Liana Technologies conducted a survey on the prevalence of marketing automation and its benefits and challenges. The international survey was answered by 331 marketing and communications professionals from six different countries. An earlier version of the survey was conducted in 2017, and a comparison of the results provides interesting data on the development of marketing automation in companies.

The new study reveals that awareness about marketing automation has increased since 2017. In the first survey by Liana Technologies, about 20% of respondents said marketing automation was an unfamiliar concept to them. In the 2019 survey, this figure was about 14%.

Marketing and communications professionals were also more convinced in the new study that improved marketing efficiency and ROI (return on investment) are the biggest benefits of marketing automation.

"The most important function of marketing automation is to produce results in terms of leads, resources, and ultimately always in currency. Saving resources translates to saving money. But even great technology alone does not produce results. Together with a professional, it is ensured, especially if one’s own resources are limited, that the desired goals are achieved and that marketing automation produces the right results," says Pia Kangas, Director of Liana Technologies’ Services unit.

According to the latest study, lack of expertise and know-how was seen as the biggest challenge in utilizing marketing automation. While in the 2017 survey, about 40% of respondents mentioned this as the biggest challenge, in the 2019 survey, this challenge was brought up by almost half of the respondents.

In the 2017 survey, 40% of respondents stated that producing high-quality content is a challenge for their organization. In the 2019 survey, only about 15% of respondents mentioned the same challenge. In other words, high-quality content can be produced in organizations but know-how and extra hands to work with automation technology would be needed. This became clear in the responses to the 2019 survey which mentioned human resources as the biggest challenge in addition to the lack of expertise.

"At its best, marketing automation technology acts as a significant member of the team: filtering and analyzing data, as well as managing the various stages of the customer experience from lead to follow-up marketing," Pia Kangas sums up the importance of marketing automation as an aid to the marketing team.