Biggest shortcoming for companies is lack of customer knowledge

A functioning CX strategy is crucial for business success, but most companies are currently still stuck in the early stages of implementation, as Mapp's study shows. While 89 percent of respondents think a CX strategy is important or very important to their own success, only nearly half (47 %) review and evaluate their CX strategy annually or even less frequently. That said, 88 percent agree that it is important to understand changing customer needs using customer analytics to improve CX. Yet, so far, only about half (55 %) of CX and marketing decision makers plan to implement customer analytics in 2021.

Those companies that are looking to implement the tool expect it to give them better customer insights (75 %), give them a better understanding of customer intent (55 %), and improve their ability to update their CX strategy (55 %) in an agile manner. A full 80 percent of marketers expect improved personalization.

Despite the clear benefits, companies in many places face major hurdles when it comes to updating their CX strategy. Respondents cite difficulty linking business results to actual customer needs (83 %), inadequate technology platforms (77 %), and a lack of vision and alignment among leaders, teams, and employees (72 %).

Lack of insights as the biggest challenge

In addition, 53 percent of marketers say they are not able to identify customers on the website, even though this is the basis for gaining insights and driving CX. This is where first-party data - in light of Google's announcement that it will no longer support third-party cookies in the future - takes on an even more important role, as valid data collection and identifying the right insights are more important than ever. For example, the lack of customer insights is by far the biggest challenge for 54 percent of respondents when it comes to enabling better brand experiences. The biggest obstacle to achieving a better customer experience: 57 percent of marketers surveyed cite a lack of qualified personnel.

At the same time, however, only 25 percent attribute their success in recent years to the further qualification of employees. This proves that while hiring and promoting qualified staff is important, using the right tools for insight-driven marketing offers the greatest economic success. 65 percent of respondents expect new technology to lead to greater customer insight.

More know-how and sales through customer insights

To better understand their customers' needs, companies are already investing in their MarTech stacks. For improved customer understanding, the marketers surveyed cite customer analytics (56 %), customer data management (52 %) and marketing automation (49 %) as top investments in the last two years.

In addition, 51 percent of decision makers have also already achieved better performance through customer insights. Companies that have implemented AI or ML tools also report an improved ability to update their strategy (62 %), a better understanding of customer intent (58 %), and improved customer insights (57 %).

Grow faster than the competition through a CX strategy

The results prove that actionable customer insights lead to a better understanding of the customer - and thus to an improved customer experience. A strategy based on the right insights is crucial for success. The implementation of a suitable tool solution is essential for gaining customer insights. Only those who know end customers and their needs can increase sales in the long term and thus gain an advantage over the competition, because insight-based companies grow seven to ten times faster because they can predict customer behavior.

"Our survey shows that targeted improvement of the customer experience leads to significantly faster growth and more revenue, and should therefore be a top priority for every marketer," comments Michael Diestelberg, VP Product & Marketing at Mapp. "Given the focus on online business models, marketing must be aligned even more efficiently to achieve this. After all, understanding customers is the basis for brand experiences that work, and investing in customer analytics is a prerequisite for a marketing ecosystem that enables this understanding. The technology helps to identify actionable insights and user segments for highly personalized customer experiences and to place brand messages across channels.

As part of the survey conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Mapp. Study a total of 203 marketing decision-makers were surveyed in December 2020. Marketers from the multi-channel retail, e-commerce, CPG/D2C and financial services sectors in the USA, Canada and Europe took part. Further information on the study is available at Mapp.com