Change is here to stay and personalized experiences are the standard.
The pace of change is accelerating. Now that customers are rewired for digital, their expectations for personalized experiences have intensified. But only 22% of surveyed business laggards are pursuing personalization initiatives using customer data versus 85% of business leaders. Businesses must create change at every level of their organization to compete in a digital-first economy — from embracing first-party data to increasing experience investment.
“If you’re not thinking about the customer holistically, you will fail the customer in a big way.”
Ajit Sivadisan, Vice President, Lenovo
Jennifer Storms
CMO of Sports and Entertainment,
NBC Universal
Real-time personalization is a competitive differentiator.
As businesses strive to unify their data, they are not adequately investing in the systems that allow for real-time personalization. Around 37% of surveyed practitioners say poorly integrated tech systems is a main barrier to personalization — despite it being a competitive differentiator.
Building trust without cookies is business critical.
At a time when customers expect better, personalized experiences, businesses must inspire trust through responsible use of customer data. But with cookies on their way out, thirty-eight percent of practitioners still consider themselves NOT prepared for a cookieless marketing environment indicating there’s significant room for growth in building a culture of trust.
38%
of surveyed practitioners consider themselves NOT prepared for a cookieless future.
Patrick McLean
SVP & CMO, Walgreens
Agility is crucial in an era of relentless change.
Although organizational agility across people, processes, and technology is recognized as essential to successful marketing, many businesses haven’t implemented this cultural change. Almost three quarters of surveyed practitioners do not consider themselves agile when responding to opportunities and disruptions.
Meaningful collaboration includes individuals at all levels.
From board rooms to workstations and marketing to IT, organizations are focusing on shared visions for success. However, under half of senior executives believe marketers are collaborating successfully with IT, and practitioners scored collaboration only slightly higher. Breaking down silos remains a priority.
34%
of practitioners score collaboration between marketing and IT at 8 or higher out of 10.