9 in 10 Believe Multichannel Marketing to Boost Sales, Profit

August 8, 2012

This article is included in these additional categories:

Uncategorized

sitecore-perceptions-multichannel-marketing-august2012.png87% of marketing decision-makers from around the world believe they will drive more sales and profit by evolving into effective multichannel marketing organizations, according to [download page] a study released in August 2012 by Sitecore, conducted by Forrester Research. Virtually the same proportion (86%) agree (top-2 box score on a 5-point scale) that successfully integrating multiple channels under a single integrated marketing strategy is critical to their long-term success. Roughly two-thirds believe that a multichannel customer is worth substantially more than a single channel customer, and about 6 in 10 agree that their companies must rethink how they service customers to become truly multichannel companies.

Still, marketers perceive multichannel marketing as costly and difficult: 54% agree that multichannel customers cost more to manage than single-channel customers; and half believe that customer experience is negatively impacted by inconsistent treatment across channels. Slightly more than one-third feel that they lose business because they cannot integrate customer interactions across channels.

Mature Practitioners Cite Higher ROI

Data from “The Multichannel Maturity Mandate” indicates that among the 40% of respondents that identified their organizations as “mature” practitioners of multichannel marketing, virtually all (97%) said they have seen some improvement in revenue that can be attributed to marketing activities, including 40% who have seen more than 15% improvement. A high proportion have also seen greater than 15% improvement in: customer satisfaction and loyalty measures (43% indicating that level of improvement); returns on marketing investment (34%); and reductions in per customer acquisition costs (32%).

Mature Multichannel Marketers More Invested In Technology

When asked about their marketing groups’ stance on marketing technology, 64% of mature multichannel marketing practitioners claimed they try to be at the forefront of exploiting that technology, versus 42% of marketers overall. Among all respondents, 36% claimed to be somewhat aggressive, but wait until technology is proven, while 18% claimed to adopt technologies in sync with the wider market, and just 4% identified themselves as lagging the market.

Other Findings:

  • 40% of respondents said they were in transition to multichannel marketing, while just 5% said they are interested but have no immediate plans to adopt it. According to an Econsultancy’s report released in June, a plurality of company (43%) and agency (42%) survey respondents described their organization’s ability to drive marketing campaigns which are coordinated across different channels as just okay.
  • Per the Sitecore study, 56% of mature multichannel marketing practitioners reported having an “excellent” relationship with information technology (IT), versus 28% among marketers who reported being interested or planning more multichannel investment.
  • 85% of mature multichannel marketing practitioners reported a strong or very strong relationship between marketing and sales in crafting and producing messages and collateral, versus 64% of marketers overall.

About The Data: Forrester Consulting conducted an online survey of 226 organizations in the US, Canada, Germany, Scandinavian countries, Singapore, and the UK to evaluate perceptions around and the current state of multichannel marketing practices. Survey participants included marketing decision-makers in both B2B and B2C organizations with 100 or more employees. The study was conducted in December 2011.

Chart-Library-Ad-1

Explore More Articles.

Marketing Charts Logo

Stay on the cutting edge of marketing.

Sign up for our free newsletter.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This