CHICAGO, Oct. 27, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Two-thirds of marketing executives at large companies say their organizations are failing to coordinate campaigns across all channels, according to a study sponsored by Yes Lifecycle Marketing released today at the DMA Annual Conference.
When asked how their marketing organizations operate, only 33 percent of enterprise marketers surveyed by The Relevancy Group said their multichannel programs are tightly coordinated. The numbers are even worse at mid-market companies, where only 22 percent of marketing executives expressed confidence in their ability to align campaigns across channels.
Similarly, the majority of enterprise marketing executives said their departments don't share common goals across channels (57 percent) and lack central ownership of programs across channels (68 percent).
The study, based on a survey of more than 300 marketing executives at large and mid-size companies, found that organizational silos continue to prevent brands from implementing effective multichannel strategies.
"Customer records are in shambles, and marketers are in denial," said Michael Fisher, president of Yes Lifecycle Marketing. "It's admirable that marketers have set their sights on multichannel marketing strategies, but they need to start at the foundation. If marketers aren't reaching the right people or are failing to tailor their messages to customer preferences, it won't be possible to either integrate or execute across channels."
According to the study, poor data practices appear to be one of the biggest reasons for the failure of multichannel marketing programs. Only 37 percent of enterprise organizations and 29 percent of mid-market companies have a central repository for customer data. Less than a third of marketing executives overall said their companies centralize customer data into a single record across channels.
Email marketing continues to be the most widely-used channel for marketers, with 73 percent of enterprise marketers actively using the channel. Despite that, 61 percent of enterprise marketers use only one or two data sources to inform their email campaigns. And those who do segment audiences for email marketing campaigns primary use demographic data (54 percent) and geographic data (49 percent), while largely ignoring rich data, such as customer profitability (35 percent), transaction history (31 percent), and email open rates (28 percent).
Despite the organizational challenges and limited data, just 40 percent of marketers think they need to improve segmentation and targeting, and list it as a goal for the coming year, and only one-third see a need to centralize data.
"The first step toward a successful multichannel marketing strategy should be centralizing data, followed by segmentation, content, coordination, and measurement," said David Daniels, CEO of The Relevancy Group. "Brands that take even a few of these steps will see four to five times as much revenue and profit."
Yes Lifecycle Marketing commissioned The Relevancy Group research to understand the progress marketers are making toward a fully-aligned multichannel lifecycle marketing strategy. To help guide marketers overcome challenges identified in the report, the market research and consulting firm developed the Lifecycle Sophistication Ladder, which is designed to move customers from acquisition to engagement to advocacy.
For download the full report, "From Acquisition to Advocacy: Discovering the Value of Lifecycle Marketing," click here.
About The Relevancy Group, LLC
The Relevancy Group provides market research, survey design and consulting. We assist marketers (buyers) connect with vendors (sellers) and manage the vendor selection process, each year we represent tens of billions of email messages that are out for bid for new solution providers. We provide educational and advisory resources to advance our clients and the markets understanding of relevance in order to deepen their customer relationships. The Relevancy Group is dedicated to educating the market on the imperative tactics needed to foster trust with consumers and improve an organization's relevance within the broader online economy. Working with the leading brands, vendors and associations that comprise our economy, The Relevancy Group acts as an educator and trusted advisor in the aim of optimizing omnichannel connected marketing strategy and tactics. The Relevancy Group publishes research, educational resources and consults with businesses on vendor selection, mergers/acquisitions and other strategic imperatives. For more information on The Relevancy Group: www.relevancygroup.com | (877) 972-6886 | info@therelevancygroup.com.
About Yes Lifecycle Marketing
Yes Lifecycle Marketing is a solution provider that brings together multichannel marketing platforms and data, with creative and strategy services honed on the optimization of delivering relevant marketing messages. This gives marketers the ability to source best-of-breed technology and creative and strategy services from a single vendor at a cost-effective price point. For more information, visit www.yeslifecyclemarketing.com.