As the drive to place a greater emphasis on developing a personalized and customer-centric approach to marketing continues to build momentum, decision-makers believe that investments in marketing technology will continue to grow in 2015.

In a July 2014 joint study conducted by digital marketing research firms Econsultancy and Teradata, more than 60 percent of those interviewed identified customer service and customer satisfaction as the driving forces behind technology spending, with improving customer retention and creating a better customer experience following closely behind at 59 and 55 percent, respectively. There was a significant de-emphasis of technology investments that were focused on analyzing ROI.

The respondents in the study were selected from across multiple enterprises, including those in the consumer technology, retail, automotive, travel and hospitality, and consumer goods industries.

Those interviewed were quick to acknowledge that technology can be a double-edged sword – either a strong competitive advantage, or an encumbrance and a liability, depending on how thoroughly integrated processes are, and how well everything works together. This is little surprise considering that four in ten identified poor workflow efficiency from poor integration as an issue; almost a third cited lost time and a lack of accuracy as integration problems as well. Yet despite its acknowledged importance, technology accounted for only 16 percent of digital marketing investments.

To address this issue, 49 percent said they evaluated new tools with an eye towards how well they would integrate with existing technologies. Upgrades in data security and privacy were also factors in spending decisions, with 45 percent citing this as a key area of concern and improvement.

References:

Econsultancy. “Enterprise Priorities in Digital Marketing,” July 2014.

eMarketer. “Why Marketing Tech Investments Will Change in 2015,” October 23, 2014.

Ratcliff, Christopher. “Three Key Insights from our new Enterprise Priorities in Digital Marketing,” October 01, 2014.