We recently teamed with London Research to conduct a survey of more than 500 marketers from the United States and the United Kingdom about how these teams and individuals are using marketing automation, and we found some very interesting results — especially among marketers in the tech industry.
Keep reading to learn more about how tech marketers are using marketing automation, as well as the single greatest challenge they’re currently facing with this software. And, of course, be sure to download the full State of Marketing Automation report.
How Is the Tech Industry Utilizing Marketing Automation Software?
According to our research, the tech industry is much more evolved than other verticals surveyed. For instance, far more tech companies are using some form of marketing automation than their counterparts in the manufacturing and financial services industries. In fact, of those surveyed, only 5% of tech companies responded that they weren’t using any form of digital marketing software (marketing automation or an email service provider).
Additionally, while other industries are using both marketing automation software and an email service provider (ESP) like MailChimp or Constant Contact, the tech industry is more focused on using marketing automation exclusively. This likely means they’re getting more out of the software by using it to conduct a wider range of digital marketing activities — including CRM integration, segmentation and audience targeting, building dynamic landing pages, and scoring and nurturing promising leads.
According to our research, tech companies are also far less likely than those in other industries to purchase new marketing software in 2019. And while this might seem to imply that they’re behind the curve, it’s far more likely that many tech firms have already purchased some form of marketing automation software and are comfortable enough using it that they’re not interested in making a switch to a new, unfamiliar platform.
Still, while marketers in the tech industry seem to be outpacing their peers in other industries, there’s always room for improvement.
The Major Marketing Automation Challenge Facing Tech Marketers
Based on our research, the largest marketing automation challenge facing marketers (including tech marketers) is measuring return on investment, which is obviously hugely important. If you can’t measure success in dollars and cents, you can’t fix what’s not working, build off what is, or alert key stakeholders to major successes.
Impressions and click-through rates are great, but they don’t tell the real story in brass tacks the way that ROI does, so it’s important that marketing automation vendors develop platforms that easily integrate with several popular CRM systems for more accurate tracking. It’s also important to make sure that both sales and marketing teams understand each stage of the sales process and how leads are scored and passed from one stage in the sales cycle to the next.
The greatest barrier to greater adoption of marketing automation is clear. Marketers are struggling to prove the return on their investment, which makes it harder to win C-level support and constricts investment. Tech industry marketers are doing far better than most, but they won’t be able to maximize the immense power of marketing automation until they’re able to integrate their entire MarTech stack, align their sales and marketing teams around the software, and generate meaningful reports that speak directly to the impact of their marketing efforts.
Download the Full State of Marketing Automation Report from Act-On and London Research
If you’d like to read the State of Marketing Automation report in its entirety, please click the link below. Or, if you’d like to learn more about the Act-On platform and our commitment to ensuring customer satisfaction, you can take a virtual tour by clicking here.