MarketingSherpa Unveils Results Of The Marketing Analytics Benchmark Study
- Published in Marketing Analytics
MarketingSherpa, a research firm, released its 2013 Marketing Analytics Benchmark Report, which explains how marketers are justifying their marketing decisions and proving the return on marketing investments, according to a company release.
In the report, MarketingSherpa found that although 40% of marketers have an average amount of data, approximately 50% of them said they gain insight from it. Close to 40% said they routinely and efficiently gain insight from the analytics, while a small, but significant number said they lack the tools/skills to turn data into actionable information.
The study illustrates how agencies, corporate marketing departments and CMOs can compare their budgets and analytics to the rest of the industry, indicate the value of marketing analytics to the C-suite, understand how other marketers implement and analyze data. In addition, the report determines how other marketers are investing in analytics and the influences of the investment.
"Today, marketing analytics programs can track and collect a multitude of data that conclusively proves campaign effectiveness," said Brad Bortone, Lead Author of the report and Senior Research Editor, MECLABS. "This report outlines what marketers are doing correctly in this process, shows where there's room for improvement, and highlights ways to leverage this information to gain a competitive edge."
The top three greatest challenges to effective use of marketing analytics, according to the MarketingSherpa report, are:
1. Lack of resources to execute;
2. Time required; and
3. Lack of understanding in how to process/execute data.
Generating Report Rather Than Gathering Insights
As mentioned in the study, marketers are focusing more on generating reports than gathering insights. Marketers use the analytics platform beyonf the default “set-up track message performance to customize reports (48%), add goals (40%), add conversion values (35%), and add custom variables for deeper insight (27%).
In addition, the study found that the top three email marketing metrics marketers routinely track are: open rates (78%); clickthrough rates (73%); and unsubscribe rates (65%).
To download a complimentary excerpt of the 2013 Marketing Analytics Benchmark Report, click here.