Independent Research Reveals Marketers Top Challenges Stem From Multiple Technologies, Cross-Channel Interactions

A new commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of global interactive marketing provider  ExactTarget (NYSE:ET) finds the top challenge facing marketers today is managing and understanding customer interactions across the myriad of multiple marketing technologies used to power campaigns across email, mobile, social media, the Web and other digital channels.

The study found 35 percent of marketers surveyed ranked managing marketing campaigns across multiple marketing point solutions as one of their greatest challenges - despite 78 percent who said they believe cross-channel marketing is important or very important to their business.

“The time for cross-channel marketing is here. And marketers know it,” according to the October 2012 study entitled “ The Keys To Successful Cross-Channel Marketing.” “Even so, they admit that cross-channel efforts pose significant challenges for them. Most respondents struggle to understand customers’ cross-channel interactions and to manage execution across multiple technologies.”

Based on a survey of 211 U.S. marketers who lead campaigns for companies with revenues greater than $100 million, the study identifies key challenges in cross-channel marketing and provides a self-test designed to score marketers’ current capabilities and influence future strategy.

Key findings from the study include:

• 78 percent of marketers believe cross-channel marketing is important or very important.
• 76 percent are interested in an integrated messaging platform to manage all customer data and execute across all digital direct channels.
• 51 percent believe their current marketing technologies fall short due to lack of analytics that provide cross-channel data to improve program performance or predict outcomes.
• 44 percent power cross-channel campaigns through individual teams focused on individual marketing channels, such as email, mobile, social media and the Web.

To download a complimentary copy of the  “The Key to Successful Cross-Channel Marketing”research, click  here.

“Cross-channel marketing requires a new approach to digital marketing – one that is built around the customer, not individual teams within marketing,” said Tim Kopp, chief marketing officer at ExactTarget. “Marketers must move quickly to adopt an integrated messaging platform to coordinate and manage the multiple customer interactions and resulting data that now influence nearly every purchase.”

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