MANAGING B2B MARKETING AUTOMATION IN 2015 Understanding the current state of Marketing Automation in business-to-business companies Author: Dr Dave Chaffey, SmartInsights.com Research in collaboration with CommuniGator
Contents Foreword...3 Executive summary...4 Introduction...6 1. The State of Adoption of Marketing Automation...10 2. Drivers and Drawbacks of Marketing Automation...14 3. Managing Marketing Automation...16 Methodology...18 Smart Insights (Marketing Intelligence) Limited. Please go to www.smartinsights.com to feedback or access our other guides. 2
Foreword Firstly, thank you to everyone who took part in the survey. Without your input this report wouldn t be as useful or insightful as it has turned out to be! Marketing Automation is no longer a new concept and it seems to be here for good. You only need to look at the marketing industry at the moment and it is still one of the hottest topics in B2B marketing over the last 12 months. So with this in mind, and as a marketing automation provider ourselves, we wanted to get some insight into how marketers see and use marketing automation; what are their challenges, drivers, barriers of implementing and using marketing automation and at what (experience) level is the B2B marketing profession at. The findings are really interesting so I ll let you digest the report in your own time, but the one that stood out for me is nearly one quarter or respondents are not using automation and a further quarter still only use the bare minimum functionality such a platform provides. It just goes to show that no matter how much the industry talks about and pushes a new technology and way of working (and it has for a few years now) most marketers still haven t adopted marketing automation yet we could say marketers using marketing automation are still the innovators / early adopters and the rest of us need to play catch-up, as there are so many studies out there that show the benefits and tangible ROI that marketing automation can bring. So, I hope you find the report really useful and interesting, and that it will get you thinking about how you use marketing automation come join those early adopters and soon we all be entering a maturity faze of automation. If you want to discuss the topic further please contact me on the below. I look forward to hearing your opinions and comments! Lee Chadwick, MD, CommuniGator. Lee regularly speaks at our own email marketing best practice seminars, trade shows and industry events. If you would like Lee to speak at your event or conduct a half or full day seminar for your organisation drop him a mail. lee.chadwick@communigator.co.uk +44 (0)1483 411 911 Smart Insights (Marketing Intelligence) Limited. Please go to www.smartinsights.com to feedback or access our other guides. 3
Executive summary Marketing Automation in the real world You know the theory, Marketing Automation should enable marketers to increase return on investment by delivering more relevant, targeted prospect and customer communications across the customer lifecycle. But what is the reality for Businessto-business (B2B) marketers? How many businesses are using different features of Marketing Automation, which challenges have they faced, what are the success factors and what results have they achieved. This new B2B Benchmarking research from SmartInsights.com in collaboration with our research partner CommuniGator aims to show the current drivers and barriers for B2B adoption of Marketing Automation and how it is used in practice. It s aimed at helping B2B marketers review their current use of Marketing Automation to show them how they can make better use of the features of Marketing Automation. We surveyed Smart Insights members who are based around the world and CommuniGator customers who are also global, but with a focus on the UK. The survey is specifically about B2B Marketing Automation, so we only asked businesses working in this category to take part. The survey sample was 288 people. Findings þþ 1. Adoption of Marketing Automation. Surprisingly, nearly one quarter (24%) are not using Marketing Automation features at all with a further quarter (27%) not using many of the features. Just 14% percent rated themselves as advanced using the majority or all of the features and optimizing their use. Rating of Level of Use of Marketing Automation 0 Not using We're not using Marketing Automation 24% 1 Basic We're not using many of the features of Marketing Automation 27% 2 Moderately We're using the core features of automation 9% 3 Intermediate We use some feature but need to build our capability 26% 4 Good We use the majority of features but need to optimise them 7% 5 High We use all features and optimise them to get the best results 7% 0% 10% 20% 30% Smart Insights (Marketing Intelligence) Limited. Please go to www.smartinsights.com to feedback or access our other guides. 4
Executive summary þþ 2. Adoption of Email marketing automation techniques. The use of an initial welcome sequence or autoresponse to initial registration is most common (58% of respondents), followed by up-sell or cross-sell emails to existing customers (45%). Yet, all other techniques such as nurturing emails triggered by content browsed or viewed; progressive profiling or nurturing are used by fewer than half of businesses þþ 3. Adoption of Email targeting techniques. Although granular targeting is one of the main promises of Marketing Automation systems, these results show that, shockingly it s quite common for there to be no targeting at all, with just over one quarter of businesses (27%) not using any targeting 43% just targeting based on 2-5 segments such as role or industry sector. Lead scoring based on interaction with email was used by 46% of businesses. þþ 4. Web-based personalization adoption. Although we found that Landing pages were widely adopted by businesses for lead generation (77% used these), it was less common for businesses to use rules-based personalization of content or offers to site visitors (44% used this). More advanced personalization based on predictive analytics was used by just 35%, so has not yet reached mainstream adoption. þþ 5. Benefits and barriers of implementing Marketing Automation. As would be expected, the main benefits cited related to leads and conversion including identifying better quality leads (70%). Improved conversion rates (61%) and generating more leads also rated highly (58%). For most the challenges of implementing Marketing Automation isn t in the system itself (just 19% said they were held back by lack of features), but implementation challenges (the top two challenges were data integration (55% mentioned) and limited staff knowledge or skills for setting up rules, lead scoring and email sequences (53%)). Many businesses (47%) also found developing a strategy for Marketing Automation challenging suggesting the need for a clear plan with goals for implementing Marketing Automation. þþ 6. Managing Marketing Automation. Previous research into responsibilities for CRM systems have shown that problems with implementation have been caused by a lack of accountability for management or responsibility lying within IT rather than the business, i.e. Marketing and Sales functions. This research shows that the majority of implementations are managed by marketing (60%) or sales (7%). There is a shared responsibility in around one third of businesses (29%) with IT or Operations owning responsibility in a small number of businesses. Smart Insights (Marketing Intelligence) Limited. Please go to www.smartinsights.com to feedback or access our other guides. 5
Introduction Just ten years ago, as this chart from Google Trends suggests, Marketing Automation systems didn t exist as a category of Marketing Technology for business. Sure, in practice, we could automate marketing activities through email marketing broadcast, campaign management and CRM systems, but the category didn t really exist. Today, Marketing Automation and Marketing Cloud services are an established category, particularly for business-to-business (B2B) marketing. It has gained a lot of attention as a method of integrating prospect and customer marketing communications across the customer lifecycle. As with any new marketing technology, adoption by businesses of the services and the features available will vary based on the value that marketers place on them. In our experience of applying email marketing and web personalization best practices, it seems that many potential features aren t used suggesting a missed opportunity. Given this, we were keen to research the state of adoption of Marketing Automation services in B2B Marketing and in particular how best practices were used. This new research, in collaboration with our research partner CommuniGator aims to show the current adoption, management and use of Marketing Automation features for B2B Marketing. We hope it will help B2B marketers review their use of Marketing Automation to show them whether they are making the most of the features of Marketing Automation. Smart Insights (Marketing Intelligence) Limited. Please go to www.smartinsights.com to feedback or access our other guides. 6
Introduction Who is this report for? The report is aimed at two main audiences 1. Managers managing Marketing Automation. For this audience, we want to highlight the importance of the benefits of Marketing Automation and the success factors for managing it so that they can deploy and improve Marketing Automation. 2. Digital marketing specialists. Marketers with hands-on responsibility for email marketing and web experiences need to know which optimization techniques to focus on to improve results. Agencies and consultants focusing on advising and implementing practices will also find this useful. Exactly what is Marketing Automation? If you re not sure what Marketing Automation is, you re not alone! Since Marketing Automation means different things to different people we prompted respondents with a definition of Marketing Automation to better compare their level of knowledge and techniques used. Marketing Automation enables businesses to automate tasks and workflows for the marketing and sales process including prospect and customer profiling on landing pages, lead scoring, sending automated personalised emails and web recommendations to support lead nurturing and customer engagement. About the survey respondents We surveyed Smart Insights members who are based around the world and CommuniGator customers who are also global, but with a focus on the UK. The survey is specifically about B2B Marketing Automation, so we only asked businesses working in this category to take part. The survey sample was 288 people. The audience is skewed towards senior marketers and directors as would be expected for research investigating the management of Marketing Automation. Over seventy percent (71.8%) of respondents were senior, with a role of CEO, Director, Owner, Head of Department or Manager of marketing, digital marketing or ecommerce. Marketing Automation is a niche skill that covers a range of different techniques. It can also be considered a relatively new digital technology, so we started our research by Smart Insights (Marketing Intelligence) Limited. Please go to www.smartinsights.com to feedback or access our other guides. 7
Introduction asking about levels of knowledge and awareness to Marketing Automation. Given the range of skills involved with Marketing Automation, it s not surprising that few respondents to the survey rated themselves as Advanced or Expert. However over one third of survey participants have experience of more advanced techniques. Personal knowledge of Marketing Automation 1 Basic I know the concepts and have managed simple campaigns 49% 2 Intermediate I have some experience of techniques like email sequences, lead scoring and web personalisation 37% 3 Advanced/Expert I have extensive experience of managing or setting up full customer lifecycle automation 14% You can read more about the sample in the methodology. About Smart Insights Smart Insights provides actionable marketing resources to help businesses succeed online. More than 80,000 Basic members use our blog, sample marketing templates and weekly Digital Marketing Essentials newsletter to follow best practices and keep up-to-date with the developments that matter in digital marketing. Thousands of Expert members from over 80 countries use our planning and management templates, guides and video courses to map, plan and manage their marketing using the Smart Insights RACE Planning framework. Here are 10 reasons why Expert members use our resources. RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Strategy development and planning templates 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% We have developed a series of tools for Expert members to help them plan: þþ Digital strategy toolkit. This template contains a full workbook to create a digital marketing strategy to Reach-Act-Convert and Engage your audience. þþ 7 Steps Digital Strategy guide and course. Step-by-step guidance. þþ Example digital marketing plans. An example online marketing plan and blank template using the Smart Insights RACE Planning framework. Smart Insights (Marketing Intelligence) Limited. Please go to www.smartinsights.com to feedback or access our other guides. 8
Introduction About the report author Dr Dave Chaffey is CEO and co-founder of digital marketing management advice site Smart Insights. He is author of 5 bestselling books on Ecommerce including Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice and was recognised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing in 2004 as one of 50 marketing gurus worldwide who have helped shape the future of marketing. In 2015 he was rated as the top influencer on social media for Marketing and Advertising in a top 50 UK compilation by Brand Republic (a portal of publisher Haymarket brands Campaign, Marketing and Media Week). Research findings and recommendations In common with all resources for members in our Smart Insights Digital Marketing Library, we want this report to be practical and actionable, to make a commercial difference to your business. So, the results presented from this research are structured around practical activities companies can use to follow a more strategic, planned approach to digital marketing. As always with Smart Insights, each section is based around questions the marketer can ask to review and so improve his or her approach to managing digital marketing. We hope you find this research and recommendations useful in reviewing and shaping your use of digital marketing. If you have any comments or questions, do get in touch. Dave Chaffey, SmartInsights.com, October 2015 Smart Insights (Marketing Intelligence) Limited. Please go to www.smartinsights.com to feedback or access our other guides. 9
1 State of adoption of Marketing Automation Marketing Automation vendors have now been urging marketers to use or improve their use of Marketing Automation for quite some time. Yet, since Marketing Automation is a relatively new marketing technique, we wanted to understand how the hype matches the reality of using Marketing Automation. Section intro How advanced are businesses in applying Marketing Automation? Our research shows that many businesses are missing out on the benefits of Marketing Automation. We asked marketers to rate their level of sophistication of using automation based on the range of features used covered from the scoping definition shown in the introduction. Surprisingly, nearly one quarter (24%) are not using Marketing Automation features at all with a further quarter (27%) not using many of the features. Rating of Level of Use of Marketing Automation 0 Not using We're not using Marketing Automation 24% 1 Basic We're not using many of the features of Marketing Automation 27% 2 Moderately We're using the core features of automation 9% 3 Intermediate We use some feature but need to build our capability 26% 4 Good We use the majority of features but need to optimise them 7% 5 High We use all features and optimise them to get the best results 7% 0% 10% 20% 30% Smart Insights (Marketing Intelligence) Limited. Please go to www.smartinsights.com to feedback or access our other guides. 10
51 TOPIC The State of Marketing Automation Fewer than one fifth make more advanced use of marketing automation with just 14% rating themselves at capability maturity levels of 4 or 5 out-of-5. Email marketing automation techniques used Email marketing offers a range of types of emails to engage audiences and develop preference from lead to sale. Traditionally, marketers have prepared copy and creative for newsletters and campaign solus emails. Marketing automation gives opportunities for new triggered email types that can be prepared in advance and then followed-up upon. The research assessed how often these automated emails are used. Use of Email Marketing Automation Techniques Initial welcome sequence or autoresponders 58% Up-sell or cross-sell emails to existing customers 45% Nurturing emails based on content browsed or downloaded 36% 17% Reactivation campaigns for inactive customers 32% Progressive profiling to capture additional customer insight 24% Nurturing emails based on change in lead score 22% The chart shows that an initial welcome sequence or autoresponse to initial registration is most common, followed by up-sell or cross-sell emails to existing customers. Yet, all other techniques are used by fewer than half of businesses. Sending a follow-up email based on content browsed or whitepaper content downloaded on the website is a standard Marketing Automation technique, but just 36% of businesses use this technique. Other nurturing techniques are used even less. For example, progressive profiling to gain more insight about prospects is used by 24% of businesses and nurturing emails based on lead score are used by just 22% of businesses. Email targeting techniques 0% 20% 40% 60% The use of targeting to tailor messages to segments or personalize messages to individuals is a core email marketing technique. So, we were interested to see how many companies use the targeting functionality of email marketing or marketing automation systems to target. Smart Insights (Marketing Intelligence) Limited. Please go to www.smartinsights.com to feedback or access our other guides. 11
51 TOPIC The State of Marketing Automation These results show that, shockingly it s quite common for there to be no targeting at all, with just over one quarter of businesses (27%) not using any targeting. Level of Email Marketing Targeting used 2-5 segments targeted based on role, industry 43% No targeting - all respondents receive the same email 27% 5+ segments targeted based on role, industry 14% Targeting based on position in lifecycle 7% Targeting using Dynamic content insertion 4% Targeting based on change in lead score 4% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% It was also common for businesses to have a limited number of 2-5 criteria for targeting. Of the other, more sophisticated targeting techniques using rules-based targeting were used rarely, for example delivering different offers by dynamic content insertion was used by 4% or based on lead score used by 4%. Lead scoring techniques Turning to adoption of lead scoring techniques, the most common approaches were based on link types clicked on emails and content accessed on the website which are used by nearly 50% of businesses. These are powerful techniques to assess the engagement of prospects and send follow-up communications. Lead Scoring Techniques Used? Links clicked in email 46% Content types accessed on website 40% Engagement level based on length of time or frequency of use 27% Profile field fit with ideal target customers Staff assessment of lead quality when talking to prospects 24% 24% Direct question about buying status on form 13% 0% 20% 40% 60% Smart Insights (Marketing Intelligence) Limited. Please go to www.smartinsights.com to feedback or access our other guides. 12
51 TOPIC The State of Marketing Automation Of the other techniques, it s surprising that profile field fit ; staff assessment when talking directly to prospects or direct questions about buying status on an online form aren t rated more highly since these are standard best practice techniques for lead scoring. If your business is not using these techniques we recommend you consider these. Rating of web-based marketing techniques Next we looked at web-based techniques, that is using Marketing Automation to improve the experience and lead generation and nurturing on the company website. We asked companies to rate their use and the effectiveness of their web-based marketing automation techniques. Landing pages were the most commonly used technique with over 81% rating these moderately or highly effective. It was good to see that more than 50% of businesses were involved with testing landing pages too. It was expected this would be the most commonly used technique, but it was surprising how rarely other techniques were used, for example, fewer than 50% of businesses used rules based personalization of content and offers on site. Rating of effectiveness of web-based Marketing Automation Techniques Landing pages for capturing leads 23% 6% 45% 26% Don't use Personalised landing pages 50% 2% 26% 22% Not at all effective Moderately effective Personalised rules-based promotion of content/offers to site visitors 56% 4% 24% 17% Highly effective A/B or Multivariate Testing of landing pages 49% 7% 29% 15% IP-based detection of businesses visiting websites 50% 8% 29% 13% Social sign-in 56% 11% 23% 9% Predictive analytics to identify propensity to respond or purchase 65% 5% 22% 8% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Of more advanced techniques, 50% of businesses used IP-based detection of businesses visiting their website and this was rated positively by the majority. Predictive analytics was used by just 35% of businesses, but the majority rated it high Smart Insights (Marketing Intelligence) Limited. Please go to www.smartinsights.com to feedback or access our other guides. 13
2 Drivers and Drawbacks of Marketing Automation Section Intro We have seen in the previous section that many businesses either have not automated Marketing Automation or are relatively unsophisticated in using it. Given this, we were interested to explore the relative strengths of the drivers and barrier to Marketing adoption. Benifits of Marketing Automation What are the benefits driving adoption and use of Marketing Automation? With B2B marketing we would expect the benefits to centre on improving leads. This proves to be the case with the main benefit cited as identifying better quality leads (70%). Improved conversion rates (61%) and generating more leads also rated highly (58%). We asked respondents to select all benefits that applied. Marketing Benefits of Marketing Automation Identify better quality leads (Lead qualifying) 70% Improved user experience and communications relevance 62% Improved conversion rates 61% Generating more leads 58% Reduced marketing cost 41% Shorter sales cycles 28% Improving departmental alignment 21% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% Smart Insights (Marketing Intelligence) Limited. Please go to www.smartinsights.com to feedback or access our other guides. 14
2 Drivers and Drawbacks of Marketing Automation Improved communications relevance and better use experience (including, for example, better user experience and communications relevance) also rated highly with 62% citing this. More functional benefits such as shorter sales cycles and improved departmental alignment rated less highly. Barriers to Adoption Next we asked about what was limiting adoption of the features of Marketing Automation. We asked respondents to select all challenges that applied varying from strategic to practical issues. For most the challenge isn t in the system itself (just 19% said they were held back by lack of features), but implementation challenges (the top two challenges were data integration (55% mentioned) and limited staff knowledge or skills for setting up rules, lead scoring and email sequences (53%). Barriers to Adoption of Marketing Automation Functionality Integrating data from different sources and systems 55% Limited staff knowledge or skills for setting up rules, lead scoring and sequences 53% Defining a strategy for Marketing Automation 47% Lack of resources to manage implementation of features 47% Making the business case for investment / Getting buy-in 35% Technology platform doesn't have the right capabilities 19% 0% 20% 40% 60% Many businesses (47%) found developing a strategy for Marketing Automation challenging suggesting the need for a clear plan with goals for implementing Marketing Automation. Smart Insights (Marketing Intelligence) Limited. Please go to www.smartinsights.com to feedback or access our other guides. 15
3 Managing Marketing Automation Section Intro In the final section of the report, we look in more detail at the challenges of managing Marketing Automation and responsibilities for managing implementation. Responsibility for Marketing Automation Previous research into responsibilities for CRM systems have shown that problems with implementation have been caused by a lack of accountability for management or responsibility lying within IT rather than the business, i.e. Marketing and Sales functions. This research shows that the majority of implementations are managed by marketing (60%) or sales (7%). There is a shared responsibility in around one third of businesses (29%) with IT or Operations owning responsibility in a small number of businesses Accountability for the Management and Results of Marketing Automation Marketing 60% Shared responsibility 29% Sales 7% Operations 2% IT 2% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% Smart Insights (Marketing Intelligence) Limited. Please go to www.smartinsights.com to feedback or access our other guides. 16
3 Managing Marketing Automation Challenges of managing Marketing Automation Change management issues highlighted by this question included 84% citing people factors such as encouraging sales and marketing adoption as a major challenge. The chart shows that many practical factors present a challenge including integrating data from different systems, segment selection, creating content and creative. The Challenges of Managing Marketing Automation People factors - encouraging sales and marketing adoption Integrating data from different systems 16% 29% 55% 18% 40% 42% Minor Challenge Moderate Challenge Major Challenge Selecting the right segments 19% 45% 35% Creating multiple versions of copy and creative 29% 45% 26% Setting up tracking to prove ROI 42% 36% 22% Managing testing 36% 45% 20% Managing data / email list quality 52% 36% 9% Defining rules for email sequences 54% 38% 9% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Tracking setup, managing testing, list quality and rules definition are not often mentioned as major challenges, but are a significant challenge for a majority. This chart shows the need for a well-considered implementation plan which determines the best method for implementing these fundamentals of Marketing Automation Smart Insights (Marketing Intelligence) Limited. Please go to www.smartinsights.com to feedback or access our other guides. 17
3 Managing Marketing Automation 4 Methodology We surveyed Smart Insights members who are based around the world and customers of our research partner CommuniGator who are mainly based in the UK and Europe. The survey was completed online during July and August 2015. The total sample size was 288 - a big thank you if you participated! Respondent roles The audience skewed towards senior roles as would be expected for research investigating the management of Marketing Automation. Over seventy percent (71.8%) of respondents were senior, with a role of CEO, Director, Owner, Head of Department or Manager of marketing, digital marketing or ecommerce. Types of business Respondents were from businesses covering the diverse range of B2B vertical industry sectors with the main sectors belonging to classic B2B markets including IT, High Tech and Manufacturing, Agency Construction, Engineering Automotive, other manufacturing, and Agency. Over one quarter of responses gave their sector as other reflecting the range of business-to-business markets. Likewise, the size of businesses as suggested by turnover showed a wide range of sizes with skewed towards the most common, smaller companies. 1 million+ - 8.7% 500,000 to 1 million - 4.2% 300,000-500,000-7.3% 100,000-300,000-11.5% 50,000-100,000-18.4% Up to 50,000-50% Smart Insights (Marketing Intelligence) Limited. Please go to www.smartinsights.com to feedback or access our other guides. 18