Email Marketers Twice as Likely to Integrate Customer Data Across All Channels

Email marketers are twice as likely to integrate customer data across all channels, according to new research by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Experian Services.

The global study titled, Road to Cross-Channel Maturity, also found that marketers seasoned in email, more than any other digital channel, are in a position to be the ones to lead the transition to the cross-channel marketing era.

Forrester Consulting found that marketers around the world struggle to integrate data sources and adopt effective data-management practices. Only 24% of marketers surveyed said they use contextual data and customer data for a real-time view across channels.

Sophisticated email marketers demonstrated significantly higher rates of data-usage best practices, which was twice as much as the average respondent, the study shows. What’s more, 75% of marketers that Forrester Consulting identified as “sophisticated marketers” use data in real time.

In the study, Forrester Consulting states: “...an email can provide a consumer with information or incentive to engage with other channels. As one of the most reliable, consistently used channels, email has an opportunity to be more than another transaction-driving medium ... With cues from email, marketers can better provide interactions in other channels and touch-points.”

The study recommends that marketers identify where email is most relevant and influential in the customer’s path to purchase and then incorporate additional channels along the path that tie all the communications together.

To understand marketers’ maturity in cross-channel marketing, Experian Marketing Services commissioned Forrester Consulting to evaluate digital marketers’ attitudes about, experiences with and challenges related to cross-channel marketing, as well as the role email marketing has and will have in delivering cross-channel interaction.

Forrester Consulting surveyed nearly 500 digital-marketing executives in various industries in North America, Europe, Asia, and South America, including decision-makers responsible for search, email, social, Website, mobile, and display marketing strategy execution. It also conducted in-depth interviews with senior executives in the United States and Canada.

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