As Valentine’s Day unfolds, it appears top UK marketers working are feeling decidedly unloved, with the vast majority (75%) claiming senior management does not truly value the role of customer marketing to the wider business.
The research, conducted by data agency Planning-inc, reveals that marketing teams feel they are lacking both funding and resources to effectively carry out their job.
For example, half (47%) of marketers surveyed stated they do not have the adequate resources to get insight into customer behaviour, with less than a quarter (23%) confident they have a full 360-degree view of individual customers.
Planning-inc reckons the findings indicate marketers are being hindered by inoperable customer data, insufficient analyst resource and a lack of customer insight, diminishing the impact of their activity.
At a time when UK consumer confidence is at an all-time low, personalisation has become a lynchpin for garnering customer loyalty and increasing retention rates.
Yet, the lack of insight into customer behaviour is affecting these efforts, with 43% of marketers believing their current personalisation efforts in communications are “unsophisticated”, due to disjointed customer data.
But, despite a lack of sophistication, 86% of brands are still sending up to 25 communications per week, indicating that many marketers are still relying bombarding consumers into submission rather than relevancy.
And, it seems, this activity is often based on historical insight with more than four-fifths (81%) of marketers stating it takes four or more days to act on insights to optimise their campaigns.
Planning-inc chief executive James Melhuish said: “Between a volatile economic environment, increasing frugality, and consumer behaviour trending toward brand promiscuity, it’s never been more important for B2C brands to scale their personalisation efforts and retain customers.
“Yet, these findings show marketers don’t have access to the right information about their customers, limiting their efforts to develop their customer marketing campaigns.
“With the right tools and insights, marketers can make fundamental gains in a business’ external communication efforts, directly impacting the bottom line. In turn, this will win more senior visibility and engagement to demonstrate value, helping build internal relationships.”
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