As Robert DeNiro’s character says in A Bronx Tale, “The saddest thing in life is wasted talent.” Well, one of the saddest things in marketing is a firm not making the necessary shifts in data collection and measurement capabilities to unlock their full cross-channel marketing potential. And an IgnitionOne-commissioned Forrester Consulting study found that this is all too prevalent in today’s marketing landscape.
“Orchestrating The Cross-Channel Experience: How Changes To Data And Measurement Foster Cross-Channel Success” evaluates how imperative it is for marketing leaders to implement cross-channel marketing, a move that can help harness the power of digital channels and leverage offline channels. The study finds that marketers need the ability to unify customer experience across the customer lifecycle from awareness to acquisition, conversion, upsell, and retention by utilizing seamless data consolidation that must be centrally managed.
After conducting 190 online surveys and six in-depth interviews with cross-channel B2C marketers across the globe, it’s clear that too many firms are wasting their cross-channel marketing talent.
“From our experience working with marketers in all types of industries, we have learned the importance that cross-channel initiatives and data collection play in maximizing the customer experience as well as the effectiveness of each marketing interaction,” said Will Margiloff, CEO of IgnitionOne, in a press release. “Forrester’s research confirms this, also providing a roadmap for marketers to succeed.”
Three key findings include:
Marketing technology is essential in achieving cross-channel success. Ninety-five percent of marketers in the study say they have a collaborative relationship with IT. By forging those bonds, marketers gain the ability to deploy and optimize sophisticated marketing technologies which enable more advanced data collection cross-channel to personalize customer communications.
Marketers fall well short in assembling the necessary pieces of the cross-channel marketing puzzle. A mere 27% of marketers boast unified measurement capabilities to understand the holistic experience across channels and devices; and fewer than 30% track customers across touchpoints using cookies. This lack of a clear customer-behavior picture across channels inhibits more than half of marketers from helping employees at their firms fathom how their tasks relate to larger cross-channel goals.
Proper cross-channel orchestration correlates to high revenue growth. Marketers from firms that have seen at least 10% growth in FY2014 are more likely to currently execute cross-channel initiatives, collect cross-channel data, and utilize holistic measurement KPIs. Such marketers also report greater use of marketing tools than marketers from firms with less growth.
