Email marketers could be hampered by the very tools that help them succeed. The reason? There are simply too many, judging by Leveraging Data And Technology To Drive Marketing Success, a new study by DemandLab and Ascend2.
Of the 98 general marketers polled, half say their biggest challenge is integrating data across more technologies. And only a quarter are pursuing new tools such as AI and machine learning.
That’s the case even as they pursue data analytics for decision making — their chief goal. Despite that, 42% are only talking about integrating data across technologies and 6% are doing nothing. The remainder are working on it.
Still, over 75% say their marketing and technology strategy is helping them achieve their main priorities.
Apart from using data analytics (cited by 53%), their main priorities are streamlining marketing with technology (42%), integrating data across more technologies (42%), and developing a more effective strategy (39%).
DemandLab sees these as “conservative” goals.
But marketers face challenges in achieving these objectives:
Asked about the quality of their data, 59% say it’s somewhat good. And 22% feel it’s extremely good. The remainder report varying levels of poor quality.
Worse, they don’t think it’s changing for the better. Almost two-thirds say effectiveness is increasing marginally.
One problem is that data degrades — for example, from 25% to 35% of email addresses become outdated every year, according to a DiscoverOrg study, the report states.
The most effective data sources are internal marketing programs and internal sales and customer service — both cited by 49%
Another 42% list third-party information vendors, and 34% rely on social networks and public data. The same percentage gets data from trusted marketing partners.
But those sources are also difficult to use. Third-party sources are the toughest, according to 49%. And social networks and public data are seen as challenging by 44%
In contrast, internal marketing programs are reported as difficult by only 29%, but trusted marketing partners are even easier -- rated as difficult by a mere 22%.