Four Years On and Marketers are Still No Closer to Understanding the Customer Journey

LONDON, April 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Mapping the customer journey isn't that straightforward; new research reveals a lack of omni-channel integration 

In four years, marketers have made little-to-no progress in joining the dots across their customers' journeys. This fact is included as part of new research unveiled by Call-based Marketing Automation company ResponseTap in partnership with Econsultancy, focusing on companies' and agencies' understanding of the customer journey, unveiling the marketers' view of the omni-channel experience.

When comparing marketers' views on integrated touchpoints between 2011 and 2014, the lack of change is crystal clear: when asked about it in 2011, 38% of the respondents said that the customer's journey was understood, but that there was very little management across touchpoints. However, when asked the same question four years later in 2014, the statistics remained the same.

This finding is surprising, given the technological evolution during these past years, especially when it comes to collecting customers' data. Surely, if the journey was understood in 2011, there should be some noticeable improvements by now? In addition, only 46% of the company respondents and 33% of the agency respondents consider it very important for businesses to join up online and offline activities, which is technically the definition of an omni-channel strategy.

So, why are marketers stagnating? The research identifies some of the barriers preventing organisations from getting a better understanding of the customer journey, the top one being siloed internal structures. Indeed, two-fifths (39%) of the agency respondents identified siloed organisational structures as a barrier, while 21% of marketers agreed that a lack of sharing between departments was an issue.

Call centres are one of the most relevant offline channels for businesses, cited by 66% of responding companies in our research as important, yet only 37% agreed that they are using this call centre data to understand the customer journey. The process should be seamless and shared between the different internal departments; 49% of companies and agencies pointed to digital marketing or ecommerce operations as responsible, while 24% identified traditional marketing departments or offline parts of the business such as call centres - only 27% of them said it was an even mixture.

Bhavesh Vaghela, Chief Marketing Officer at ResponseTap, said:

"After seeing the results, we have to understand why marketers stagnated for four years: were they biased by digital strategies, or are there other reasons? Is digital stealing the show, to the detriment of the other traditional channels? If so, with 66% of the companies identifying call centres as the most relevant offline channel for their business, it is becoming essential to make the link between all the businesses' activities: it's now, or never." 

"For an innovative business to deliver a premium customer experience, clarity around who in the business owns the customer journey is key. Ensuring that the internal teams are working coherently together across all channels will determine how successful the customer experience is."  

The report 'Understanding the customer journey' in partnership with Econsultancy is available to download for free at:

UK: https://www.responsetap.com/econsultancy-customer-journey/

US: https://www.responsetap.com/us/econsultancy-customer-journey/

About ResponseTap 

ResponseTap's expertise in call-based marketing automation takes call tracking to the next level and amplifies the depth and breadth of data across the end-to-end customer journey creating relevance and insight at every click. The addition of the telephone call to your online metrics enables you to see the whole journey, adding valuable sales attribution back to marketing departments while improving the overall customer experience. Over 1,600 brands (including AON, Hiscox, TUI and Today's Business) use ResponseTap, who's been named one of the top 50 fastest growing tech companies at the Northern Tech Awards 2015.

About the Econsultancy Report 

This is Econsultancy's first 'Understanding the Customer Journey' report, carried out in association with ResponseTap. There were nearly 2,000 respondents to the research request, which took the form of an online survey during February and March 2015. Respondents included both client-side professionals (including marketers and ecommerce professionals) and supply-side respondents (including agencies and consultants).