13 New Stats That Will Inspire You to Use Marketing Automation For Student Recruitment

Do you follow up with every prospective student in a timely manner? Do you need more time to take care of your critical enrollment responsibilities like following up with applicants?

Are you aware that contacting an inquiry in 30 minutes as opposed to 5 minutes drops your chance of converting them by 21x?

Rather than bore you with a wordy blog post, I thought I’d spice up your week with the newest and most relevant stats on the ever-expanding marketing automation industry.

(CAUTION: The numbers to support the use of marketing automation are staggering!)

6 Stats on the Importance of Marketing Automation 

• 91% of the most successful users agree that marketing automation is “very important” to the overall success of their marketing across channels. – Marketo & Ascend2 “Marketing Automation Strategies for Sustaining Success” (2015)

• Marketers say that the biggest benefits of automation are saving time (74%), increased customer engagement (68%), more timely communications (58%) and increased opportunities including up-selling (58%). – Adestra “Marketer vs Machine” (2015)

• Contacting an inquiry in 30 minutes as opposed to 5 minutes drops your chance of converting them by 21x. - InsideSales.com and MIT “Study on Response Management” (2009)

• 63% of companies that are outgrowing their competitors use marketing automation. - The Lenskold and Pedowitz Groups “2013 Lead Generation Marketing Effectiveness Study” (2013)

• 79% of top-performing companies have been using marketing automation for more than 2 years. - Gleanster “Q3 2013 Marketing Automation Benchmark” (2013)

• By 2020, customers will manage 85% of their relationship without talking to a human. - Gartner Research

7 Stats on the Results of Using Marketing Automation

• Marketers see an average 20% increase in sales opportunities from nurtured leads versus non-nurtured leads after successfully deploying a lead nurturing program. – DemandGen “Calculating the Real ROI from Lead Nurturing” (2013)

• Companies that automate lead management see a 10% or greater increase in revenue in 6-9 months. - Gartner Research

• 80% of marketing automation users saw their number of leads increase, and 77% saw the number of conversions increase. – VB Insight “Marketing Automation, how to make the right buying decision” (2015)

• Businesses that use marketing automation to nurture prospects experience a 451% increase in qualified leads. - The Annuitas Group

• Companies using marketing automation see 53% higher conversion rates (initial response-to-MQL) than non-users, and an annualized revenue growth rate 3.1% higher than non-users. - Aberdeen Group 

• Triggered email messages average 70.5% higher open rates and 152% higher click-thru rates than “business as usual” marketing messages. - Epsilon Email Institute, “Fourth Quarter 2012” (2012)

• 78% of successful marketers say marketing automation systems are most responsible for improving revenue contribution. – The Lenskold Group “2013 Lead-Generation Marketing Effectiveness Study” (2013)

If you're grappling with making the marketing automation leap or trying to make the case to your boss, these crucial stats should help give you some context around the world of marketing automation.

As these stats illustrate, marketing automation is a crucial tool that everyone should consider adding to their marketing toolbox.

Looking for more fun statistics?
Download our Inbound Marketing Stat Guide!