Almost half of UK marketers feel less confident about making business-critical decisions, compared to before the pandemic, according to research from Treasure Data.
The customer data platform found, via Opinium, that 49% of UK marketing leaders aren’t as confident about their own decision-making. Likewise, 71% of marketers are feeling under more pressure to make the right decisions quickly, and 60% view decision-making as being more complicated than previously.
“It’s been a rollercoaster couple of years for marketers in particular, and it remains up for debate whether we’re out of the woods yet. Our latest research has revealed the worrying impact of the pandemic on marketers’ confidence in decision making, at a time when budgets were slashed and every penny of ROI was expected to be proven,” said Andrew Stephenson, Director of Marketing EMEA at Treasure Data.
Though data has long been valuable, the number of senior marketers that view it as being ‘very important’ is now 44% than prior to the pandemic, and nearly 70% of them believe that the pandemic has highlighted the importance of data in decision-making.
Moreover, 63% of marketers agree that marketing and brand decisions is dependent on the quality of the data they hold. Making this more difficult, 48% of marketing leaders have seen the data they have to interpret and action rise.
Worryingly for these senior marketers, 56% of them don’t feel they are fully harnessing the vast amounts of data they have at their disposal, and 47% struggle to use their data to form a holistic picture of their brand and their customers. These shortcomings mean that 65% of marketing leaders feel they are sometimes forced to make business-critical decisions without the necessary data.
At the same time, 39% find that, even with the data they need, they don’t feel confident about using it to make informed decisions. Even more worryingly, 57% are afraid of making the wrong decisions, and 34% admit to frequently making the wrong decisions. And this is why 64% of marketers believe that a more cohesive understanding of their data would help them be more effective in their job.
“Senior marketers have revealed just how much they rely on quality data when making decisions, yet lack faith in their organisation’s ability to sweat its data to its full ability,” said Stephenson.
“The inability of marketers to make effective, informed decisions with confidence and speed has tangible impact across the entirety of the business. With uncertain times ahead, marketers remain under pressure to demonstrate how every decision returns value. Businesses must act now to properly equip their teams with the insights and tools necessary to turn data into tangible insights – critical if businesses wish to properly reconnect with their customers and regain customer centricity.”
