Although almost every company has a website these days, and a high number of those have also launched their apps, they are yet to compile all the data across the customer journey.
As users are now using multiple platforms, marketers are finding it increasingly challenging to keep track of user engagement with the existing analytics tools as they often fail to provide a complete view of customer behaviour and their cross-platform journeys.
However, if you are a marketer and want to understand the current state of digital analytics, the this 2020 Google commissioned report, carried out by Forrester Consulting, will provide you with ample insights into how marketers are using digital analytics today and how they would be using it in the future. Forrester carried out an online survey with 750 marketing decision-makers at companies, across sectors and with more than 500 employees, located across the world.
Here are the major highlights of the report.
1. Cross-platform Analytics Yet to Become Mainstream
The number of marketers who found managing, organizing, and synthesizing all their data extremely challenging was more than 50%. They felt that their data volume was very high siloed with different teams.
Surprisingly, while 84% of these marketers agreed that cross-platform analytics was very important and critical, only 43% of these marketers said that they had implemented cross-platform analytics tools.
This means that the rest of the marketers were measuring customer interactions with their site and mobile apps through different tools, which made it difficult to get a clear picture.
2. Privacy Features Taking the Centrestage
Privacy and data protection are becoming increasingly important for marketers and they want their analytics to reflect that.
50% of the respondents said that the attribute that would increase their willingness to go for an analytics platform upgrade is the unification of user behaviour across platforms in a privacy-centric manner.
While 56% of respondents revealed that they were growing their user-privacy and data management controls, another 8% said that they were planning to do so in the next 12 months.
This finding underlines the growing significance of the privacy-first view amongst marketers as they strive to preserve consumer trust by protecting their data.
3. The Role of Automation & Machine Learning
The study also highlighted the gap that exists between the role that machine learning can play enhancing the customer experience and the marketers’ ability to leverage machine learning and automation effectively.
While 81% of respondents agreed that insights generated through machine learning can be instrumental to their company’s success, only 44% of the respondents said that their current efforts were effective. 37% of respondents said that their digital analytics solution lacked the machine learning and automation capabilities needed to achieve their marketing goals.
However, machine learning is helping marketers uncover new information and connect with data across previously siloed touchpoints. Almost 40% of the surveyed marketers said that machine learning-backed digital analytics solutions have enhanced their ability to deliver consumer insights to product teams, resulting in better consumer experiences.
Key Takeaways
The research makes it clear that organizations that have invested in cross-platform tools, adopted a privacy-centric approach, and are leveraging machine learning insights have utilized data with much more efficacy.
Although the study clearly reveals that most companies have failed to utilize their data, resulting in inferior customer experience, there is still hope and taking heed of these recommendations given below may help organizations serve their customers better.
1. Invest in cross-platform analytics tools
Investing in a cross-platform analytics tool would not only deliver a more consistent experience but also boost your customer understanding and fill the customer gaps across touchpoints.
2. Explore advanced AI/ML capabilities
AI/ML measurement models provide organizations with deep insights into complex customer behaviours and enable marketers to leverage those performance insights. But this can only be done if they adopt a fresh mindset, skillset, and approach to capitalize on the potential of AI for digital analytics.
3. Adopt a privacy-driven mindset
Start viewing privacy as a little more than compliance. Get your security and privacy teams to audit data collection that will track and evaluate the privacy standards of your cross-platform analytics partners.
To find more insights into how digital analytics can help firms boost their customer experience, download the full report here.