Ghost Deal Benchmark Report · June 2026

Ghost Deal Rates by Industry

1 in 3 B2B deals stalls silently. But the rate varies by industry — and so do the signals that predict them. Here is where ghost deals hide in your vertical.

A ghost deal is a pipeline opportunity that looks live in your CRM but has no real buyer engagement signal. No activity in 21+ days, no stage change in 30+ days, no confirmed champion contact in 28+ days — and yet it still sits in your forecast, contributing weight to your number.

The overall B2B ghost deal rate averages around 32%. But in some industries — SaaS, MarTech, DevTools — it climbs to 60–67%. In others, the ghosts are fewer but the cycles are longer, making the damage per ghost deal more severe.

The sections below cover 12 industries. Each page includes the three most common ghost phrases for that vertical, what they actually mean, and the structural reasons deals go dark in that industry. Use the Detector to check your own pipeline, or run the full Audit for a forensic breakdown.

SaaS 61% ghost
$85K Median Deal
62d Sales Cycle

SaaS companies average a 61% ghost deal rate — the highest of any vertical. Long evaluation cycles and board-level approval processes make deals easy to lose without a champion actively driving them forward.

See signals & case studies →
Fintech 58% ghost
$125K Median Deal
94d Sales Cycle

Fintech deals stall behind compliance reviews and CFO sign-off requirements. With a median cycle of 94 days, deals can easily go dark during the evaluation process without anyone realizing it.

See signals & case studies →
Cybersecurity 64% ghost
$95K Median Deal
87d Sales Cycle

Security deals go ghost behind SOC 2 alignment processes, security architect reviews, and locked Q3 budgets. CISOs are busy — if you are not in their calendar, you are invisible.

See signals & case studies →
Manufacturing 52% ghost
$110K Median Deal
102d Sales Cycle

Manufacturing procurement runs through plant managers, capex approvals, and supply chain reviews. Deals stall while your champion waits for an approval that may never come.

See signals & case studies →
HealthTech 55% ghost
$140K Median Deal
118d Sales Cycle

HIPAA reviews, clinical leadership sign-off, and partnership dependencies make HealthTech deals notoriously long and easy to lose to silence. A 118-day median cycle means ghosts are everywhere.

See signals & case studies →
Logistics 49% ghost
$78K Median Deal
75d Sales Cycle

Logistics teams go dark during peak shipping season and procurement restructures. Deals that look active in Q4 can be fully dead by Q1 — and you will not know until the quarter closes.

See signals & case studies →
MarTech 67% ghost
$65K Median Deal
52d Sales Cycle

Marketing leadership turnover and agency reviews create constant churn in MarTech pipelines. A 67% ghost rate means most MarTech deals need active revival campaigns to close.

See signals & case studies →
HR Tech 59% ghost
$58K Median Deal
61d Sales Cycle

HRIS migrations and People Ops restructures silently kill HR tech deals. Champions disappear mid-evaluation and nobody tells the vendor — they just stop replying.

See signals & case studies →
DevTools 65% ghost
$72K Median Deal
44d Sales Cycle

DevTools deals go dark at the engineering evaluation stage, where technical champions lack the authority to push purchases through. A 65% ghost rate reflects the power gap between technical advocates and budget holders.

See signals & case studies →
InsurTech 48% ghost
$160K Median Deal
120d Sales Cycle

InsurTech deals run through actuarial reviews and legal sign-off, with cycles stretching to 120 days. Deals can go dark for months and still be alive — or dead.

See signals & case studies →
PropTech 53% ghost
$90K Median Deal
83d Sales Cycle

PropTech pipeline is held hostage by system migrations, financing approvals, and board meeting cycles. A deal can look healthy on a Friday and be dead by Monday without any signal.

See signals & case studies →
EdTech 57% ghost
$55K Median Deal
68d Sales Cycle

Academic calendars and procurement cycles make EdTech deals seasonal and easy to lose to silence. Champions leave mid-evaluation, academic reviews stall, and deals vanish without warning.

See signals & case studies →

Not sure which industry is yours?

Run the Ghost Deal Detector on your actual pipeline — no sign-up required, 30 seconds to results.

Run the Detector → See the $99 Audit →

Need the full deal-by-deal breakdown? See the 14-Day Pipeline Diagnostic →