At a time when relevance and personalisation are more important than ever, the majority of B2C senior marketers are struggling to access the customer data they need to deliver effective campaigns, according to research from customer data technology platform Plinc.
The survey of 200 UK-based B2C senior marketing professionals found that 81% of marketers are unable to easily access all the customer data needed to inform targeting and personalisation. Moreover, 61.5% of B2C businesses are only updating their core customer data once a week or less, damaging the relevance of campaigns delivered with the data they can access.
The lack of access to real-time, up-to-date customer information has left 44% of marketers feeling that their personalisation is unsophisticated. And many don’t feel they have the support to improve the situation, with just 23% strongly believing that senior leadership recognises the impact of marketing to business growth. This is further highlighted by 68% of marketers pointing to inadequate resources and funding as restricting business growth.
As a result of the lack of resources, 36% of marketers see their businesses as being four or more years away from achieving a true customer-centric approach, which is cause for concern as customer-first businesses are 60% more profitable than those that aren’t.
“Ultimately, the lack of access to customer data has made the role of customer marketing fraught with uncertainties, challenges and stressors. Yet, there is a way marketers can alleviate the concerns keeping them up at night,” said Stuart Russell, Chief Strategy Officer at Plinc.
“It starts with marketers educating businesses on the wider value of customer data. Not just for marketing activity – but for product development, customer experience initiatives, customer support and beyond. Through instilling a true ‘customer-first’ mentality throughout a business, marketers can start to optimise their campaigns whilst also demonstrating business impact.”
You can access the full report here.
