Have you seen The Customer Experience Factbook?

In this 180+ page report, you'll find all the information and support you need to build a profitable, effective CX Improvement Program that spans every part of your business. You'll be able to implement and manage meaningful and profitable change, and grow your bottom line despite a slowing economy.

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Corporate study urges better marketing metrics

The report, entitled 'Improving Marketing Effectiveness: Leading practices in marketing accountability', investigated ways in which companies currently measure the performance of marketing, concluded that most are measuring what is easy but are not evaluating all metrics effectively.

The survey found that 96% of companies surveyed are measuring customer satisfaction, and 80% are measuring brand health. This at least proves that marketing measurement is generally taking place. However, a question remains over which factors are being measured and whether they are the best benchmarks to use.

Previous research by Deloitte and CIM identified measurement as a key issue for marketing teams who are struggling to articulate the role and value of marketing to their organisation. According to Nick Turner, head of marketing effectiveness at Deloitte, and one of the report's authors, "To improve the effectiveness of marketing, marketers need to measure the metrics that count, not just those that are easy to identify. Where marketers measure effectively, there is a much greater understanding of the value of marketing within the wider organisation, and a better alignment of marketing strategy with corporate strategy."

Customer satisfaction is an example of where measurement does not appear to be giving the full picture. For example, while the majority of companies measure customer satisfaction, only 10% effectively measure the consistency of the customer experience and only 11% measure the cost to serve effectively. In this case, measurement may be showing whether or not customers are satisfied, but it is not accurately evaluating the profitability of that satisfaction, or the brand experience as a whole.

"Digital marketing is a key area where marketers are arguably not making sufficient progress with measurement - only 20% of those surveyed felt that their organisation was doing this 'very effectively'," said Thomas Brown, head of insights for CIM. "It appears that technology is a limiting factor, with only 10% strongly agreeing that the technology requirements to deliver their strategy were clearly understood."

The key recommendation of the research is that there are tangible benefits for marketers who measure more challenging metrics, such as customer experience; these companies had greater alignment between marketing strategy and the organisation's overall corporate strategy and greater overall effectiveness of marketing within their organisations.

"Marketers are clearly undertaking measurement, but the next step is to ensure that the right metrics are being measured and, more crucially, that they are being measured in the right way," Brown concluded. "Improving marketing effectiveness through a more robust approach to accountability will go some way to helping align the activities and dialogues of marketers with business leaders."

Have you seen The Customer Experience Factbook?

In this 180+ page report, you'll find all the information and support you need to build a profitable, effective CX Improvement Program that spans every part of your business.

You'll be able to implement and manage meaningful and profitable change, and grow your bottom line despite a slowing economy. Grab this goldmine of easily adaptable and up-to-date strategies, walk-throughs, trends, technologies, research, suppliers and partners, plus all the supporting arguments you need to build a solid CX strategy.

While most marketers could list maybe a dozen key points for improving their brand's Customer Experience (CX), the researchers and writers at The Marketing Factbook have identified FORTY main 'CX Keys' which will help you drive your customers to new levels of delight, loyalty, advocacy and profitability.

The areas in which customers have direct contact with your organization are perhaps the most obvious places in which CX improvements can be made, and this report addresses all 24 of these 'Direct CX Keys', applicable to offline and online businesses alike.

At the same time there are many other areas that indirectly affect CX (such as the supply chain, policies and processes) in which every business can make simple but far-reaching improvements. This report guides you through the problems and solutions for all 16 of these 'Indirect CX Keys', many of which are often forgotten or under-played even in the best CX strategies.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)