Marketing Automation Users Score a “C” in Maturity

From the section: Lead Mgmt News

April, 2015 |

Survey of B2B marketing automation users uncovers major gaps in deployment of key functionalities, adherence to best practices

Walnut Creek, Calif. – April 9, 2021 – Spear Marketing Group, a leading B2B demand generation agency, released the results of an industry survey designed to gauge the maturity of marketing automation deployments within the B2B community.

The survey asked marketing operations managers and other B2B marketing executives to rank their current deployment of marketing automation software in 33 separate categories relating to either key software functionality or generally accepted best practice. Respondents were then assigned a grade based on how many of their responses aligned with those best practices. The survey covered topics such as email frequency, program design, reporting, landing pages, and data hygiene.

Spear reported that on average, respondents answered only 56% of the questions “correctly” and thus scored a “C” grade.

“When we launched the survey we suspected, based on our work with marketing automation clients and other, anecdotal evidence, that underutilization of marketing automation software was fairly common,” said Howard J. Sewell, Spear president. “To a large extent, the survey confirmed those suspicions, though in fairness, responses to individual questions tell a more complex story.”

Spear has published a comprehensive report providing detailed survey results, a list of key findings, along with commentary and analysis from its in-house experts. That report is available for free download from the Spear Website.

“In some notable areas, the average marketing automation user is achieving real business value,” said Sewell. “In other categories, adherence to even fundamental best practices is relatively uncommon, even in areas that you’d otherwise assume to be a primary business case for marketing automation.”

Some of the key findings in the report include:

77% of respondents indicate they measure pipeline contribution from specific campaigns
More than two-thirds (68%) employ both behavioral and demographic lead scoring
85% of those surveyed said they currently segment email campaigns based on persona
40% of respondents employ no type of immediate autoresponder (follow-up email) to new leads
More than half (54%) of respondents indicated that more than 25% of their database is old, inaccurate, or otherwise unusable
Almost three-fourths (74%) indicated that fewer than 50% of their email campaigns are triggered or automated vs. one-off “batch” campaigns

About Spear Marketing Group

Spear Marketing Group is a full-service B2B demand generation agency helping technology companies generate, nurture, and convert leads to revenue. The firm’s unique, holistic approach to demand generation blends strategic expertise, creative flair, and a deep understanding of marketing technology to achieve measurable results across every stage of the lead lifecycle: lead generation, lead nurturing, and customer marketing. The firm’s services include email marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), lead nurturing, digital advertising, social media, and content development. Spear clients include Google, Navicure, and Sungard AS. For more information, visit www.spearmarketing.com.

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