Marketing Data Quality Trends [Research]

MARKETING DATA QUALITY TRENDS

Quality marketing data enables the targeting of customers you want with the information they want.

But how do marketers plan to improve their data quality in the year ahead?

To find out, Ascend2 and our Research Partners fielded the Marketing Data Quality Trends Survey. We thank the marketing professionals responding to this survey for sharing their valuable insights with us, and you.

The data in this edition of the study titled the Marketing Data Quality Trends Survey Summary Report represent the average of all market segments responding to the survey. Specific segments from the survey are reported on separately and exclusively by our participating Research Partners.

This research has been produced for your use. Put it to work in your own marketing strategy. Clip the charts and write about them in your blog or post them on social media. Please share this research credited as published.

Enjoy!

View the entire report and charts here!


Table of Contents

  • Most Important Objectives
  • Successfully Achieving Objectives
  • Critical Challenges to Success
  • Strategic Objectives Versus Challenges
  • Sales Cycle Encountered
  • Most Effective Tactics
  • How Effectiveness is Changing
  • Tactical Effort Required
  • Tactical Effectiveness versus Effort
  • Resources for Improving Data Quality

MOST IMPORTANT OBJECTIVES
A clear majority of marketing influencers (62%) point to improving the quality of marketing data as a most important objective of a successful marketing data strategy.

SUCCESSFULLY ACHIEVING OBJECTIVES
A combined 83% of marketing influencers consider their marketing data strategy successful to some extent with about one-third (34%) referring to it as best-in-class. A total of 17% are still struggling to achieve the important objectives of their marketing data strategy.

CRITICAL CHALLENGES TO SUCCESS
Improving marketing data quality is not only a most important objective, it is also a critical challenge to marketing data success for nearly half (46%) of marketing influencers.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES VERSUS CHALLENGES
Analyzing the importance of objectives in comparison to the challenge of achieving them provides a unique perspective on developing a balanced and successful marketing data strategy.

SALES CYCLE ENCOUNTERED
The longer and more complex a sales cycle, the more important quality marketing data is to success. Quality marketing data ensures accuracy and enables the targeting of customers you want with the information they want.

MOST EFFECTIVE TACTICS
Validating contact data as it is collected from online contact forms is a most effective tactic used by nearly half (49%) of marketing influencers. It has also become a very popular automated process that is easily integrated into online contact forms.

HOW EFFECTIVENESS IS CHANGING
The good news is the effectiveness of tactics used to improve marketing data quality are increasing to some extent for nine-out-of-ten marketing influencers. Regrettably, effectiveness is decreasing for the remaining 10%.

TACTICAL EFFORT REQUIRED
The skill, time and expense required to perform tactics is an important consideration when developing the tactical plan of action to achieve marketing data quality objectives. Integrating sales and marketing data (46%) is a technical tactic requiring skills not always available in-house.

TACTICAL EFFECTIVENESS VERSUS EFFORT
Tactics that are much more effective than they are difficult to perform, are more likely to be included in a marketing data quality strategy and less likely to require outsourcing to a specialist.

RESOURCES FOR IMPROVING DATA QUALITY
Tactics for improving marketing data quality can require significant effort (skill, time and expense) to perform. Which is why 82% of marketing influencers in total outsource all or part of the tactics used to improve marketing data quality.


Methodology

Ascend2 benchmarks the performance of popular digital marketing technologies and strategies using a standardized questionnaire and proprietary 3-Minute Survey format.

The 250 respondents are representative of the following:

Number of Employees

  • More than 500: 50%
  • 50 to 500: 36%
  • Fewer than 50: 14%

Role in the Company

  • Owner / Partner / CXO: 26%
  • VP / Director / Manager: 57%
  • Non-Management: 17%

Primary Marketing Channel

  • B2B: 41%
  • B2C: 38%
  • B2B and B2C Equally: 21%

View the entire report and charts here!