• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, July 20, 2022

Marketers continue to suffer from siloed data, as many email teams probably well know. 

Across North America, 40.4% of companies have their email, social, and mobile teams operating independently. Another 29.4% pursue joint planning but separate execution, according to The State Of Insights-Led Engagement Report 2022, a study by Moengage. 

Only 30.2% have integrated planning, execution and streamlined decision-making for future initiatives. 

This comes at a time when brands face several technological challenges, among them:

• Lack of real-time analytics — 33.9% 
• Lack of understanding around which channels are most effective and when — 18.6% 
• Inactionable data and getting unified customer profile data across systems — 16.8% 
• Inability to map the customer journey and create communications tailored to each individual — 15.4%
• Inability to personalize the customer experiences across channels — 15.4%

Email is the most-utilized engagement channel, pointing to a need for an integrated flow. The leading channels are:

• Email — 19.8% 
• SMS — 13.1% 
• Mobile or Web Push — 12.2%
• In-app — 10.6%
• WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger — 13.7% 
• Website — 11.3%
• YouTube Ad channels — 8.6%
• Social media platforms — 10.9%

Meanwhile, marketers are choosing CRM systems for their customer engagement stack, but not by much. Of the types of platforms, they have:

• Customer relationship management (CRM) — 23.1%
• Multichannel engagement platform — 20.9%
• Marketing automation platform — 19.9% 
• Customer data platform (CDP) — 19.5%
• Customer analytics platform — 16.5% 

Enterprise companies are most likely to deploy a CRM — 25.6% do so. Small and mid-size business seem to favor multichannel customer engagement platforms: 21.7% of mid-size firms have one. 

What insights are brands measuring now? They list: 

• Interest, choice, or affinity (most viewed content or purchased product) — 23.3%
• Customer demographic data (e.g. name, location) — 20.6%
• Probability to purchase, churn, or hibernate — 19.9%
• Preferred channel, message, and time of communication — 18.4% 

Customer segment persona type categories (e.g. loyal, price-sensitive, one-time shopper) — 17.8%

It varies with the industry: Consumer shopping brands are most likely to measure customer segment, while BFSI firms look most at probability to purchase, churn or hibernate.

MoEngage surveyed 2,000 marketers across North America from December 2021 to February 2022.