Nearly half of the firms surveyed in the study plan to spend more than $750,000 this year on marketing automation applications. The biggest spenders include companies in the technology, healthcare, and travel industries. Marketers' focus on measurement is a notable departure from the traditional focus of marketing automation technologies on CRM, according to Forrester.

"Our survey of 113 ANA members revealed that marketers have their priorities in the right place," said Jim Nail, senior analyst at Forrester, in a statement. "More data, processing power, and analytical tools have emerged that allow marketers to monitor actual consumer behavior, not just attitudes. These tools also enable marketers to track effectiveness of media, promotion, and advertising programs, and stick only to initiatives with proven results."

The report states that to create an effective measurement platform, marketers need to follow three guiding principles: 1) Identify key business, not communication, goals; 2) re-engineer data acquisition and analysis practices; and 3) model data and apply results to optimizing marketing performance and budget allocation.