New data shows that 3 out of 4 marketers are looking to further optimize their nurturing strategies; 82 percent planning to increase spend on marketing technologies in the second half of 2014
SAN FRANCISCO, CA –Bizo,the global leader in business audience marketing,today shared results of its “State of B2B Lead Nurturing” survey, revealing new insights from over 500 B2B digital marketers. The data shows that marketing organizations are impacting the bottom line more than ever before, with nearly 60 percent of these marketers reporting they are delivering at least 20 percent of B2B company revenues, and almost 25 percent contributing more than 40 percent. Marketers have turned to marketing technologies such as marketing automation platforms to nurture and ultimately convert audiences to opportunities, and are seeing results. However, while 72 percent of respondents say they currently have a marketing automation platform in place, 3 out of 4 marketers feel adding other technologies can provide even greater optimization. As a result, more than 82 percent of respondents indicated they have plans to maintain or spend more on additional marketing technologies in the second half of this year.
The study, conducted in association with Oracle Marketing Cloud, also details that although more B2B marketers have adopted a marketing automation platform, only 30 percent report they currently have fully implemented effective and well-integrated multi-channel marketing programs. Marketers believe in the value of using multiple channels to nurture prospects, but continue to rank email as the predominant nurturing channel.
“Relying solely on email for lead nurturing is preventing B2B marketers from getting to the next level of business impact,” said David Karel, CMO of Bizo. “With only five percent of website visitors willingly providing an email address, marketers’ need to find other channels or risk limiting nurturing efforts to a very small portion of their target audience. Multi-channel nurturing represents a massive opportunity to reach prospects beyond the inbox and really boost the return on their marketing spend.”
Key conclusions from the study include:
1. The Marketing Organization is Increasingly Responsible for Contributing to The Bottom Line
As recent reports have revealed, the marketing organization is playing a bigger role when it comes to revenue contribution. Fifty-four percent of B2B marketers responding state they are responsible for up to 40 percent of their companies’ revenue, while nearly 20 percent of respondents say that up to 60 percent of company revenue is driven by marketing efforts.
Consequently, marketing budgets are being reallocated so that marketers can tap into the value of existing prospects to meet their revenue targets versus acquiring new leads. More than one third (36 percent) of respondents said that less than 25 percent of their budget goes toward prospecting new leads. This reflects a growing strategy by marketers to nurture existing audiences and drive them down funnel as the quickest path to new revenue.
2. Marketing Automation Is On the Rise, But B2B Marketers Still Need to Move Past Email
Nearly 72 percent of all B2B marketers responding say they are currently using a marketing automation platform. When asked if they expect to spend more on their marketing automation solutions and other solutions that will enhance the value of the platform, 82 percent of marketers state they are planning to maintain or increase their investments during the second half of 2014.
However, when it comes to the effectiveness of email nurturing, marketers are looking for even better performance: 79 percent of respondents say their email open rates, on average, aren’t exceeding 20 percent, and more than 40 percent of marketers believe that only up to 5 percent of anonymous website visitors provide an email address in the first place. Approximately 89 percent of marketers would be interested in technologies that support the ability to nurture anonymous and known prospects as well. Marketers are looking for these technologies that can extend their marketing automation systems.
3. Marketers Have Embraced Nurturing Programs, But Still Have a Long Way to Go
Almost 60 percent of B2B marketers responding say they have some form of lead nurturing program in place. However, more than half of those surveyed claim that they are looking for ways to improve the results from their current nurturing efforts. B2B marketers believe that they have built a good foundation for lead nurturing but still have a lot of optimization opportunities ahead of them.
Similarly, marketers haven’t integrated their marketing efforts with nearly 70 percent of marketers stating that their email, display, search and social are only somewhat or not integrated at all. Only 30 percent of B2B marketers claim they have effective and well-integrated multi-channel marketing programs in place.
The full results can be found here and The State of B2B Lead Nurturing research paper can be downloaded at: http://bit.ly/1pPGeEC.
About The State of B2B Lead Nurturing Survey
The State of B2B Lead Nurturingsurvey was conducted by Bizo in association with the Oracle Marketing Cloud. This survey was fielded online, between April 24, 2014 and May 16, 2014, and sent to a random sample of Bizo’s marketers database. There were 505 total responses with 23 percent of respondents from SMB’s, 41 percent at mid-size companies and 36 percent at enterprise brands.
About Bizo
B2B marketers use Bizo to reach their target prospects, and intelligently nurture them until they’re ready to buy. Based on proprietary data management and targeting technology, the Bizo Marketing Platform enables precise and measurable B2B multi-channel marketing programs. The company has earned the confidence of SMB brands and enterprise clients including AMEX, Mercedes Benz, Zuora, Monster, Salesforce.com, Porsche, Microsoft, AT&T, and UPS who use the platform to get the right message in front of the right people, wherever they travel online. For more information on Bizo, or for a free look at the business demographics of your website audience, visit http://www.bizo.com.
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