Survey Shows Marketers Not Optimizing The Full Use Of Automation Systems
- Written by Demand Gen Report Team
- Published in DemandGen Reports
Most companies have received a passing grade when it comes to the basic curriculum for marketing automation deployment, but the advanced classes of the technology are proving to be difficult. A new survey by DemandGen Report found a wide majority are successfully utilizing email marketing, web forms and landing page tools, but are struggling to successfully deploy more advanced tools such as lead nurturing and lead scoring are taking more time to master.
The Marketing Automation Growth Curve survey, conducted in March and April of this year, targeted firms that have already deployed a marketing automation system. The survey found most marketers are starting with the basic tools and then graduating over time to more sophisticated functionality, such as lead nurturing and lead scoring.
According to the survey, only 43% of respondents are able to leverage more than half of their marketing automation solution’s full features and functionality. The survey also showed a correlation between experience with the technology and full utilization, as 61% of respondents who have had a system in place more than one year indicated they use more than 50% of its functionality. Lack of internal resources was found to be the biggest hurdle for organizations unable to optimize the usage of their marketing automation systems.
While the report showed a skills and experience gap in utilizing more advanced functionalities like lead nurturing and lead scoring, it also showed a clear interest on behalf of marketers to improve measurement. Improved measurement was considered a top objective and a payoff for respondents. Lead/revenue contribution tracking was considered as a key function by 77% of the respondents, while 66% cited marketing/ROI measurement.
Approximately 70% of the respondents chose increasing flow of qualified sales opportunities as the primary business objective that prompted them to deploy a marketing automation solution; 60% of respondents ranked lead nurturing as a top functional priority prior to deployment. Less than half of the respondents said they are using nurturing effectively, while 55% said they “somewhat” use nurturing.
The full findings of the survey will be presented this Thursday at 1pm EST in a live webinar titled, "Taking a Bite-Sized Approach to Marketing Automation." Registration is free for all DemandGen Report subscribers.