A Quick History of Marketing Automation (& Why You Need it) [Infographic]

In the last five years, marketing automation has grown into a $1.65 billion industry with over 142,000 businesses (including American Express, Intel, LinkedIn) relying on it to run and monitor many of their marketing efforts.

From Unica (now known as IBM Omni-channel Marketing) in 1992 to the newest players like HubSpot, WhatsNexx, and Loopfuse, the marketing automation software market is more vast and comprehensive than ever, and the average monthly cost of using them has also dropped as well.

In this interesting infographic, Marketing Automation Insider shares a quick look at the history of these tools, their interactions and revenue, as well as the benefits enjoyed by businesses as a result of them.

Here are a few of its highlights:

• From 2006-2008, with the rise of social media, marketing automation software vendors began incorporating a wide variety of tools and capabilities beyond email
• 2013 saw the most growth through acquisitions as Infusionsoft took GroSocial, Marketo took insightera, Adobe grabbed neolane, ExactTarget took pardot, then Salesforce took ExactTarget.
• Businesses using marketing automation software see:
• 451% increase in qualified leads
• 14.5% increase in sales productivity
• 12.2% reduction in marketing overhead

Considering HubSpot or other marketing automation softwares discussed in it? Before you sign on the dotted line, get the Ultimate List of HubSpot Pros and Cons here.

The Rise of Marketing Automation – An infographic by Marketing Automation Insider