Many digital marketers still struggle to deliver omnichannel experiences, meaning they continue to fall short of consumer expectations, according to research from Selligent Marketing Cloud.

The survey of 221 digital marketers found that 41 per cent of marketers find it ‘difficult’ or ‘very difficult’ to launch integrated campaigns.

One of the big reasons identified for this is that 69 per cent do not have a single solution to execute campaigns. 16 per cent of respondents aim to have one solution but are unsatisfied, while just 14 per cent say they successfully use one solution across all channels already.

41 per cent of digital marketers aren’t satisfied with how they tie omnichannel behaviour data back to an individual customer, with 33 per cent not having any capabilities in place to do it. A lowly 16 per cent claim they are successfully tying data back to the individual.

When it comes to channels utilised, email is still the top dog, with 94 per cent of marketers ‘actively and successfully’ using email as part of their strategy. Website is used by 86 per cent and social by 81 per cent in second and third place. Meanwhile, just 52 per cent position mobile as an active and successful channel, though over half of US website traffic comes from mobile devices. Other channels noted were SMS (22 per cent), in-store (19 per cent), chatbots/web chat (15 per cent), and push notifications (14 per cent). 

The struggle for digital marketers is further highlighted by only eight per cent of them sharing loyalty data with their contact centre in real-time, but a surprising 20 per cent don’t share any customer information between marketing and service at all. 44 per cent stated they share ‘some information’ but don’t have the capabilities to do so in real-time.

“The disconnect across business units like service and marketing is no surprise but a challenge that companies today need to address head-on,” said Niki Hall, CMO of Selligent Marketing Cloud. “Making omnichannel work means orchestrating messages across all channels and ensuring that the content is personalised and delivered at the right time. This can only happen at scale with technology that provides visibility into the data and prompt execution on insights shared across all departments. Successfully building long-term customer relationships and loyalty is dependent on a brand’s ability to deliver consistent, relevant experiences regardless of channel.”