• by Ray Schultz , January 10, 2023

Brands are seeking to boost their operational efficiency and improve customer satisfaction in the near term, according to Social Marketing Leaders Are In Critical Need of Integrated Data And Agile Technology, a study from Emplifi, conducted by Forrester.  

Of the companies surveyed, 83% seek to improve efficiency, with 37% placing a high priority on it.  

In addition, 82% of marketers surveyed hope to improve their customer (CSAT) scores, 49% say this is high priority. And, 80% state that the need to grow revenue, 36% saying this is of the highest urgency.  

Another 78% plan to invest in technology to leverage customer insights, with 47% placing this as a high priority. 

The biggest factor impeding them to date is shifting customer demands, 73% say. 

In addition, 57% need to integrate customer data, 41% to increase agility and 45% align the goals of departments. 

The factors seen as challenging include: 

• Changing customer demands — 73%  
• Inflation — 72%
• Competitive pressure — 66% 
• Supply chain bottlenecks — 64%
• Unexpected risks to brand/reputation — 62% 
• Lack of desired skills — 62%
• Employee retention/attrition — 58% 
• Speed of technology evolution and innovation — 48% 

Companies measure success in the following ways: 

• New customer growth — 67% 
• Return on investment (ROI) — 65%
• Customer retention — 56% 
• CSAT score — 51%
• Brand health (e.g., awareness, favorability) — 45% 
• Monthly active users — 44% 

Looking forward, brands are planning to invest in the following technologies over the next 12 months:

• Live video marketing/shopping — 35% 
• Social video tools and services for in-house social production — 35% 
• Customer data platforms — 31% 
• Analytics (e.g., marketing campaign, sentiment analysis, etc.) — 30% 
• Social media marketing platforms/suites — 26%
• Social commerce — 16%
• Social/digital advertising tools — 15% 
• Social commerce — 16%

But they are planning to reduce their marketing budgets in these areas during the same period:

• Out-of-home advertising (e.g., billboards) — 37%
• TV/video advertising — 32% 
• Audio advertising — 31%
• Industry events/in-person events/trade shows — 25%

The smallest budgets cuts will be for marketing technologies/tools (14%) and social media advertising (14%). Overall, 19% of respondents plan to trim their marketing budget.  

Forrester surveyed 154 CMOs, marketing VPs and directors responsible for CX last fall.