Have you ever heard the saying, “Change is the only constant?” As you probably already know, that’s especially true in marketing, and as a result, staying up to date with fresh statistics about B2B marketing automation can be a challenge.
So, we recently set out to uncover the most useful marketing automation stats by surveying over 160 marketing professionals who operate in B2B organizations. Our findings include statistics on marketing automation adoption, use and popular tactics that may help to amplify your success. Our State of B2B Marketing Automation Report, shows a strong correlation between marketing automation (MA) investment and positive business results. Most agree that effective marketing automation adoption is critical to long-term success, and respondents show that top-performing marketing departments are leveraging this technology to achieve results.
Top Reasons for Purchasing Marketing Automation
B2B businesses are known to use marketing automation in a variety of different contexts. Many companies leverage automation software to streamline marketing and sales efforts, and others use it primarily to improve the customer experience. According to our recent research, the top reasons that marketers say they’re implementing marketing automation technology (MA) include:
- Streamlining marketing and sales efforts (38%)
- Improving the customer experience (34%)
- Minimizing manual tasks (32%)
- Improving customer engagement (30%)
- Increasing the number of captured leads (28%)
Marketers deploy this technology to achieve a variety of business benefits. Most know, for example, that a solid MA tool with CRM integration can significantly reduce costs and improve productivity, but the benefits go much further. The right CRM and marketing automation technologies empower you to transform customer engagement, improve the customer journey, and enhance data hygiene, personalization, lead scoring, and more.
60% of Marketers Don’t Use Their Marketing Automation Tools
Marketing automation can be applied to nearly every facet of a B2B marketing strategy. However, three out of every five B2B marketing professionals report they’re not using existing marketing automation tools to their full capacity. Improving MA performance has the potential to generate more leads and boost ROI. Over half of companies (63%) report this technology helps them to outperform competitors. Additionally, 80% of marketers leveraging marketing automation say they’re capturing more leads. So, how can you get more from your existing solution? Consider the following:
- Develop key performance indicators for each goal that you set.
- Align marketing and sales fully on funnel stages and definitions.
- Get marketing and sales on the same page around lead-scoring criteria.
- Map your content to your personas and your funnel stages.
- Create a content calendar to keep new and targeted content flowing into your campaigns.
Additionally it’s important to understand what’s standing in your way to success and the most common barriers to adoption.
Barriers to Adoption
Adopting marketing automation is an exciting choice, but it’s only the first step in the journey to success. Twenty-one percent of B2B marketers we surveyed reported support and training as important elements of effective MA adoption. This is crucial since over half of companies (61%) report the implementation process of marketing automation was difficult. Moreover, 86% of marketers say that “ease of use” is the most critical factor when shopping for automation tools.
However, it’s not just about training and support, it’s also about internal resources that support adoption. Over one-third of B2B marketers report that they don’t have the resources required to successfully manage their marketing solution.
The most significant barriers to using marketing automation to its fullest potential include:
- Lack of resources to manage (35%)
- Lack of training and knowledge (31%)
- Lack of budget to maintain (26%)
- Inability to integrate with other tools (20%)
- Decentralized data (19%)
With almost one-third of marketers reporting the importance of training to get the most from a marketing automation platform, it’s essential that your MA provider offers engaging and interactive courses, documentation and support options that enable you to fully utilize your solution and capture maximum results.
Only 10% of Marketers Say Their Marketing Tech Stack is Fully Integrated
If your technology tools don’t talk to one another, you’re missing out on productivity gains that significantly improve workflow. However, only 10% of B2B marketers say their marketing automation is entirely integrated with the rest of the tech stack. When it comes to integration, marketers said they are:
- Entirely integrated (10%)
- Mostly integrated (28%)
- Somewhat integrated (39%)
- Not at all integrated (23%)
With 90% of marketers not being entirely integrated, this is a critical area of improvement, especially when shopping for a new marketing automation solution.
Data-Driven Tactics to Amplify Marketing Automation Success
If you’re reading these statistics, and finding yourself motivated to improve your existing strategies, or technology implementation, you’re not alone. Knowing where to start, however, isn’t always easy. That’s why we asked B2B marketers about the areas of improvement that provided the greatest benefits to their organizations. Improvements in the following areas made a big difference for the marketing professionals we surveyed:
- Quality of data (58%)
- Strategic execution (49%)
- Alignment of sales and marketing (46%)
- Customer journey mapping (25%)
- Adequate staff training (24%)
- Lead scoring (21%)
- Defining personas (18%)
Marketing automation helps to improve the quality of data, and provides you the structure for embracing a data-driven marketing strategy. A solution that is “all in one” and stores data in a single place enables you to operate from a single source of truth and share insights seamlessly with your entire team.
Using Marketing Automation Statistics to Align With Your Future
Marketing automation is an investment. The key to getting the most from that investment is understanding the most significant MA challenges and the greatest opportunities. Master this, and you’ll be strategically positioned to outperform competitors and keep your pipeline flowing with leads. The right marketing automation platform is designed to support these goals and ensure that you get the most from your tool.