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 to Implement 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. 1 2 3 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 say INCREASED REVENUE is 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 Pipeline ROI 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%). 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 %