Marketers embrace 'simple' martech for self-service

Marketers have had enough of the headache of managing complex martech systems, and are instead turning to so-called “simplification technologies” that allow their teams and other users to self-serve their needs.

That is according to a new study by martech consulting and service provider Clevertouch Marketing, in partnership with the University of Southampton Business School. The 2023 State of Martech reported is based on responses from more than 650 senior marketers across the UK, EMEA and US.

The report reveals that nearly three-quarters of departments are using these technologies – up from 26% in the past year alone – while satisfaction with martech has increased to 84% during the same period.

In the past 12 months, three times as many organisations are harnessing the data they collect and hold to deliver hyper-personalised campaigns – dynamic experiences and contextual communications delivered to individuals in real time (from 9% in 2022 to 27% in 2023).

Despite a challenging economic environment, digital marketing budgets continue to increase as spend is shifted from traditional marketing. However, investment in skills – through hiring, upskilling or outsourcing – remains imperative to unlocking martech ROI from technology investments, with calls for more investment in specialist people and skills.

Martech investment is on the rise, with 76% of organisations adopting customer data platforms and more than half admitting that their use of martech has increased since last year, with the biggest surge in adoption reported in the US.

In the marketing automation and marketing cloud category, Salesforce and Adobe continue to dominate the market, with 80% of respondents identifying a solution from one of the two as their primary platform.

Growth categories include CDP, where solutions including Twilio Segment are providing organisation-wide capability to manage data pipelines and activation; trust and privacy, through platforms like OneTrust to help manage brand reputation in a digital age; and innovative B2B data capture and intent platforms like 6Sense, which can identify audience intent, expanding the marketing team’s ability to target their messaging.

Clevertouch CEO Adam Sharp said: “As a business, part of our mission statement is to help our clients make sense of martech and champion ROI. The changing dynamics give some excellent insights into the attitudes of marketing leaders and the influences their choice of martech, people and budgets have today and in their future thinking too.

“Senior marketing leaders can see the impact and return on investment that martech, now a highly mature part of a successful marketing strategy, is having on organisations across a wide range of industries. The results also support those leaders to benchmark their own performance and manage future planning against their peers.”

University of Southampton professor of marketing and department head of research Professor Paurav Shukla said: “It has perhaps never been so important for marketers to make clear and decisive choices when it comes to desired outcomes, technology, people and budget.

“The research shows evidence of a continued shift away from a ‘Nextopia’ martech mindset (implementing more and more but not fully utilising new or existing technologies) to a more sustainable platform and organisational architecture.

“It also demonstrates the importance of high-performing data management, the growing emphasis on people centricity in improving the skills gap, understanding and adapting of martech in a multi-cultural, multi-region landscape, and the correlation between budget and effective sales and marketing efforts in delivering growth.”