CRM 2.0 Report Finds Most Companies Want to Link Data
February 19, 2009
The Econsultancy and Speed-Trap CRM 2.0 Report has been launched, claiming "new insight into the reality of multi-channel strategies."
Speed-Trap, which sells customer insight software, says that while 16 percent of organizations today are able to combine online and offline marketing activity, "the vast majority of organizations are now actively looking to capture and integrate the information required into an effective cross-channel marketing integration strategy."
The research was undertaken by Econsultancy during November and December 2008. The firm asked over 500 companies and agencies to what extent they had implemented a CRM 2.0 strategy.
They found that while 83 percent of organizations either "definitely" or "somewhat" put their customers at the heart of their decision-making, 64 percent would like to link online and offline data to "optimize the user experience."
Also, a full 72 percent would like to link real time and historical data, and the same number want to carry out real-time personalization based on behavior.
Earlier this month, Econsultancy launched their second affiliate census report, finding that despite the economic downturn, just 30 percent of affiliates see the recession as a threat to their affiliate marketing business, "which suggests there is an opportunity for marketers looking for a cost-effective means of digital marketing."
More than 1,000 U.K.-based affiliates were surveyed, 34 percent of whom described themselves as full-time affiliates. Forty-six percent stated they were part-time affiliates, while 20 percent said they were “hobbyists."
The Econsultancy and Speed-Trap CRM 2.0 report concludes that the online market is maturing; that organizations "are no longer treating the Web as a separate channel but an integral component of overall strategy, and want to fulfill a cross-channel marketing integration" strategy.
The report's authors say that while organizations have been content to deliver marketing strategies based on siloed channel data, growing numbers are looking to achieve more cross-channel marketing integration. Bear in mind that today only about twenty percent of all companies can link online and offline data at all, and you can see why this is a stated objective of almost two thirds of organizations studied in the report.
"Traditional Web analytics products over-promised and under-delivered, leaving too many organizations complacently accepting inadequate Web information," the report's sponsors say, adding that the Econsultancy research reveals that organizations "are keen to achieve the multi-channel vision and improve personalization, especially now that the technology required to do so is available."
David Sims is a contributing editor for ContactCenterSolutions. To read more of David’s articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for ContactCenterSolutions here.Edited by
Stefania Viscusi
