While most marketers are collecting outside customer data for their campaigns, many are not seamlessly integrating their data, causing them to miss out on audience insights that would better inform their loyalty efforts, according to [download page] a new report from Loyalty360 and Acxiom. For example, while 68% of survey respondents (the majority of whom are involved in audience measurement) gather outside customer data, 53% do not append or integrate 3rd party data into customer relationship management efforts.
Additionally, 87% do not account for the cost of servicing customers when marketing to them, which leads to them not focusing on their most valuable customers. Roughly 9 in 10 are also ignoring influencer scores and not using net promoter scores for segmentation and measurement. Combined, the results suggest that while most respondents feel the need to engage customers based on their needs and expectations, they’re not leveraging the data in a way that maximizes the potential loyalty offered by customers.
The study cites various factors holding back increased customer understanding. These include lack of easy access to data (85%), an unfulfilled desire to locate and access all customer data in a single location (57%) and being limited to only using customer data available at hand to drive engagement (46%).
Another symptom of the larger problem emerges when examining social data. While more than 55% say they’re collecting this data, three-quarters have a hard time integrating and accessing social data to activate all media, 72% do not recognize the referral value, and 70% are not collecting social data regarding competing brands.
Failing to take a holistic understanding of the customer makes it difficult for marketers to cultivate better relationships, and this appears to be an ongoing issue. Last year, a study from RSR Research revealed that only 56% of retail respondents believed their company could identify their best shoppers. And in an earlier survey last year, Acxiom and Loyalty360 found that only 49% of respondents from a range of industries agreeing that they know who their most loyal customers are.
About the Data: The data is based on a survey of 130 marketing executives from a myriad of industries, conducted in late 2012. Nearly three-quarters of respondents were in audience analysis and measurement, with the remainder in broader marketing and sales roles. The sample included 110 survey respondents and 20 qualitative interviews.
