Analytics is a big area for B2B marketers, with the majority already investing and 67% planning to into this area over the next 12 months.
That is, at least, according to a new study by Regalix, The State of B2B marketing metrics and analytics, which looks at the marketing analytics landscape.
The majority of marketers who took part in this year’s study said analytics was “very important” for marketing success, and around 83% said they could leverage analytics to measure performance effectively.
In addition, it seems most marketers (86%) said that they are able to track ROI of their investment analytics – and the number who say they cant has decreased over 10% since last year.
The number of marketers who say using marketing analytics has helped increase their organisation’s analytics since last year has risen, however, to 29% compared to 17%.
Of course, there are a number of other uses for analytics in marketing. One is to aid marketers in identifying the channels that provide the most ROI, and another is allocating marketing spend more effectively.
And type of analytics will vary by marketer, but almost all (91%) said they used web analytics, with 80% using spreadsheets and 66% campaign automation.
Better tools needed
But while these basic tools are enjoying popularity at the moment, there are more intelligent types of analytics tools which will need more attention over the coming year, including predictive analytics (65%), mobile (50%) and business intelligence (44%).
The report also gave an insight into what B2B marketers keep track of at every touchpoint, including SEO, PPC and social media.
In terms of SEO, keyword ranking came out on top as an area marketers watch, followed by organic traffic sources and keyword clicks. Then came CTR for PPC, lead rate and close to lead rate, as well as social reach, traffic referrals and engagement per post for social media.
It’s good news for analytics overall though, as the area plays more and more of a role in marketers’ everyday lives, only 3% expect a budget cut in the next year and the majority predicting a rise.
All in all, a positive picture, the report says, and the appetite for more advanced tools, coupled with budgets on the rise will see an adoption of better reporting, better tracking and overall more beneficial use of analytics for a business.
