Almost half (48 per cent) of CMOs surveyed in the UK, France and Germany say the customer experience their organisation delivers falls below or significantly below their customers’ expectations. That’s despite more than three quarters (79 per cent) recognising that delivering a premium customer experience is a powerful competitive advantage.
The findings are part of a study of 200 Chief Marketing Officers, which has been commissioned by customer data platform (CDP) Treasure Data, in partnership with MarTech Alliance and was launched today, as part of the #MarTechFest.
It reveals that a lack of capability in leveraging and using customer data is stifling marketers’ abilities to meet customer expectations. 53 per cent of CMOs cited insufficient skills in data management and/or knowledge of the right technology as the biggest barriers to realising their customer experience vision.
This is particularly concerning given that 73 per cent of all people point to customer experience as an important factor in their purchasing decisions (PWC, 2018).
Marketers also pointed to not having the necessary technology vendor solution(s) to achieve their goals (43 per cent), lacking the staff and resources (28 per cent) and concerns around stakeholder buy-in and approval (17 per cent) as additional barriers to improving the customer experience.
Andrew Stephenson, Director of Marketing, EMEA at Treasure Data commented: “As it stands, businesses are sitting on a sea of data, but while modern marketers recognise its importance, they are not necessarily equipped with the skills to understand and unlock its potential.”
The world revolves around the customer more than it has ever done before, and 75 per cent of senior marketers agreed that customers now expect highly relevant, personalised and integrated omnichannel messaging and experiences.
As a result, the top three customer experience initiatives marketers said they would focus on in 2021 were providing connected physical and digital experiences (50 per cent), orchestrating omnichannel integrated marketing campaigns (37 per cent) and delivering real-time experiences (35 per cent).
Yet the report revealed that surprisingly few organisations have sophisticated data collection strategies in place. Only 20 per cent of respondents that indicated they had a 360-degree view of the customer, said that their data is online and automatically connected.
In comparison, of the remaining respondents who said they have a 360-degree view of the customer, 29 per cent said their data was offline and manually connected, and 39 per cent said their data was only partially online and automatically connected.
Andrew Stephenson added: “It is concerning that so few organisations have a true view of their customer. Consumers have high expectations, and they rightly want to know that if they trade in their data, that they will get a better, more relevant customer experience.
“Unless businesses upskill their marketing teams, and think seriously about their data collection strategies, consumers will be forced to decide whether that brand is still worth something to them. As organisations look towards the future and adapt to post-pandemic behaviours, marketing and insight teams must make better data decisions, such as investing in a CDP, to ensure they remain competitive in 2021.”
As such, marketers indicated an appetite to invest and grow their data management capabilities, with 69 per cent of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing that their organisations could drastically improve customer experience by introducing or better managing a customer data platform.
Carlos Doughty, CEO and Founder of MarTech Alliance said: “The CDP space is one of the fastest-growing of all technologies across martech as it solves so many critical marketing challenges. And the results it delivers are tangible, you can directly connect a CDP to elevating your customer CX. I fully expect CDPs to continue to aggressively grow in demand and the letters CDP to become as common as CRM in the next few years.”
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