New research from Sitecore has revealed that as many as three in five (61 per cent) UK marketers have wanted to quit their jobs at least once in the past year, amid pressures to retain and attract customers and drive commercial results in a purely digital environment.
Advanis conducted the research for Sitecore – a digital experience management software specialist, ahead of the UK reaching the one-year anniversary of its first lockdown, to help understand the increased pressures on brands during the pandemic and how this affected the wellbeing of marketing professionals.
Gathering the views of over 400 UK marketers across all levels of seniority, the study found that nearly three quarters (74 per cent) said that the pandemic was the most challenging time in their careers.
Over half (58 per cent) stated that work negatively impacted their mental health during the pandemic, with senior marketers more affected than their junior colleagues (61 per cent compared to 51 per cent). Layoffs, furloughs and redundancies impacted the teams of 30 per cent of marketers in the UK.
The sudden, unexpected arrival of a digital-only approach to customer engagement brought an accelerated pace of change, with the vast majority (77 per cent) having to fundamentally change their customer experience in response to the pandemic.
Seventy-five per cent saw their responsibilities increase a lot in the last year, with the most commonly cited areas being customer acquisition (41 per cent), content development (41 per cent) and adding new online or virtual services (40 per cent). Over two-thirds (72 per cent) needed to upskill quickly to meet the changing demands of their jobs.
In contrast, a corresponding consumer study from Sitecore, carried out by Advanis, showed a less patient, more fickle customer. Leading brands having to fight harder to maintain customer loyalty in a year of online-only interaction.
The arrival of this more demanding customer contextualises why marketers felt intensely pressured over the last twelve months. According to the results:
- Most consumers (67 per cent) have less patience with slow or poorly functioning websites since the pandemic
- 70 per cent will navigate away from a site and choose an alternative if they can’t find what they need in just a few clicks
- The majority of UK consumers (52 per cent) will only give a retailer one second chance if they experience a poor online shopping experience
- Almost half (45 per cent) are less loyal to the brands they usually shop with since the start of the pandemic
Paige O’Neill, CMO at Sitecore, said: “The customer that was supposed to turn up in 2030, has turned up in 2020. Not by their own choice, but driven by a world that needed to switch to digital-only engagement to survive and thrive.
“Consequently, rising expectations of exceptional customer experience and speed of transaction is the new battleground across industries. The extreme pressure that marketers underwent in the previous 12 months shows the industry was caught short, without the necessary agility and infrastructure to enable marketers to do their best work, from content to commerce. This meant they struggled to accelerate their innovation and upscale their digital capabilities, without the right tech stack and support in place.”
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