Firms fail to get quality data into their martech stack

The marketing industry may have been wrestling with poor quality data for decades but at last it seems the overwhelming majority (94%) of firms recognise that accurate information is crucial to sales and marketing performance.

But despite the almost unanimous focus on data quality, UK marketing teams say they are now facing a new issue – they simply have not been able to connect good quality data with advanced martech tools.

Fewer than one in ten of those surveyed invest in personalised marketing, account-based marketing (ABM) or aligning online and offline activities as their first choice, according to the seventh annual B2B Marketing report from Dun & Bradstreet.

There is a clear disconnect between what marketers want to do, and what they are able to realistically achieve. Nevertheless, 100% of those surveyed who increased their investment in data quality reported performance gains, the survey shows.

And when ranking the most significant barriers to investing in data quality, cost (37%), better ROI with other initiatives (27%) and a lack of understanding (27%) topped the list.

The need for alignment between internal and external data remains a major issue for marketers, especially with an increased amount of online information available.

D&B European sales & marketing solutions leader Adam Leslie said: “Although advances have been made and data is being used to support basic marketing strategies, many organisations are yet to fully utilise their data as a competitive asset, leaving an untapped opportunity for marketers and sales teams to create a strong data foundation to fuel advanced applications.

“Teams that are able to prioritise data quality will be better able to align their efforts and improve performance. This focus on data quality will enable businesses to harness and benefit from the full power of their martech stack with more unity and return on investment.”