Regalix: 84% of marketers worldwide say marketing automation helps expand sales

199IT original compilation

Marketing automation adoption is very high among B2B marketers. According to a Regalix survey in April 2015, 79% of B2B marketers worldwide use marketing automation. Moreover, a Webmarketing123 survey of US B2B marketers in November 2014 also showed that 55% of respondents said they had used marketing automation systems, ahead of the B2C marketers surveyed (35%).

Regalix's survey found that B2B marketers use marketing automation for the purpose of obtaining marketing leads. When asked about the most important goal of marketing automation, the three most popular options are related to this process: improving marketing lead cultivation (82%), improving marketing lead quality (76%), and expanding sales channels (74%). Increasing sales revenue is the fourth most popular option, accounting for 53%, and no other option exceeds 50%.

Regalix conducted a survey in March 2015, proving the importance of marketing automation in the process of obtaining marketing leads. When asked about the changes in contemporary marketing lead conversion technology, 59% of B2B marketers chose "very dependent on marketing automation tools", which is also the option with the highest response rate.

The results of the April survey further show that B2B marketing automation goals have been achieved. Respondents ranked the benefits of marketing automation, and four of the top five were related to marketing leads. "Expanding sales channels" ranked first with a response rate of 84%. "Better insights into prospects and marketing leads" (73%) followed closely behind. Marketing automation improves work efficiency and allows more time to be spent on tasks that require manual operations. Improving the evaluation, cultivation and allocation of marketing leads (71%) and the quality of marketing leads (69%) also ranked in the top five. "Integrating data resources" (69%) also ranked in the top five benefits.

Although these B2B marketers’ expectations for marketing automation have been met, spending in this area will continue to grow. In a Regalix survey, 62% of respondents plan to increase their marketing automation budgets in the next 12 months. A November 2014 Salesforce Marketing Cloud survey found that marketing automation and content marketing are the top areas where global B2B marketers plan to increase their budgets, accounting for 66%.

To better leverage B2B marketing budgets, marketing automation vendors should always focus on driving technology capabilities that improve lead generation.

Compiled from: eMarketer Translator: Sun Ying