Email campaigns can flounder without the proper technology in place, judging by “When Data Drags You Down,” a new study from Simon Data, conducted by Forrester.
Of the
technical experts polled, 90% say their marketing strategy is well-aligned with their company’s priorities. But the same percentage say they have challenges delivering on those
goals.
Among their strategic challenges are:
- Proving return on investment—33%
- Keeping
up with rapid pace of interactions—32%
- Difficulty translating customer insights into actionable marketing outcomes—32%
- Coordinating messages and interactions across channels and screens—31%
- Understanding the relative contribution of marketing channels to
conversions—29%
- Difficulty managing the frequency and volume of communications to customers—29%
- Hiring,
retaining and organizing marketing staff—28%
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Then, there are the technical challenges, all of which can impact email marketing:
- Lack of integration among various marketing technologies—35%
- Lack of integration among various customer data sources—34%
- Duplication of technology/vendors—34%
- Disappointing marketing lift/results after onboarding new technology—31%
- Reliance on legacy systems—30%
- Not utilizing technology to its fullest extent/not knowing if we’re using it to its fullest
extent—29%
- Outdated technology—28%
"This study demonstrates the disconnect between what marketers think their martech
stacks can do versus the actual outcomes the tech delivers," states Jason Davis, CEO-co-founder of Simon Data.
Still, brands are moving forwar, and are planning to do the following
over the next 12 months:
- Improve customer satisfaction—33%
- Improve the quality of customer
data—29%
- Increase revenue per customer—28%
- Improve lead/opportunity
quality—27%
- Improve lead/opportunity quality—27%
In addition, most report they are either advanced or extremely so in
applying customer data in each of these areas:
- Targeting—86%
- Initiating campaigns--85%
- Analytics—82%
- Optimizing experience—80%
- Measurement—79%
- Conducting analysis/measurement of results—79%
- Creating content—76%
- Personalization—78%
- Completing customer profiles—74%
- Experimentation—72%
Marketing data is the leading form of information used in gaining customer insights:
- Marketing
response/interaction—45%
- Identity--43%
- Transaction—42%
- Demographic-42%
- Social-media content—41%
- Technology
ownership/use—41%
- Application content—35%
- File content—34%
- Sentiment—34%
- Preference—32%
- Journey/activity—26%
- Situation—26%
- Environment—26%
What are the most valuable technology capabilities in achieving marketing
priorities? They are:
- Customer data integration across every end channel—80%
- One-stop, multichannel engagement
hub—79%
- Customer data unification—79%
- Flexible, data-led customer journey builder—78%
- “Single-source of
truth” customer reporting insights—77%
- Single view of the customer via advanced identity stitching—77%
- Streamlined segmentation
workflow—77%
- Robust end-channel personalization based on all data—76%
- Advanced multichannel experimentation—75%
- Democratized data access for faster campaign deployment—75%
Forrester surveyed 465 marketing technology decision-makers.