Survey: Marketers Spend One-Third of their Time on Repetitive Tasks

Although there are several marketing automation tools available, many marketers are still manually executing everyday tasks, eating into their workday. In fact, data released by HubSpot in December 2015 revealed that the average marketer spends about one-third of their week completing repetitive tasks.

HubSpot’s Sam Balter analyzed the data, breaking down how these tasks fit into a 45-hour workweek. On average, marketers dedicate about 16 hours of their time to routine tasks. Sending email (3.48 hours per week) and collecting, analyzing and organizing data (3.55 hours per week) were the most time-consuming responsibilities. Marketers also spend more than an average of three hours per week on landing pages and social media.

“Every marketer is different,” Balter wrote on the HubSpot blog. “The demands of the job, the technology available, and the size of the team all have a huge impact on how you can save time. But if you focus on simplifying, delegating, or even removing some routine tasks from your day-to-day, it’s very possible to work a little smarter.”

The Challenge of Adopting Marketing Automation

Marketing automation solutions can potentially save time, but research shows that many marketers still struggle to integrate it into their overall strategy.

In the “2015 Digital Marketer Report” from Experian, 31 percent of senior marketers claimed that their biggest challenge was marketing automation. Because of the challenge, 36 percent of respondents stated that they had made marketing automation their top priority for 2015.

The researchers of the report noted that marketing automation is critical to executing complex communications and cross-channel campaigns.