the state of b2b marketing: new marketing automation stats for 2017

NEW MARKETING AUTOMATION STATS FOR 2017

Overall, just over half (53%) of B2B organizations surveyed are USING marketing automation technology, and a further 37% say they are PLANNING to implement it.

www.act-on.com

Using MA

SOURCE:The State of B2B Marketing Automation report, published by Econsultancy & Act-On

Many of the available marketing automation stats we regularly use – to make strategic decisions, craft presentations, prepare for sales calls – are getting a bit long in the tooth. So we set off to uncover the most recent marketing stats by surveying

more than 350 marketing professionals in North America and Europe to get their take on how investing in marketing automation impacts business performance. The most

noteworthy results are included below.

MA ADOPTION

TOP REASONS FOR PURCHASING

53% 37%

Planning toImplement

Leaders* are 24% more likely than their peers to say they are

CURRENTLY USING marketing automation.

Almost two-thirds (62%) of these companies EMPLOY marketing

automation technology, compared to 50% for the Mainstream.

* businesses with high-performing marketing departments, defined as those companies with marketing functions that exceeded their top business objective in 2016

50%

62%

Across all areas, North American organizations are 14% more likely to USE MARKETING AUTOMATION

than their European counterparts.

North America

Europe

Our respondents rated the TOP THREE REASONS

for adopting marketing automation:

Higher Quality Leads

Two-thirds (66%) of respondents rank

HIGHER QUALITY LEADS as being among their top

three reasons for implementing automation.

123

Increase Revenue

Align Sales & Marketing

66%

(volume) is also an important objective for marketing automation

cited as a top-three reason for its implementation by 41% of

those surveyed.

of respondents sayINCREASED REVENUEis the reason they want to adopt MA.

GENERATING MORE LEADS

+14%

ROI WITH MA

of respondents agree that effective marketing automation is critical to LONG-TERM BUSINESS SUCCESS

98%

of respondents strongly agree that marketing automation INCREASES

marketing’s contribution to pipeline.

+=

A significantly higher proportion of respondents based in North America indicate that marketing

automation has delivered their organizations with RETURN ON INVESTMENT than those in Europe

(91 percent versus 72 percent).

91% 72%

58% of respondents strongly agree that marketing

automation makes marketing teams more efficient. 58%

57%

The vast majority of Leaders say that marketing automation has delivered a RETURN ON INVESTMENT

(93%) or INCREASED CONTRIBUTION TO PIPELINE (90%), compared to just over two-thirds of Mainstream

organizations (69% and 68% respectively)

93% 90%

LEADERS MAINSTREAM

ROI PipelineROI Pipeline

93% 90%

69% 68%

MA USAGE

Only two in five survey respondents (41%) believe

their organizations are using marketing automation to its

FULLEST CAPACITY.

2 / 5

More than half of respondents are only using THREE BASIC FUNCTIONS of marketing

automation: email (73%), web forms (63%), and landing pages (56%).

93%

73%

63%56%

Marketing Automation Functions

Fewer than three in ten users are IMPLEMENTING MORE ADVANCED TACTICS such as automated creation

of dynamic content and account-based marketing

>

58% of Leaders are using LEAD NURTURING vs only 35% of the non-leaders. Lead Nurturing

Lead Scoring

35%

58%

37%

48%

47%

50%It was seen that both these areas are very much on the radar, with 50% and 47% of companies, respectively, PLANNING TO USE THESE TACTICS.

48% of Leaders are using LEAD SCORING vs only 37% of non-leaders.

Both

Measurement of MARKETING QUALIFIED LEADS (65% versus 48% in Europe) and

SALES ACCEPTED LEADS (56% versus 39%) is much more common in North America.

65%

56% measurement of SALs

measurement of MQLs 48%

39% measurement of SALs

measurement of MQLs

Leaders are significantly more likely to measure the contribution marketing makes to the

SALES PIPELINE or REVENUE using their marketing automation system or CRM.

The State of B2B Marketing:

BARRIERS TO ADOPTION

The foremost obstacle to adoption is the PERCEIVED COMPLEXITY of marketing automation

which is cited as a significant challenge by more than 4 in 10 respondents.

>

Half of respondents referenced LIMITED AVAILABILITY OF SKILLED EXPERIENCE as a barrier to success.

50%

DATA MANAGEMENT (cited by almost half of those surveyed as a key

challenge) and INTEGRATION

(highlighted by more than a third).

50%

>33%

RESOURCES were highlighted by six in ten respondents as a

marketing automation challenge but only 11% cited pure cost, indicating broader constraints.

44% of respondents rated ALIGNING SALES AND MARKETING for mutual

success as their top reasons for implementing MA.

44%