Dive Brief:
- Research from Econsultancy and Adobe found that marketers are still struggling managing data across multiple marketing channels.
- The survey found only 8% of digital marketers and ecommerce professionals worldwide reported having a single platform to manage data across all digital channels, the same figure was reported in the 2013 survey.
- Fifty percent of respondents reported having separate and non-connected technology for managing data across different channels, down just 2% from 2013.
Dive Insight:
Customer-centric omnichannel marketing is probably a goal for almost all digital marketers, but according to research from Econsultancy and Adobe, marketers aren’t any closer to reaching that goal than they were in two years ago.
Exactly half of survey respondents reported having separate and non-connected technology for managing data across digital channels, a figure barely down from 52% in 2013. In terms of having a single customer view, the numbers are similarly unchanged with 29% reporting having that ability up from 26% in 2013. The takeaway from the survey is omnichannel marketing is not a simple process.
Charles Nicholls, SVP of product strategy for SAP's Hybris software unit, said in a speech earlier this year at the National Retail Federation that for omnichannel marketing to become effective, the industry needs next generation tools and cooperation from the entire organization. Ryan Bonifacino, Alex and Ani's CMO and senior vice president of digital, described how the jewelry retailer approaches omnichannel marketing, “We centralized digital. We’re breaking down the silos of having digital over here, marketing over here, and we’re unifying it around the customer. And that was big for us five years ago because no one was doing it.”