B2B marketers are lagging — only 2% are using marketing automation to its full potential. And there has been a decline in the percentage that rate themselves as good — i.e., those that use the majority of features but need to improve at them — from 2016 to the present, according to a study by CommuniGator and Smart Insights, published this week in Mar Tech Advisor.
Moreover, many need to improve their email marketing. For instance, the study shows that 29% do not tailor their emails based on user activity.
These findings cover UK companies only, but they provide a snapshot into best practices. How does your email marketing compare?
The respondents deploy email for these purposes (in declining order):
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Except for nurturing based on lead scores, which increased from 4% in 2014 to 18% this year, every one of those activities has declined since 2016.
Here’s how they score leads:
How do brands get people to sign up for emails? The study reports that 56% use sign-up messages on key pages, and 44% offer free content in return for contact information. Less than 40% utilize a site-wide option to subscribe or lightboxes (pop-ups on website).
Meanwhile, the biggest barriers to using marketing automation are:
Here’s a positive finding: there also has been a decline in the number of those who are failing to use automation at all.