Pardot survey finds that nearly 37% of marketers don’t track revenue generated by campaigns, resulting in missed opportunities to establish Marketing’s essential role in business growth
Although most B2B marketers are tasked with creating and implementing effective lead management programs, many aren’t measuring the results of their efforts, preventing marketing from truly showing its value to the organization. According to a new survey from Pardot, whose system was named “best overall value in marketing automation” by Gleanster, almost 37% of marketers don’t track revenue generated by their campaigns. Why? Nearly 40% say they lack the time or resources to create and analyze reports.
The survey, conducted in February and promoted online, asked dozens of B2B marketers about their programs, including what they measure, how they do it, and standards for qualifying leads. Survey responses were anonymous and any B2B marketers were invited to participate. Some key findings from the survey include:
- 20% of marketers don’t measure marketing-sourced leads at all
- 30% are not tracking advanced metrics such as marketing-sourced opportunities
- 35% of marketers surveyed are not using lead nurturing for less qualified leads
- Nearly 30% are lacking the tools needed to track leads throughout the sales cycle
While not all marketers have developed a system for ensuring campaign effectiveness, the survey did reveal that today’s B2B marketing departments understand the need to move from guesswork analytics to a more data-driven approach. 80% of respondents reported that they expect to spend more time focusing on marketing metrics in 2012 than they have in previous years. Nearly 85% of marketers are requiring that leads meet a given set of criteria, such as job title or industry, before they can be passed to sales, and more than half reported using a complex set of qualifiers that incorporated both demographic factors and lead activity.
“Some survey results were surprising but others are quite encouraging,” said Adam Blitzer, co-founder and COO for Pardot. “In today’s lean-and-mean small business environment, it’s crucial that marketers understand what’s working and what’s not, so programs can be improved and forecasts refined. I’m excited to see that more B2B marketers are moving in this direction.”
As marketing campaign reporting tools have become more sophisticated, the types of metrics that are perceived as valuable seem to be changing. About 33% of marketers responding to the Pardot survey agreed that MQLs (marketing qualified leads) are the most important metric to measure, with marketing-contributed opportunities ranking second; less revenue-focused metrics, including website traffic and page views, were seen as least important.
“Our ability to collect and analyze marketing data has never been greater,” said Christopher Uschan, director of Marketing for Omnipress, a Pardot client. “We can monitor trends in real time and adjust programs accordingly. That’s a massive shift from where we were even two or three years ago. Given the stakes involved, it’s critical that marketers do as much as possible to put these insights to work.”
About Pardot
Pardot is a B2B cloud marketing automation software provider that increases revenue and maximizes efficiency for companies with multi-touch sales cycles. Pardot’s platform features CRM integration, email marketing, lead nurturing, lead scoring and ROI reporting to help marketing and sales teams work together to generate and qualify sales leads, shorten sales cycles, and demonstrate marketing accountability. Pardot offers affordable pricing for the SMB market.