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Marketing Execs: Most Web-based Campaigns Don't Happen on Time
Though some 59% of seniors marketers acknowledge that their website is “critical” to their global brand and marketing strategy, they say nearly 70% of website-based marketing campaigns do not get launched on time, leading to a potential loss of new business leads and eroded customer satisfaction, according to a new survey.
AÂ combination of lengthy internal approval processes, IT department backlogs, and the type of web content management (WCM) system they use makes getting web content approved and published “painfully slow” or “bumpy” at best - just 17% of those surveyed said the process of updating their websites is “quick and easy,” the study found.
The survey of 120 senior marketers in the US was conducted by PK Data on behalf of WCM solutions provider SDL Tridion.
A large majority of the marketers, 76%, change their website content at least once a week - and nearly 42% say daily - yet less than one-third (32%) say website publishing/updating deadlines are regularly met.
When asked which departments are most involved in managing their website, 46% of respondents said marketing as the most involved, and 39% said IT was most involved.
Overly-complicated internal approval processes and dissatisfaction with WCM systems, whether software or manual, were noted as the reasons behind delays by 52% of the respondents.
And 48% attributed delays to overloaded IT departments. That confirms that IT is bogged down with web content requests that could be more easily handled by marketing and communications departments, SDL Tridion said.
As for the impact of such delays:
- 54% said the delays have a negative impact on new business inquiries
- 50% said they impact customer satisfaction
- 35% said they impact web marketing budgets
- 30% said they impact brand image
- 20% said they impact employee satisfaction.
“As the web picks up speed daily, there are internal forces at work that are slowing it down,” said Erik Aeyelts Averink, president, Products & Solutions, SDL Tridion.
“This can have a huge impact on a company’s ability to compete globally and meet business goals. These days, a customer who can’t find what they need, or…has a frustrating experience on your website, can easily go elsewhere.”
About the survey: PK Data completed the survey of 120 senior marketing decision makers in the consumer products, electronics/telecommunications, healthcare, financial services, and automotive industries; 70% of the respondents work at companies with annual sales ranging from $250 million to more than $1 billion, and annual sales for the remaining 30% range from $50 million to $250 million.
