Measurements to Take During Marketing Automation Platform Implementation

Before rolling out a new marketing automation platform (MAP), first establish baseline measurements to provide a basis for comparison and the assessment of progress.

Below are baseline measurements that SiriusDecisions recommends organizations take when embarking on a marketing automation initiative.

Note: While it’s unlikely that organizations coming from an environment without a marketing automation platform will be able to measure all elements, it’s nonetheless important to measure as many as possible.

For your demand waterfall, measure:

The number of marketing inquiries generated each month for the last 12 months (by source if possible, or at least grouped by inbound and outbound)

The number of marketing qualified leads (MQLs), sales accepted leads (SALs), sales qualified leads (SQLs), and closed/won opportunities generated each month for the last 12 months

The average velocity and mid-80 percent velocity between each waterfall stage. Two measurements are taken for velocity so that the organization can measure average velocity as well as account for outliers’ impact on average stage-to-stage velocity.

The number of unique individuals entered into the sales force automation (SFA) system by month for the last 12 months. Break out by type (e.g. customer, prospect, non-target) and by source (e.g. marketing, telesales, support).

The average time to follow up on MQLs and mid-80 percent time to engage MQLs. Break out by sales group and sales rep if possible.

The total number of touches (e.g. marketing email, sales email, sales call) by stage each month for the last 12 months.

Tactics measurement:

For all emails sent in the last 12 months, measure the number of individuals who: Were recipients; became a hard bounce-back; opened the email; clicked through the email; opted out; and reported the email as spam.

Measure form visitation and form submissions by month for the last 12 months. If possible, segment by form type (e.g. contact me, white paper download, webinar registration).

Measure total Web site visitors and sessions by month for the last 12 months.

Measure your active marketing database, including contacts that:

Are/are not within a defined target universe

Have/have not taken an activity (e.g. email click) in the last six months

Have/do not have a mechanism to contact (e.g. valid phone number or email)

Have/do not have all primary segmentation or personalization fields populated