Source: Ascend2 and its Research Partners [download page]
Notes: More than 7 in 10 marketing influencers (primarily B2B) from around the world use marketing automation to some extent, and about 3 in 4 feel that marketing automation is very important to marketing’s overall performance, according to an Ascend2 survey. Increasing lead generation (61%) and improving lead nurturing (57%) were the top-cited strategic goals of a marketing automation strategy, per respondents.
That represents a change from last year’s survey, where increasing sales revenue tied with increased lead generation as the top objective. (The prior year, improving marketing productivity was the top-cited goal.)
Meanwhile, in this latest report the lack of an effective strategy was indicated by the largest share of respondents (52%) to be a significant barrier to marketing automation success, followed by the complexity of the system. As regards implementation, almost two-thirds of respondents expect to see benefits from their system within the first 6 months.
Finally, analytics and reporting (51%) was the most commonly cited useful feature of a marketing automation system, followed by campaign management (46%) and lead nurturing (46%).
Related: Which Technologies and Content Types are Rising in Importance for B2B Marketers?
About the Data: The results are based on a survey of 239 marketing influencers during the week of February 1, 2016. Some 71% of respondents count B2B as their primary marketing channel. A slight majority (53%) come from companies with at least 50 employees.
