The survey summarizes the results of a marketing automation survey of over 50,000 B2B marketers. Key findings include: 1) 53% of respondents currently use marketing automation, while 17% are evaluating it. The top benefits are more/better leads, improved productivity and conversion rates. 2) The most important automation features are lead nurturing, CRM integration, and analytics. The most popular platforms are Marketo, Oracle Eloqua, and Hubspot. 3) Budget constraints, lack of skilled employees, and poor data quality are the top obstacles to effective use of automation. The most common ROI metrics are response rates like open and click-through rates.

1. B2B Marketing
Automation Report 2014
Marketing automation is a hot topic in 2014 as more B2B
marketers are adopting the technology to generate more
and better leads, improve marketing productivity, and
increase conversion rates.
We conducted a comprehensive survey, leveraging the
combined wisdom of over 50,000 B2B marketers in the
B2B Technology Marketing Community on LinkedIn.

2. SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS
Audience:
Participants:
Time period:
Countries:
Survey channel:
50,000 B2B marketers
735 responded
September 2013
Worldwide
Online platform—LinkedIn
Top 5 findings from marketing
automation survey
1
2
3
4
5
The key benefits marketers receive from
marketing automation: more and better leads,
improved marketing productivity, and improved
conversion rates.
The most important marketing automation features
are lead nurturing, integration with CRM, social
media and mobile platforms, and analytics and
reporting capabilities.
The most popular marketing automation platforms
are: Marketo, Oracle Eloqua, and Hubspot.
Budget constraints, lack of skilled employees, and
poor contact database quality are the three biggest
obstacles to more effective use of marketing
automation.
The most frequently used ROI performance metrics
are response metrics, including open rate, click
through rate, and unsubscribes.

3. Survey results

4. SURVEY RESULTS
“What is your company’s overall level
of marketing automation adoption?”
Overall
53% of all respondents are currently using or
applying marketing automation.
Another 17% are currently evaluating or
considering marketing automation
17% Currently evaluating or
considering marketing automation
53%
Currently using or
applying marketing
automation
Overall
responses
13% Aware of the application and
benefits of marketing automation,
but not using it yet
7% Not actively looking to implement
marketing automation
6% Not aware of the applications and
benefits of marketing automation
2% Not sure
1% Other
1% Abandoned marketing automation

5. SURVEY RESULTS
“What is your company’s overall level
of marketing automation adoption?”
Regional differences
In AMS there are significantly more MA users. In
EMEA only 39% and in APJ only 36% are currently
using or applying marketing automation.
AMS
responses
APJ
responses
EMEA
responses
AMS
APJ
EMEA
Currently using marketing automation
63%
36%
39%
Evaluating or considering marketing automation
12%
23%
20%
Aware of marketing automation, but not using it yet
12%
14%
19%
Not actively looking to implement marketing automation
7%
4%
7%
Not aware of the applications and benefits of marketing
automation
4%
14%
10%
Abandoned marketing automation
1%
1%
1%
Other
2%
7%
4%

6. SURVEY RESULTS
“What marketing automation benefits
are most important to you?”
Top 10 benefits as rated by
respondents
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Generating more and better leads
Improved marketing productivity
Improved conversion rates
Improved response and engagement rates
Improved segment targeting
Shortened sales cycles
Increased web traffic
Reduced marketing cost
Increased customer retention
Increased email click through rate

7. SURVEY RESULTS
“How long did it take from purchase
to implementation of your
marketing automation platform?”
Overall
75% of the companies using Marketing Automation
implemented their platform in less than 6 months.
75%
Less than
1 month
16%
59%
1–6 months
7–12 months
More than
12 months
17 %
7%

8. SURVEY RESULTS
“How long did it take from purchase
to implementation of your
marketing automation platform?”
Industry and company perspective
45% of manufacturing industries and 60% of
large companies need more than 7 months for MA
implementation
Overall
16%
Less than
1 month
Manufacturing
26%
Large companies
4%
59%
1–6 months
26%
26%
17%
7–12 months
36%
39%
More than
12 months
7%
9%
21%

9. SURVEY RESULTS
“What criteria do you use to
evaluate marketing automation
platforms and vendors?”
Top 10 evaluation criteria as
rated by respondents
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Price/cost of ownership
Product integration (CRM, social, mobile, etc.)
Ease of use/learning curve
Analytics and reporting features
Ability to customize
Technical support/customer service
Scalability
Vendor size and longevity
Not sure
On-premise deployment vs. SaaS/cloud delivery

10. SURVEY RESULTS
“What marketing automation features
are most important to you?”
Top 10 features as rated by
respondents
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Lead nurturing
Integration with CRM, social, mobile, etc.
Analytics and reporting
Lead scoring and qualification
Campaign management
Email marketing
Lead activity tracking
Lead capture
Website visitor tracking
List segmentation

11. SURVEY RESULTS
“What marketing automation areas
do you outsource?”
Overall
Of the 382 respondents who use marketing
automation, 135 (35%) outsource one or more
associated responsibilities/tasks. For the
respondents who outsource MA, most of them
outsource creative and content creation.
Small and mid-sized companies outsource content
creation more often while large businesses
outsource creative and campaign execution.
Creative/design
22%
Content creation
20%
Campaign execution
19%
Technical
implementation
Strategy/GTM
planning
14%
9%
CRM integration
8%
Reporting
8%

12. SURVEY RESULTS
“What are the biggest obstacles to
more effective use of marketing
automation? ”
Top 10 obstacles as rated by
respondents
1
2
3
4
Budget constraints
Lack of skilled employees to manage
marketing automation
Poor contact database quality
Lack of content to utilize marketing
automation capabilities
5
Complexity of marketing automation
software
6
Lack of feedback from sales on
evaluating leads
7
Poor integration with sales and
marketing initiatives
8
9
10
Poor infrastructure to collect and
analyze data
Compatibility and interoperability issues
Lack of performance standards for
marketing automation

13. SURVEY RESULTS
“What marketing automation
metrics do you use to measure ROI?”
Overall
The most frequently used performance metrics to
measure ROI are response metrics. There are no
differences between regions, industries or companies.
57%
Response metrics (e.g. open rate, click
through rate, unsubscribe rate, etc.)
54%
Value metrics (e.g. revenue generated,
pipeline value generated, etc.)
49%
Efficiency metrics (e.g. cost per lead,
close rates, conversion rates, etc.)
25%
Activity metrics (e.g. number of emails
sent, etc.)
14%
We don’t measure ROI
8%
Not sure
3%
Other

14. SURVEY RESULTS
“How is your marketing automation
budget going to change over the
next 12 months?”
Overall
For a majority of B2B marketers, marketing
automation budgets in 2014 stay flat or increase.
$
48%
Stays flat
41%
Increases
7%
1%
Decreases
significantly
3%
Decreases
Increases
significantly

15. SURVEY RESULTS
“Of respondents using marketing
automation, what percentage of
your marketing budget is allocated
to marketing automation?”
Overall
63% of respondents allocate 10–29% of their
marketing budget to marketing automation.
42%
21%
18%
5%
2
%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
4%
50%
3%
2%
2%
1%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Percentage of budget

16. SURVEY RESULTS
“Of respondents using marketing
automation, what percentage of
your marketing budget is allocated
to marketing automation?”
Industry perspective
Advertising industry has the highest average
percentage of budget allocated to MA.
Manufacturing industry has the lowest
average percentage.
Advertising/
Marketing/Media
23%
Telecommunication
21%
Internet/Online
services
20%
18%
Business services
High tech
Manufacturing
15%
9%

17. SURVEY RESULTS
“What marketing automation
platform(s) do you actively use?”
Overall
Marketo is the leading platform used by respondents.
29%
21%
11%
11%
6%
Marketo
Eloqua
(Oracle)
Hubspot
Pardot
(SFDC)
Act-On
Regional perspective
The market leader in AMS is Marketo. In EMEA
Eloqua is as strong as Marketo. APJ prefers
customized solutions.
AMS
APJ
EMEA
1 Marketo
2 Eloqua (Oracle)
3 Hubspot
4 Pardot (SFDC)
5 Act-On
1 Custom platform
2 Marketo
3 Hubspot
4 Act-On
5 Eloqua (Oracle)
1 Marketo
2 Eloqua (Oracle)
3 Hubspot
4 Act-On
5 Silverpop

18. SURVEY RESULTS
“What marketing automation
platform(s) do you actively use?”
Company size perspective
Hubspot is the most used platform by small
companies. Marketo is the most used by midsized companies. Eloqua is the most used by
large companies.
Very small
Small
Mid-sized
1 Hubspot
2 Marketo
3 Eloqua (Oracle)
4 Custom platform
5 Act-On
1 Marketo
2 Hubspot
3 Pardot (SFDC)
4 Eloqua (Oracle)
5 Act-On
1 Marketo
2 Eloqua (Oracle)
3 Pardot (SFDC)
4 Silverpop
5 Hubspot
Enterprise
Large enterprise
(<10 employees)
(10–99 employees)
(1,000–10,000 employees)
(>10,000 employees)
1 Eloqua (Oracle)
2 Marketo
3 Teradata
4 Aprimo
5 Pardot (SFDC)
1 Eloqua (Oracle)
2 Marketo
3 Aprimo
4 Pardot (SFDC)
5 Act-On
(100–999 employees)

19. SURVEY DEMOGRAPHICS
The survey was completed by 735
B2B marketers in September 2013.
Region
60%
30%
AMS
EMEA
Marketing/
Advertising/PR/
Communications
10
%
President/
CEO/Owner
APJ
Sales
Other
9%
1,000–10,000
7%
21%
10–99
18%
Fewer than 10
5%
3%
More than
10,000
29%
Undisclosed
2%
Operations
(# of employees)
100–999
14%
Product
management
Company size
17%
45%
2%
IT
1%
Undisclosed
29%

20. Contact Pepper to learn more
about marketing automation
and the survey results.
312.588.4250
northamerica@pepperglobal.com
pepperglobal.com
2 North LaSalle Street
Chicago, IL 60602
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