Only 49% of marketers feel the experience they provide aligns with customer expectations.
The State of Marketing report – conducted by Salesforce – aimed to analyse the usage of data and how it affects engagement and customer experience.
Engaging with customers in real-time was found to be both the biggest challenge and the biggest priority for marketers. This mirrored the response from business buyers; 83% stated being treated like a person, not a number, was very important to winning their business.
Other challenges cited were adopting new marketing technologies, budgetary constraints, creating a single view of the customer, and creating a cohesive customer journey across channels respectively.
Out of the highest performing marketers, 56% are currently mapping customer journey, in comparison to 42% of the lowest performers.
Eileen O’Mara, CMO EMEA at Salesforce said the marketing department is uniquely positioned to own the customer journey. “It is the natural starting place for driving substantial change around the customer experience. In 2019 progressive CMOs should focus on owning this hugely valuable space and giving marketing a stronger voice in the boardroom.”
The research surveyed 4100 marketing leaders worldwide.
