Marketers Are Unhappy With their Data Systems
One thing you say for marketers is that they are hardly satisfied with themselves. And that’s especially true when it comes to their customer data capabilities.
In a recent survey by the CMO Council, 40% rated their systems as weak or worse.
Perhaps the worst grades were for the integration of data across systems and departments. Almost 40% said they were weak in this area and 18% very weak. Only 14% rated themselves as strong or very strong and another 29% as adequate.
In addition, less than 30% rated the accuracy and reliability of customer information as strong. And 21% called it weak.
The numbers were also dismal regarding the availability of useful reports and analytics. Only 18% said they were strong, vs. 33% who confessed they were weak. Ten percent described themselves as very weak, and another 35% felt they were adequate.
The glass was also less than half full when it came to the relevance of data to the marketing strategy. A third said they were weak. Only 22% rated themselves as strong or very strong.
Where do they get their customer data?
A third rely on internal CRM systems, and 16% on an aggregated internal marketing database. Only 9.1% turn to organizations and associations, and 8% to list brokers and information service providers.
Still fewer derive data from customer service, distributors or channel partners, transactional/order processing systems and magazine and directory publishers.
