If you read Part 1 and Part 2 of my Just the Stats: Marketing Automation in 2015 series, you’d know that CEOs and business owners are excited about marketing automation. So excited, in fact, that they’re 25% more likely to be involved in a marketing automation software purchase than other business software purchases (Capterra, 2013).
Do CEOs want marketing automation? Yes. The question is why.
Putting companies ahead of the competition
Unfortunately, CEOs don’t exactly answer the phone just to respond to surveys about marketing automation. Fortunately, we can piece together a story from the stats. And the story is simple: marketing automation puts you ahead of the competition.
- 58% of top-performing companies (those in which marketing contributes over 50% of the sales pipeline) have adopted marketing automation. (Forrester Research, 2013)
- 63% of companies that are outgrowing their competitors use marketing automation software. (The Lenskold and Pedowitz Groups, 2013)
- 75% of companies using marketing automation see ROI within 12 months, 44% see it within 6 months. (Focus Research, 2013)
- Companies using marketing automation see 53% higher conversion rates from initial response-to-MQL and a revenue growth rate that is 3.1% higher than non-users. (Aberdeen Group, 2012)
Across the board, companies with marketing automation are doing better than companies without it. And a guaranteed revenue growth rate of 3.1% is nothing to sneeze at – especially for mid-to-large companies.
Increased sales, decreased costs
How does marketing automation put companies ahead of the competition? By improving lead generation and nurturing, which leads to increased sales at decreased costs and a burgeoning bottom line.
First off, marketing automation actually gives CEOs usable metrics on marketing so that they know where their lead generation dollars are going. Marketing automation software provides insights on metrics like customer acquisition cost (CAC), marketing % of the customer acquisition cost (M%-CAC), and the ratio of customer lifetime value to CAC (LTV: CAC), among many others.
- Businesses that use marketing automation to nurture prospects experience a 451% increase in qualified leads. (The Annuitas Group, 2013)
- 47% of nurtured leads make larger purchases than non-nurtured leads. (The Annuitas Group, 2013)
Secondly, the cost of both marketing and sales decreases due to automation.
- Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% lower cost. (Forrester Research, 2013)
- Marketing automation drives a 14.5% increase in sales productivity and a 12.2% reduction in marketing overhead. (Nucleus Research, 2014)
And finally, revenue increases. And that’s the bottom line that all CEOs want to hear.
- 78% of high-performing marketers say that marketing automation software is responsible for improving revenue. (The Lenskold and Pedowitz Groups, 2013)
- Specifically, companies that automate lead management see a 10% or greater increase in revenue in 6-9 months. (Gartner Research, 2013)
The bottom line: CEOs want marketing automation
If you’re a CEO or business owner, the stats are pretty self-explanatory. Marketing automation works, and it works well.
But implementing marketing automation software means the whole team is going to have to be on board – not just the CEO. That’s why, in my next blog post, we’ll go over the specifics of how marketing automation helps sales achieve — and surpass — their quotas.
