• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, July 29, 2022

Marketers are spending freely on technology this year, judging by the Martech Replacement Survey from Martech.  

Of companies polled, 21% have replaced their email distribution platform -- down from 24% in 2021. 

But while email remains the most effective channel, it came in fourth in terms of platform replacement -- behind marketing automation, CRM and SEO tools, at 23% apiece. 

Only 17% of midsize companies replaced their email platform. SEO topped the list, at 23%. 

How did they pursue these replacements? The respondents say they:

• Replaced homegrown with a commercial platform — 26% 
• Replaced homegrown with another homegrown platform — 6%
• Replaced commercial with a homegrown platform — 11% 
• Replaced commercial with another commercial platform — 57%

Of the replaced systems, they had been in use for the following periods of time: 

• 1-2 years — 33% 
• 3-5 years — 36%
• 6-10 years — 15%
• More than 10 years — 5%
• Less than a year — 7% 
• Don’t know — 4%

The most replaced systems in the 3-5 year range were:

• Marketing automation —30%
• CRM — 25% 
• Email distribution —24% 

However, email replacement dropped to 20% in the 1-2 year range, behind SEO tools (24%) and marketing automation (23%). 

Firms that replaced a commercial system did so for these reasons:

• Better features — 53% 
• Better/easier integration — 24% 
• Reduce expenses — 16% 
• Other — 6% 

And homegrown applications were replaced due to:

• Better features from SaaS software — 43% 
• Difficulty integrating with newer systems — 16%
• Outdated code — 16% 
• Too expensive to maintain — 14% 
• Management decided we’re not a software company — 6% 
• Other — 5% 

Which qualities were they looking for in new systems? They sought:

• Integration capabilities/open API — 54%
• Data centralization/data capabilities — 50% 
• Ability to measure ROI — 50% 
• Improved customer/digital experience — 47%
• Cost — 45% 
• Support — 31% 
• Compliance — 29%
• Security — 28% 
• Other—5% 

One other factor—at least for 35%—was COVID-19 and the conditions it created. That’s down from 47% in 2021. 

Who championed these buying decisions within the organization? They were driven by:

• Executive management—21%
• Marketing management—38% 
• Marketing operations—17% 
• Marketing staff—11%  
• IT—12% 
• Sales—2% 

Most companies didn’t hire new people to accommodate these changes—62% retrained existing staff. Another 13% did hire, and 18% both hired and retrained, while 7% outsourced to an agency. 

Martech surveyed 295 marketers in Q2 2022. Of those, 53% work in B2B companies .14% for B2C and 33% for firms that serve both businesses and consumers.