The Ultimate List of Marketing Automation Statistics in 2023

Analyzing over 20+ marketing automation statistical reports, it is clear that marketing automation deployment has tripled in the space of just two years. And for good reasons.

As you will find out in the guide, the use of marketing automation is directly related to a company’s digital success. As much as 95% of marketing professionals say the technology has benefited their organization. But there are even persistent challenges and barriers (YoY) to scaling the marketing automation technology in their organization.

Read on to discover the current marketing automation trends. This marketing automation statistics guide reveals the top marketing automation platforms, how organizations choose their MAP, marketing technology strategy, and marketing automation budgets.

And, of course, much more on marketing automation trends!

Marketing Automation Usage Statistics

1. 66% of organizations now say they are at least piloting the automation of business processes in one or more units vs. 57% who said so in 2018.

(McKinsey)

Over 66% of organizations have at least one ongoing marketing automation process. At the same time, 13% of organizations have implemented over 50 automation processes (up from 4% in 2018).

And one of the most significant contributors to this growth was the pandemic, given that 68% of marketers started using automation in response to Covid-19 impacts. Over 35% have accelerated their investments in cloud-based automation since the pandemic.

So what are the results? Well, as much as 95% of marketing professionals say automation has benefited their organization.

Organizations have realized an increase in efficiency and organizational processes after implementing a marketing automation strategy. It ranges from simplifying tasks, streamlining operations, boosting sales productivity, and enhancing lead generation to increasing revenue.

Only a small number of organizations (16%) say they have not begun to automate business processes nor have any plans to do so in the near future.

Back in 2018, 1 in 5 organizations said they do not have plans to begin business automation.

Some 15% of organizations say they have successfully set up a marketing automation platform and are looking to scale up the technology across other units and processes.

Nearly 16% of companies report they have automated a process in at least one business unit, but they currently have no plans to scale up the technology.

However, organizations are just starting with marketing automation. More than one-third (35%) of organizations say they are at the piloting phase — intending to automate one business unit or process.

2. Business process platforms are the most common automation technologies among global organizations, with over 57% saying they have deployed them beyond the piloting phase.

(McKinsey)

Robotic process automation is the second-most common automation technology among organizations. Some 44% of companies say they have successfully deployed robotic process automation beyond the piloting phase.

Some 37% of organizations say they have deployed automation technology related to image recognition and character recognition. 36% say they are using marketing automation technologies related to machine learning.

• 32% say they are utilizing marketing automation techniques for process mining and documentation.
• 25% say they have successful marketing automation programs for voice assistants and chatbots.
• Some 16% are applying marketing automation for natural language processing.

3. Organizations that see marketing automation as a strategic priority for their company are more likely to say their automation efforts are successful than others (38% vs. 10%).

(McKinsey)

And this is not something new. McKinsey’s marketing automation stats for 2018 indicate the same pattern.

In the 2018 report, McKinsey reported organizations that considered marketing automation a strategic priority are more likely to say automation efforts were successful than others (37% vs. 22%).

In fact, of the organizations that reported success, at least 72% of them say seeing “marketing automation as a strategic priority” was one of the main reasons they achieved success with the technology.

Needless to say, this clearly underlines how your organization should pursue automation — define marketing automation as a priority during the strategic-planning processes.

At the same time, organizations that didn’t achieve marketing automation success commonly say they pursued marketing automation because they wanted to keep pace with the competitors.

Some 6% of organizations that say they pursued marketing automation say they did so because their competitors were successful with the technology.

Additionally, as much as 32% of companies that pursued marketing automation for long-term cost savings and cost reduction say they were unsuccessful in their efforts.

In fact, of the companies that say they were successful, only 14% state “cost reduction in the long term” as the primary reason for pursuing marketing automation.

But it is also important to note that some successful organizations (6%) say the main reason for pursuing marketing automation was short-term cost reduction and cost savings.

Moreover, organizations that report marketing automation efforts as successful were five times more likely than others to say the scope of the marketing automation system covers the entire organization.

4. Organizations that addressed potential automation-related skill gaps were more successful than those that didn’t focus on people (31% vs. 13%).

(McKinsey)

McKinsey’s 2018 marketing automation stats highlight organizations that were successful in their marketing automation efforts and focused on improving people skills and talent acquisition.

However, the recent McKinsey automation statistics indicate successful organizations focused on three elements when it comes to bridging skill gaps.

According to the organizations, these marketing automation strategies were helpful when it comes to improving automation-related skill gaps:

• Organizations that reported marketing automation success said they considered bridging people skills as one of the top five priorities.
• Successful companies also gathered individuals’ expertise and embedded ideas and designs into their marketing automation software.
• Successful companies are 7x more likely to say they prioritize organize-wide communication capabilities in their automation technologies than others.

5. 65% of smaller organizations cited marketing automation as a success vs. 55% of larger organizations.

(McKinsey)

McKinsey’s marketing automation highlights that smaller organizations were more successful in their automation compared to their larger counterparts. (Larger organizations are companies with annual revenue greater than US$ 1 billion).

Nevertheless, smaller companies are less likely to implement marketing automation than larger organizations.

Some 41% of larger organizations say they have fully automated processes across the organization or at least have one automated business unit or process. At the same time, only 26% of smaller organizations (annual revenue less than US$ 1 billion) say the same.

What’s more, both larger and smaller organizations attribute similar factors to achieving success with marketing automation.

Plus, just like larger companies, even the small companies (that have adopted automation) say they want to bring the entire organization under the scope of automation.

However, there are some differences like understanding of total costs.

For context, over 50% of leaders from the larger organization said they understood the total cost before making a marketing automation plan. But more than 80% of leaders at the smaller organizations say they misunderstood the project cost.

Another significant difference between smaller and larger organizations is their approach. Over 55% of smaller organizations say they have established KPIs to track the impact of automation vs. 37% of larger organizations.

Marketing Automation Tools and Technologies Used By Organizations in 2022

6. HubSpot (29.3%), Adobe Experience Cloud (11.9%), and Oracle Marketing Cloud (8.55%) account for 49.8% of the marketing automation market.

(Statista)

The global marketing automation software industry is expected to grow to US$ 5.2 billion in 2022. And it is expected to reach US$ 9.5 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 12.8% during the forecast period (2022 to 2027).

Also important to note, just like with many other enterprise software categories, Covid 19 positively impacted the marketing automation industry.

Many businesses started implementing marketing automation software either during or after the pandemic.

Coming to the other prominent marketing automation software, Statista reports ActiveCampaign is the fourth-most popular marketing automation tool, occupying 8.02% of the market share.

Salesforce Pardot (4.89%), Marketo (3.06%), Drawbridge (2.34%), SharpSpring (2.29%), and Salesforce Marketing Cloud (2.23%) are other leading marketing technology tools based on adoption.

Statista’s marketing automation adoption statistics also state why marketing influencers prefer some automation technologies more than others.

For context — marketers say integrating capabilities is the most decisive factor when evaluating automation tools.

Some 55% of marketers say the “ability of the software to integrate well with other marketing and sales software” like a cloud CRM is critical while evaluating automation tools.

7. 52% of organizations say “ability to integrate well with other tools” are critical when evaluating marketing automation software.

(Demand Spring)

Demand spring’s automation statistics align with Statista’s marketing automation report.

And it indicates the “ability of the marketing software to integrate with other marketing and sales software” like enterprise CRM tools and customer support tools is critical when evaluating marketing automation tools.

Moreover, some 15% of organizations also evaluate MAPs based on the implementation time.

Some other aspects that organizations look at when evaluating automation software are:

• 45% of organizations say they look for the key features offered by the vendor while deciding on a suitable MAP.
• 35% of organizations say scalability functions are important when choosing automation technologies.
• 33% say “ease of use” is a key factor for adopting a marketing automation tool.
• Some 27% of organizations also focus on price and cost of ownership.
• 16% say customer support abilities in the MAP are critical to them.

Moreover, Demand Spring’s marketing automation statistics highlight that Marketo is the leading platform among organizations, controlling more than 52% of the market.

According to its research — HubSpot (29%), Oracle’s Eloqua (13%), and Pardot (15%) are the second, third, and fourth leading vendors in the marketing automation software industry. (As opposed to Statista’s marketing automation report).

8. Integrations (53%), lead management (44%), and email marketing (45%) are the top features that organizations expect in marketing automation tools.

(Demand Spring)

Once again, integrations remain the top of mind amongst organizations while looking for key features in marketing automation tools.

Lead management features are the second-most requested feature, with over 44% of organizations saying it is one of the top three features they expect in automation software.

This is not a surprise, given organizations are looking for better ways to acquire and organize lead information and manage interaction with them. And it is critical too. As indicated in CRM statistics, as much as 92% of customers leave an online site without purchasing anything.

Some 45% marked email marketing as one of the top three features they expect in the automation tool. 40% say “lead scoring” features are critical when deciding the marketing automation software.

Some additional features that organizations look for in their marketing automation technology are segmentation, analytics & reporting, and personalization.

Understand that personalization and segmentation further amplify conversion rates and engagement rates. In fact, email marketing statistics indicate that personalized and segmented email campaigns receive 2.5x higher CTR and are 6x more likely to drive a conversion.

That is to say — even when it comes to email marketing tools, businesses must look at personalization and segmentation features for driving conversion during marketing campaigns.

Here are all the top features that organizations expect in their MAP:

Marketing Automation Statistics: How Companies Are Using Marketing Automation?

9. Email marketing is the most commonly used MAP feature, with 65% of marketing automation users using this function.

(Ascend2)

Ascend2’s marketing automation statistics highlight that organizations apply marketing automation throughout the marketing and sales funnel.

For context, some 65% of marketers use email marketing automation. Demand Spring further elevates this number and indicates that as much as 79% of marketers are currently using email marketing features in their automation platforms.

Not only this, but at least 51% of organizations globally say they use automated email marketing platforms. The number climbs up to 59% when it comes to B2B marketers.

In other words, all organizations understand the value of successful email marketing. And our previous email marketing statistics highlight that well. For context, some 80% of marketers say email marketing campaigns improve customer acquisition and retention rates.

10. 47% of organizations use social media management features in their MAP.

(Ascend2)

Some 30% of marketers say they use automation on their landing pages. Still, only 17% of marketing professionals say they are using A/B testing on automated landing pages to improve the conversation.

Retain that even when using landing page builders or automation for creating landing pages, A/B testing is necessary to test the efficiency of the pages.

Some 28% of marketers say they adopted marketing automation for paid media ads, given the data and analytics help them better target the customers.

25% of marketers say they adopted marketing automation platforms for campaign tracking. At the same time, 23% use it for content management.

Some 17% also use it for SMS marketing. An equal number (17%) of marketing professionals say they use marketing automation for lead generation.

Here are all the following areas in which companies utilize marketing automation:

Furthermore, when asked about which of the following areas companies are planning to implement marketing automation in the year ahead:

• Some 40% are planning to add automation to their email marketing strategy.
• 39% say they will manage social media via automation.
• 21% of marketers are planning to use marketing automation for Account-Based Marketing (ABM).

Live chat (21%), paid advertising (32%), landing pages (26%), and content marketing (23%) are other notable areas where marketers are looking to use marketing automation by next year.

11. 52% of marketing professionals are using marketing automation to improve customer engagement.

(Demand Spring)

Organizations are hoping to achieve different things with their marketing automation platforms. Still, here are some of the areas most marketing professionals are hoping to improve using marketing automation:

• 53% of organizations are using marketing automation to improve the lead nurturing process.
• At least half of them are looking to improve the lead generation process with their MAP.
• 32% say they want to improve customer retention rates using marketing automation.
• 56% are aiming to increase sales revenue and state it as one of the top reasons for using marketing automation.
• 48% of organizations wish to improve marketing productivity.

And more than one-third of organizations are using marketing automation to improve campaign measurability, campaign targeting, and improve sales and marketing alignment.

Marketing Automation Adoption Statistics

12. Only 20% of organizations feel they are utilizing marketing automation to its fullest potential.

(Ascend2)

As much as 54% of marketing professionals feel they are underutilizing marketing automation technology. At the same time, some 26% say they are “not sure.”

And these organizations say there are numerous barriers to properly utilizing automation technology.

The most significant barrier, according to marketing professionals, is lack of training and resources; some 39% state “insufficient training and resources” as the reason for not being able to use marketing technology.

31% of marketers state that a lack of budget to maintain the operations is why they are unable to utilize marketing technology to its fullest potential.

Some 16% say the marketing technology didn’t integrate well with other tools as the reason.

Here are all the barriers, according to organizations, to not being able to use marketing technology to its fullest potential:

13. 61% of marketers feel using marketing automation doesn’t give a personal touch.

(Social Media Today)

Social Media Today’s automation statistics indicate that as much as 83% of marketers feel automation is suitable for social media post scheduling.

Plus, like other marketing automation stats, even Social Media Today’s report highlights that 75% of marketers think automation will help with their email marketing efforts. 58% also feel automation is suitable for social media advertising.

Chatbots and customer engagement (53%), sales prospecting (39%), social media marketing (36%), social media post creation (29%), and PR outreach (23%) are other relevant areas where marketing professionals feel automation will help immensely.

Nevertheless, there are some concerns with using marketing automation.

As much as 61% feel automation lacks a personal touch. 44% also say automation may harm brand reputation. Some 39% say they will lose control over key processes.

Plus, 38% say they might miss on identifying potential opportunities and areas of improvement.

To sum up, most marketing professionals believe automation will help with identifying and connecting with qualified leads. Still, they fear the technology will be unable to capitalize on the identified prospects.

Equally important to note, these concerns include responses of both marketers that are already using automation (75%) and those who are yet to implement marketing automation software (25%) in their organization.

14. 63% of organizations plan to increase their marketing automation budgets this year.

(Oracle, Camunda)

These organizations have realized the benefits of marketing automation. Yes, the reason for increasing marketing ROI is because the organizations feel their existing automation marketing strategy has been a success.

Some 49% of these organizations say marketing automation makes personalization possible. An equal number of these organizations say automation saves time by streamlining their marketing and sales efforts.

47% of organizations that are increasing marketing ROI say marketing automation increases efficiency.

In addition, some 27% say marketing automation has improved their marketing and sales collaboration.

Additionally, Camunda’s marketing automation statistics indicate that 84% of organizations are increasing their investment in process automation.

Here’s how organizations are implementing process automation at present:

15. Companies with small budgets are less likely to adopt a marketing automation platform than ones with large budgets (44% vs. 81%).

(Zurich University)

Zurich University’s individual research indicates there is a correlation between the adoption of a marketing automation platform and the company’s budget.

Of course, this is not hard to comprehend. But there are technologies like email marketing (97% vs. 92%) and social media marketing (95% vs. 85%) that both companies with large and small budgets utilize almost in the same proportion.

The same report also outlines that dependent marketing automation software is not necessarily expensive; still, many SMEs are afraid to use it. In fact, some 23% of organizations say the biggest barrier to implementation is the “missing marketing automation budget.”

Additionally, some SMEs do not consider marketing automation a priority. Some 24% of organizations say they are not investing in marketing automation technologies because they do not consider it a priority.

16. 51% of organizations say less than 9% of their marketing team utilizes marketing automation.

(Demand Spring)

In some 18% of organizations, more than 25% of the marketing team utilizes MAP. At the same time, 18% of the organization say that less than 5% of their marketing team utilizes MAP.

Another important marketing automation statistic to look at is the correlation between mature, average, and non-mature users and their success.

It turns out that mature organizations were 32% more successful with their marketing efforts than average companies. And 79% of average companies were more successful with their marketing efforts than the least mature companies.

Demand Spring’s marketing statistics automation reveals that 16% of organizations have had marketing automation since ten years ago. And most organizations (42%) started using marketing automation for the first time within the last two years.

The Benefits of Marketing Automation

17. 76% of organizations that invested in MAP realized a return on investment within a year.

(Adobe)

Companies that use MAP source a 45x better pipeline from marketing processes, which is just one of the benefits of marketing automation.

Just take one aspect — 80% of marketers say MAP increased their leads (some increased their qualified leads by over 451%). So there is no meaning in arguing that marketing automation software does not provide a framework for lead management.

In fact, 92% of companies that invested in MAP did so because they wanted to improve their qualified lead pipeline.

At the same time, integrating marketing automation with other marketing processes also leads to faster business growth.

Adobe highlights that 66% of companies that utilize automation report “greater growth.” In comparison, only 50% of companies without automation reported “greater growth” last year.

Equally important to note, 12% of organizations realized marketing ROI within a month after implementing a marketing automation strategy.

Some 32% realized the marketing ROI within six months after implementing a marketing strategy. An equal number of organizations say they realized 100% or more ROI from marketing automation within a year.

In fact, only 24% of organizations realized the marketing automation ROI after one year of implementation. (Most organizations used response and value metrics to measure their marketing automation ROI).

18. 80% of marketing automation users saw an increase in the number of leads, and 77% saw an increase in conversions.

(Invespcro, Demand Spring, Nucleus Research)

Demand Spring’s marketing automation statistics indicate more than 75% of organizations saw an increase in their department’s efficiency after implementing automation.

22% of organizations say their department’s efficiency has increased by over 35%. Some 39% report their department’s efficiency increased between 15-35% since implementing MAP.

5% of organizations say marketing automation increased their efficiency by over 15%.

In fact, only 5% say their efficiency has remained the same since implementing the marketing automation platform. And some 2% state their efficiency decreased after implementing MAP.

48% of organizations’ sales productivity has increased after adopting marketing automation.

Not only this, Nucleus Research automation statistics highlight that marketing automation drives sales productivity by 14.5%. Plus, there is as much as a 12.2% reduction in marketing overhead.

When it comes to conversion rates and increases in leads, Demand Spring’s survey contradicts Invespcro findings.

Still, even according to its marketing automation stats, 56% of organizations have realized an increase in conversion rates, and 44% have realized an increase in the number of leads.

Only 5% of organizations use marketing automation which has not benefited the organization.

19. 91% of marketers say marketing automation is “very important” to the overall success of their digital marketing activities.

(Invespcro, Business2Community, Nucleus Research)

Not only this, Nucleus Research automation statistics highlight that marketing automation can increase sales productivity by 14.5%. Plus, there is as much as a 12.2% reduction in marketing overhead.

Still, only 18% of organizations are using marketing automation for lead generation.

It is important to note that businesses that use marketing automation for lead generation see a 471% increase in qualified leads.

Moreover, Business2Community’s marketing automation statistics indicate that nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads. That is to say — lead generation should be one of the top marketing automation strategies in your organization.

In all, simply recognizing marketing automation as very important for digital marketing is not enough. Organizations must figure out how to use the untapped potential of automation technology.

The good thing is most organizations realize the fact that they are not using automation technology to its fullest potential.

20. 72% of successful companies use marketing automation vs. 18% of unsuccessful companies.

(Zurich University)

Turns out, the use of marketing automation is directly related to organizational success.

A study by Zurich University highlights that successful companies use more marketing technologies than unsuccessful ones. The study compared the use of typical marketing technologies and companies success.

For context, 95% of successful companies use email newsletter tools as opposed to 85% of unsuccessful ones. 85% of successful companies utilize CRM tools or sales automation platforms vs. 42% of unsuccessful ones.

But the widest gap — between the adoption of technology and success — was observed in regards to the use of a marketing automation platform (72% vs. 18%).

Moreover, there is also a difference between their marketing automation strategy. For instance, successful companies are 4x more likely to utilize marketing automation for lead generation, qualification, and customer retention than unsuccessful companies.

21. 37% of organizations say their customer service departments have realized the highest ROI from process automation.

(Salesforce)

This is no surprise, given automation cuts down customer support costs. Some 65% have automated the feedback-gather process. Another 60% of organizations say they have automated the recommendations for the next best action.

Plus, 38% of organizations say their customer service departments use chatbots to interact with customers.

More than half (52%) of organizations say their IT department has realized the highest ROI. Some 47% of organizations say their operations department sees the highest ROI.

The good thing is that 57% of organizations that say their automation strategy was successful are increasing their investments this year.

Marketing Automation Statistics: Barriers and Challenges with MAP

22. 55% of organizations say “lack of staff and resources” is the reason for not using certain features of their marketing automation tools.

(Demand Springs)

29% of organizations indicate they do not have the proper knowledge of all the features in their marketing automation tool. Plus, 31% say some features do not align with their business goals.

Some 15% of organizations also state “lack of marketing automation budget” as the reason for not using all the features in their automation tool.

23. Only 7% of marketing professionals say their MAP is well integrated with the rest of their technology stacks.

(Ascend2, Demand Spring)

As indicated, most organizations feel they are not using marketing automation to its fullest potential because of ill-suited integrations.

In fact, of the successful marketers, only 7% say their MAP is well integrated with other technology stacks. Some 29% say their marketing automation platform is “mostly integrated” with their technology stack.

However, the majority of marketing influencers (64%) say their MAP is “somewhat integrated” or “not integrated at all” with the rest of their technology stack.

Be that as it may, when asked about the motivations for choosing the current MAP, 52% of organizations said the platform’s ability to integrate with other tools was key when choosing the current tool. At the same time, 45% made their decision based on the platform’s key features.

According to Demand Spring’s survey (which aligns with Ascend2’s report), here are the most utilized marketing automation features:

24. 88% of organizations say they have faced issues while implementing new marketing automation projects.

(Camunda)

At least 9 out of 10 organizations say they experienced at least one issue during the most recent automation project.

Some 30% say the project took too long. Another 33% blame the disjointed systems and technologies. At the same time, 34% say their organization’s priorities keep changing.

Forrester’s marketing automation statistics highlight similar challenges across global organizations:

• Some 25% of organizations globally say they lack an overall vision for automation.
• 26% of organizations globally say they face challenges with culture and change management.
• Some 1/4th of the organization globally feel there are gaps in their organizational structure, alignment, and readiness.

And there are many reasons given by the organizations:

• Some say it is poor data management.
• Some say it is because of using similar automation (unknowingly) in different parts of the organization.
• Some say it is poor deployment, as it prevents them from scaling up the technology in their organization.

But most organizations indicate their operating models are too slow to keep pace with the rapidly growing technology.

How Can These Marketing Automation Statistics Help Your Organization?

To quote Bill Gates, “The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”

That is to say — simply automating the old processes is not the way to start with marketing automation. You will have to do new things for creating quality automations in the organization.

As mentioned above, if you want to introduce marketing automation in your organization and create quality automations, start with training the workforce. As well as expose them to new ideas.

Plus, it is better to consider marketing automation a strategic priority and aim for quicker ROI with at least automating one process or business unit that seems fit. From there, you can derive maximum benefits by adapting new business processes and ongoing usage.

Sources

1. McKinsey
2. McKinsey Business Operations
3. Salesforce
4. Cumunda
5. Adobe Marketo
6. Statista
7. Demand Spring
8. Ascend2
9. Social Media Today
10. Oracle
11. Zurich University
12. Invespcro

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