B2B marketers and their customers have different perceptions of how good their engagement is, research from Marketo has found.
Some 82% of marketers felt they understood their audience, while two-thirds of B2B customers didn’t believe this understanding was reflected in their engagements. It demonstrates a wide gap between marketers’ perception of their engagement performance and customer expectation.
The survey also discovered, on average, marketers were using six channels to reach their customers, while B2B customers were only using an average of four. And only half of UK marketers were currently using customer conferences as part of an engagement strategy.
Only half of marketers integrating data across social media
The primary reason for investing in engagement strategies was customer retention, cited by 58% of respondents. A further 52% said investment would give their brand a competitive advantage.
Around 91% of UK marketers felt they were effectively integrating customer data across all touchpoints, but the survey showed fewer than 50% were integrating data across social media. This compares with 59% of marketers in Germany and 62% in the US.
Karen Steele, VP of corporate marketing at Marketo, said: “In the engagement economy, customers expect more from brands, and it’s up to marketers to provide value and connection at every engagement point.”
The research, conducted by marketing automation company Marketo, polled 1100 marketers from the UK, US, Germany and France and 1000 customers in the UK and US.
