• by Jess Nelson , February 16, 2016

Eight out of ten marketers plan to re-evaluate the way they procure technology in 2016, according to a recent report by Bluecore.

The SaaS company polled 140 marketing decision markers in the United States in December 2015 to evaluate how marketers might be embracing the new wave of personalized marketing technology.

Sixty-seven percent of marketers responded that they are planning to invest in personnel skilled with data in 2016, and 83% of marketers responded that they plan to invest in marketing automation technology this year to conserve resources and focus manpower and time on more revenue-producing activities.

In addition, 66% of marketers plan to increase their personalization capabilities by investing in more data-centric technology according to the report.

Fayez Mohamood, chief executive officer at Bluecore, says one of the biggest driving factors is that the technology decision makers are changing from the corporate boardroom to the employees who are getting the day-to-day work done, such as marketing managers and directors.

In a conversation with Email Marketing Daily, Mohamood provided recommended questions that marketers should be asking from their marketing technology vendors.

“My first step would be to really ask when the time to market is with these solutions,” says Mohamood. “How many days did it take to go live? How much did it cost? Don’t just ask for results, ask how it got there.”

Mohamood says a common issue he sees is that marketers only consider software license costs instead of the entire cost with add-ons such as triggers and consultations included. 

He also recommends that marketers think twice before choosing solutions that charge based on volume.

“In reality, a lot of these marketing clouds are not data and analytics-based systems,” says Mohamood. “They’re account-based systems, and that’s not personalization. Marketing clouds say they want to personalize, but by personalizing and sending less emails they get less money. That’s what it boils down to.”

Bluecore offers email marketing and automation software for ecommerce businesses, and recently raised a $21 million Series B funding round.