Truly listening to customers and understanding their disparate expectations can be a daunting task for loyalty marketers. If that can be achieved, marketers are well on their way to sustainable brand loyalty.
According to the 2016 Digital Marketer Report released by Experian Marketing Services, the top challenge marketers face is also their No. 1 priority: 38% of marketers cited knowing their customers as their top challenge in 2016, and 52% named enhancing their customer knowledge as one of their top three priorities.
Some other top challenges indicated by marketers include:
Increasing visibility over competitors
Staying ahead of new marketing trends
The integration of technology and collecting, linking, and managing data
“The future of marketing is being driven by sophisticated, channel-agnostic consumers who expect exceptional experiences every time,” said Ashley Johnston, SVP of Global Marketing at Experian Marketing Services. “This reality poses a real challenge for organizations as consumer intolerance for mediocre brand interactions puts more pressure on brands to leverage their data and technology. Today’s brand marketers realize the significance of knowing their customers, but it’s still problematic. Our research found that, regardless of the company size or industry, marketers around the globe still find this to be a top challenge.”
Experian Marketing Services surveyed more than 1,000 marketers worldwide to identify the biggest opportunities and challenges for marketers around the world. The annual report benchmarks the key issues that brands face as they try to engage audiences with relevant messages in an often complex digital environment.
Here are some other key findings from the report:
81% of marketers report challenges in achieving a single customer view
Enterprises cite making messages contextually relevant as their top challenge
70% of respondents work in marketing teams that are integrated either fully or somewhat, up from 61% in 2015
Personalization helps achieve a 158% increase in click rate
66% of marketers plan to implement predictive modeling over the next year and 68% plan to run mobile campaigns
86% of marketers build segmented audiences for paid advertising
“Our research and analysis focus on the areas we anticipate being the most impactful for marketers moving forward — particularly for brands that are committed to surprising and delighting their customers with every interaction,” Johnston added.