Marketing Technology Survey

University of Hamburg

2025-02-01

A survey of marketing decision-makers sheds light on how marketing processes can be successfully automated. The results show which activities are best suited for automation and which mix of technologies is particularly promising. To achieve these research objectives, a survey of marketing decision-makers was conducted. This includes 18 semi-structured interviews with decision-makers from the areas of sales, marketing, and business intelligence, as well as members of top management. Based on the findings, the elements of the subsequent survey were developed. The participants in this preliminary study and the actual survey were contacted via the business-to-business (B2B) panel in order to achieve the greatest possible representativeness for the German-speaking region and to cover all sectors in both B2B and business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing. The participants are decision-makers from marketing and business intelligence who are responsible for relevant software decisions, as well as employees who are responsible for the operationalization of automation software in their companies in the areas of marketing, sales, and business intelligence. A total of 124 companies based in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland were reached. In addition to general information on marketing automation and its future prospects, the study is divided into two main areas: marketing analytics and communications. Marketing analytics encompasses real-time analysis, target group analysis, the creation of forecasts, and the controlling of marketing activities. The second area of focus, marketing communications, concentrates on automated campaign management and relates to paid and owned media activities, social media campaigns, and customer service.