The Role of Marketing Transforming to Align with Customer Expectations

Consumer behavior has changed considerably over the past 18 months, and digital marketers are finding it more difficult to meet customer expectations than a year ago. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on consumer habits and expectations, as well as a global trend toward digitalization.

According to the new State of Marketing Report from Salesforce, more than three-quarters of digital marketers in Australia and New Zealand are struggling to meet customer expectations. The report focused on 380 marketers from the region as part of a larger global survey of marketing leaders from 37 countries.

The report found that effective customer engagement is a top priority among marketers and that digital transformation initiatives must be accelerated to keep pace with changing customer expectations. In fact, 88 percent of marketers think digital capabilities will determine if they meet customer expectations.

More than 90 percent of marketers believe the pandemic changed their digital engagement strategy and 90 percent also changed their marketing channel mix as a result during the past 18 months. Video and audio marketing channels increased the most in value during the past year.

“Marketers told us that data has been their map through COVID, real-time personalization their North Star - all leading them towards more meaningful digital customer engagement,” said Kevin Doyle, regional VP of data, personalization and marketing automation at Salesforce.

Marketers also agree that customer engagement needs to be data driven. They are more likely to use known digital identity sources like email addresses instead of third-party information like cookies. Marketers also expect a 20-percent increase in incoming data sources throughout the next year.

Of those surveyed, close to 75 percent believe customer experience is a key differentiator, while 88 percent said they are changing their digital strategies to align with customer expectations and preferences.

Marketing metrics are also evolving along with customer preferences and expectations. Marketers surveyed said that customer satisfaction is now the most important KPI, although traditional metrics like revenue and sales and marketing funnel are still valuable factors.

Overall, marketers are optimistic about the future with nearly 75 percent saying they expect revenue growth during the next 12 to 18 months. And more than 80 percent believe the role of marketer will also grow as marketing provides more value than it did just one year ago.

Edited by Luke Bellos