partner contribution outpaces partner investment by roughly two to one: 74% of companies report that partnerships influence 26% or more of revenue, while only 35% allocate 26% or more of their marketing budget to partner activity.
    86% vs 6%
    86% of partnership professionals are measured on revenue targets, and 6% on relationship health, despite 95% naming relationship building as the most critical skill in the job.
    13%
    Only 13% of teams measure customer retention as a partnership outcome, even though 61% name integration partnerships as one of their highest-value types. Retention and expansion value goes largely uncounted.
    90%
    90% rate in-person relationship building as critical or very important to their partnerships. Only 2% consider it unimportant.
    63%
    63% of partnership professionals spend no more than 60% of their time on relationship work, and only 8% achieve an 80/20 split in favour of relationships. A further 30% spend more time on operations than on relationships.

    How the survey was run

    102 partnership professionals answered 47 questions between October to December 2025. Responses were collected anonymously and no individual contributor is identifiable from the published data. Demographic information is aggregated for the same reason.

    Response rate was 97% for questions 1 to 45, and 81% for questions 46 and 47.

    The sample spans North America, EMEA, APAC, company stages from early-stage to enterprise, and partnership models from referral through integration to strategic alliance. That breadth is the point of a benchmark, and also its main limitation: tactics that work for a high-velocity channel programme often do not transfer to a long-cycle strategic alliance, and approaches built for North American markets usually need adapting for EMEA or APAC. Read these figures as directional evidence, not as prescription.

    This is the 2026 edition, the first of the series. Fieldwork closed at the end of 2025, which is why the figures describe 2025 practice under a 2026 edition name. The next edition will add vertical-specific cuts and, once two editions exist, movement over time.

    Revenue and strategy

    Partnerships are a material revenue channel for most organisations, but measurement stays fixed on the two things easiest to count.

    74%
    74% of companies report that 26% or more of their revenue is sourced or influenced by partnerships.
    11%
    11% report that partnerships influence 76% or more of revenue, making partnerships their dominant go-to-market motion.
    3%
    Only 3% report that partnerships influence 10% or less of revenue.
    87%
    87% measure partnership success on revenue generated and 65% on leads sourced, against 13% on customer retention, 10% on market expansion and 7% on brand exposure.

    Respondents selected their top two.

    Which partnership types drive the most value
    • Referral82%
    • Integration61%
    • Strategic alliances48%
    • Reseller / channel31%

    Respondents selected their top three, so the bars total over 100%.

    Source: Q2.

    Activation and the partner's attention

    The hardest part of partner management is not signing partners. It is getting a signed partner to prioritise you over everything else on their desk.

    26%
    Partner activation is the single biggest partner-management challenge at 26%, ahead of internal alignment at 22%, resource constraints at 20%, and attribution and lead quality at 17% each.
    42%
    42% name competing priorities as the biggest barrier to a new partner generating their first lead, well ahead of lack of product knowledge at 22% and no clear process at 12%.
    97%
    97% use a structured method to prioritise partner time: tier-based at 41%, opportunity-driven at 33%, and focused on top performers at 23%. Only 3% give every partner equal time.
    40%
    Marketing co-op funds are the most effective incentive for driving consistent referrals at 40%, ahead of higher commission rates at 18%, executive recognition at 17% and event sponsorship at 16%.

    The internal blocker

    Most of what slows a partner programme down happens inside the partner manager's own company, not at the partner.

    57%
    57% of internal blockers are cross-functional: support from other departments at 29% and technical resource constraints at 28%. Sales not following up on partner leads accounts for 14%.
    12%
    12% cite lack of executive support as the internal barrier that most often slows partnership progress, indicating partner functions still frequently operate without a C-level mandate.
    49%
    49% are pulled into partner deals weekly or daily, with 11% involved daily. Partnership professionals are embedded in deal cycles, not sitting beside them.

    Running the programme

    26% run partnerships on purpose-built software. 72% are still on spreadsheets, and 51% settle multi-partner attribution with whoever touched the deal first.

    Operations, tooling and attribution

    Partner operations still run on the CRM and the spreadsheet. Purpose-built tooling is the exception, and attribution defaults to the simplest possible model.

    26%
    26% use a PRM platform and 20% use dedicated partnership management software, while 88% run partnerships through the CRM and 72% still use spreadsheets alongside it.

    Respondents could select more than one tool.

    79%
    79% track partner-sourced deals with structured methods, using dedicated CRM fields at 64% or tags and labels at 15%. 21% track manually.
    51%
    51% resolve multi-partner attribution with first-touch credit, and 21% decide case by case, meaning partners who influence a deal later in the cycle are routinely undervalued.
    76%
    76% complete partner onboarding within one to two months: 19% inside two weeks, 31% in three to four weeks, and 26% in one to two months. 24% take three months or longer.
    35%
    Communication cadence is the biggest operational challenge at 35%, ahead of performance tracking at 25%, lead handoff at 16% and deal registration at 14%.
    60%
    60% report that 41% or more of their partner-referred leads arrive sales-ready, and 40% see partner-sourced leads convert to opportunities at a rate of 41% to 60%.

    Team structure and skills

    Partner functions delivering a quarter of company revenue are typically run by one to three people, and operational work takes at least 40% of their time.

    43%
    43% run partnerships with a team of one to three people, including 12% operating solo. Only 26% have 15 or more.
    24%
    24% have a dedicated Partner Operations Manager, and 27% have a partner engineer or solutions role. Both concentrate in larger teams.
    95%
    95% name relationship building as the most critical skill for partnership success, ahead of cross-cultural communication at 52%, project management at 48% and negotiation at 41%.

    Respondents selected their top three.

    24%
    Only 24% rate data analysis among the most critical partnership skills, in a discipline where 86% are measured on revenue targets.
    Time split between relationship work and operational tasks
    • 80/20 relationships8%
    • 60/40 relationships46%
    • 50/50 even17%
    • 40/60 operations18%

    Share of respondents at each reported split. These four bands cover 89% of respondents; the remaining 12% report an operations-heavy split beyond 40/60.

    Source: Q21.

    Go-to-market and partner marketing

    High-touch, data-led tactics beat digital-at-scale ones, and the budget does not follow the revenue.

    61%
    Account mapping with partners is the single most effective partner lead generation tactic at 61%, ahead of partner sales enablement at 44% and referral programmes at 41%.

    Respondents selected their top three.

    88%
    Events and conferences drive the best go-to-market results at 88%, followed by account mapping at 78%, joint webinars at 43% and co-branded content at 43%. Email campaigns rank at 6% and social media at 3%.

    Respondents selected their top three.

    79%
    79% run joint marketing campaigns with partners monthly at 34% or quarterly at 45%.
    35%
    Only 35% allocate 26% or more of their marketing budget to partner activity, against the 74% who report partnerships influencing 26% or more of revenue.
    44%
    Resource coordination is the biggest partner marketing challenge at 44%, well ahead of partner engagement and budget allocation at 20% each.

    Where it gets specialised

    92% manage partnerships across more than one region, and 58% report that technical integrations run through 41% or more of their portfolio.

    Cultural and global reach

    Almost every partner programme now spans regions, and the friction is cultural and procedural rather than linguistic.

    92%
    92% manage partnerships across multiple geographic regions, and 52% operate globally.
    80%
    Cultural expectations at 27%, decision-making processes at 27% and time zones at 26% together account for 80% of reported cross-cultural partnership problems. Communication style accounts for 14% and legal or compliance differences for 5%.
    71%
    71% adapt their communication style moderately or significantly for different cultures. 4% do not adapt at all.
    90%
    90% rate in-person relationship building as critical at 49% or very important at 41%. Only 2% consider it unimportant.

    Technical partnerships and integrations

    Most partner portfolios are substantially technical, and the constraint is engineering capacity rather than engineering difficulty.

    58%
    58% report that 41% or more of their partnerships involve technical integrations.
    51%
    51% share ownership of technical partnership discussions between the partnerships team and product or engineering, rather than either owning it outright.
    53%
    53% name resource allocation as the biggest technical partnership challenge, against 10% naming technical complexity. Engineering capacity is the blocker, not engineering difficulty.
    78%
    78% consider API quality critical or very important to partnership success.

    Reward, and what comes next

    86% are measured on revenue and 6% on relationship health. 45% expect AI and automation to reshape the job inside three years.

    Compensation and performance

    The survey covers how pay is structured, not what it pays. What it shows is a function measured on revenue and reviewed on short cycles.

    86%
    86% are measured on revenue targets, 56% on lead generation, 28% on partner satisfaction, 20% on market expansion and 6% on relationship health.

    Respondents could select more than one measure.

    71%
    71% have between 11% and 40% of total compensation at risk, with 29% in the 11 to 25% band and 41% in the 26 to 40% band.
    57%
    57% carry objectives beyond revenue, while 27% are measured on revenue alone.
    39%
    Only 39% run quarterly business reviews with key partners at the intended cadence. 25% run them ad hoc, 22% twice a year, and 6% never hold a formal QBR.

    What partnership leaders expect next

    AI is expected to take the operational load, not the relationship. The industry expects fewer, deeper partnerships.

    45%
    45% expect AI and automation to have the greatest impact on partnerships over the next three years, ahead of ecosystem consolidation at 32%.
    41%
    41% predict ecosystem-led growth as the direction of the industry, making it the single most common prediction for where partnerships go next.
    26%
    26% became more selective about which partnerships they take on after 2020, and 22% shifted focus onto existing partners rather than new ones.
    33%
    33% report more virtual partner engagement as their biggest post-2020 strategic change, the most common single answer.
    85%
    85% name conferences and events as their most valuable source of professional development, with partnership communities at 84% and personal LinkedIn feeds at 53%. Formal training does not appear near the top.

    Respondents selected their top three.

    Your own numbers

    How does your partner programme score against this benchmark?

    The Partnership Assessment reads your public partnership footprint, scores seven dimensions of readiness, and ranks you against the programmes in this survey. It names the gaps holding your programme back, the partners worth pursuing, and sizes the opportunity in pounds, with every finding traced to its source.

    Built for SaaS platforms and agencies. Free to start.

    Get your assessment
    Sample Partnership Assessment report showing a readiness score of 72 out of 100, rated Established

    Questions this data answers

    What percentage of revenue comes from partnerships?

    74% of companies surveyed report that partnerships source or influence 26% or more of their revenue, and 11% report partnerships influencing 76% or more. Only 3% report partner influence of 10% or less. Based on 102 partnership professionals surveyed between October to December 2025.

    How many people work in a typical partnerships team?

    43% of partner functions are run by one to three people, including 12% operating solo. 32% have four to fifteen people and 26% have fifteen or more. Team size does not track revenue contribution: the same survey found 74% of companies attribute 26% or more of revenue to partnerships.

    What is the biggest challenge in partner management?

    Partner activation, at 26%, getting a signed partner to actually produce. Internal alignment follows at 22%, resource constraints at 20%, and attribution and lead quality at 17% each. The most common reason a new partner fails to generate a first lead is competing priorities, cited by 42%.

    How many companies use a PRM?

    26% use a partner relationship management (PRM) platform and 20% use other dedicated partnership management software. The CRM remains the primary system at 88%, and 72% still run partner tracking on spreadsheets alongside it.

    How do partnership teams measure success?

    87% measure revenue generated and 65% measure leads sourced. Customer retention is measured by 13%, market expansion by 10% and brand exposure by 7%. This leaves the retention and expansion value of integration partnerships largely uncounted, even though 61% name integration as one of their highest-value partnership types.

    How is AI changing partnerships?

    45% expect AI and automation to be the biggest influence on partnerships over the next three years, more than any other trend. The expectation is operational rather than relational: AI absorbing partner research, CRM hygiene, reporting and attribution, so partner managers spend more time on the relationship work that 95% of them name as the most critical skill in the job.

    How much of a partnership manager's compensation is variable?

    71% have between 11% and 40% of total compensation at risk, with 41% sitting in the 26 to 40% band. 86% are measured on revenue targets and only 6% on relationship health.

    Are partner-sourced leads better quality than marketing leads?

    60% of respondents report that 41% or more of their partner-referred leads arrive sales-ready, and 40% see partner-sourced leads convert to opportunities at a rate between 41% and 60%. Both are above the conversion rates typically reported for marketing-sourced leads.

    Who ran this survey and can I cite it?

    The Global Partnerships Survey was run by Convert Commerce with 102 partnership professionals between October to December 2025. Responses were anonymous. Every figure on this page is free to cite with attribution to Convert Commerce and a link to this page. For commercial reuse, publication or AI training, contact info@convertcommerce.com first.

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    How to cite this data

    Every figure on this page is free to quote in articles, decks, newsletters and internal business cases, with attribution to Convert Commerce and a link back to this page. Each figure carries its own anchor and a ready-made citation line, so you can point at the specific number rather than the report as a whole.

    Convert Commerce, Global Partnerships Survey 2026, Q1 (n=102). https://convertcommerce.com/research/partnerships-benchmark-2026#revenue-share

    For commercial reuse, use at trade shows, inclusion in a paid publication, or use as AI training data, please contact info@convertcommerce.com first so we can agree the terms.