• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, May 17, 2024

B2B software as a service (SaaS) marketers are being tested — 55% say it has become more difficult to reach customers over the last five years, according to a new study from Exclaimer: The future of 1:1 marketing: Exploring challenges & personalization trends.  

Of that group, 82% say it is more difficult to capture customer attention. And 65% have seen an increase in the number of touchpoints required, while 58% feel it is harder to differentiate their brand against competitors.  

On a practical level, the top three challenges are:

• Capturing high-quality leads — 54%
• ROI measurement — 42% 
• Reduced marketing budgets — 35% 

But there a solution: personalized 1:1 marketing, which 86% now deem essential. 

Email ranks high among preferred methods for brand engagement:

• Social media — 40% 
• 1:1 email — 33% 
• Mass email — 13% 
• Direct mail — 7%
• Telephone — 4% 
• Other — 3% 
• These are the preferred technologies: 
• CRM — 72% 
• Social media — 55% 
• Networking information — 55% 
• AI & machine learning — 36% 
• Other — 6% 

Despite all that, 30% believe we haven’t yet seen “the most impactful marketing era.”

How are marketers measuring personalization success? They track:

• Conversion rates — 78%
• Customer retention — 46%
• Click through rate—38%
• Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) — 31%
• Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) — 23%
• Average Revenue Per User — 19% 
• Churn rate — 12%