Marketing automation is getting harder to ignore, especially when the industry is expected to grow 50% by 2015 (SiriusDecisions). More and more top-performing companies are adopting marketing automation solutions, and with the data uncovered over the past few years, it’s not hard to see why.

If you’re still not convinced, take a look at some of the marketing automation statistics below, and let the data speak for itself.

1. Nurtured leads produce, on average, a 20% increase in sales opportunities versus non-nurtured leads. (DemandGen Report)

2. 61% of B2B marketers send all leads directly to sales; however, only 27% of those leads will be qualified. (MarketingSherpa)

3. A quarter of all B2B Fortune 500 companies are already using marketing automation, along with 76% of the world’s largest SaaS companies. (Pardot)

4. 77% of CMOs at top performing companies indicate that their most compelling reason for implementing marketing automation is to increase revenue. (Gleanster)

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

6. The average sales cycle has increased 22% over the past 5 years due to more decision makers being involved in the buying process. (SiriusDecisions)

7. 84% of top performing companies are using or plan to start using marketing automation between 2012 and 2015. (Gleanster)

8. Marketing automation drives a 14.5% increase in sales productivity and a 12.2% reduction in marketing overhead. (Nucleus Research)

9. 63% of survey respondents indicate that the ability to set measurable objectives for each of their campaigns is the biggest value driver of marketing automation. (Gleanster)

10. By 2020, customers will manage 85% of their relationships without talking to a human. (Gartner Research)

Want even more marketing automation statistics? Take a look at the SlideShare below for twenty insightful stats relating to the automation industry (and feel free to Tweet or share your favorites!).