State of Marketing 2015: Marketers Shift Focus from Traditional Metrics to Metrics that Reflect Customer Satisfaction

It’s the start of 2015, and marketers are busy planning their budgets, priorities, channels, and metrics for the coming months. As consumer behavior continues to evolve, identifying the technologies, tactics, and channels that will drive success has become increasingly important for marketers.

Marketers who need insights to guide them in their planning can consult the 2015 State of Marketing report by Salesforce Marketing Cloud; 5,053 marketers from around the world completed Salesforce’s survey from October 2014 to November 2014.

The report emphasized that 84% of surveyed marketers plan to increase or maintain their budgets for 2015. Additionally, 38% of surveyed marketers plan to shift spend from traditional mass advertising to advertising on digital channels, such as social media, mobile apps, and more.

It’s clear that marketers are gearing up for more digital competition in 2015, given the numerous channels and technologies they can choose from. However, they need to find and maintain a specific focus amid the “noise” to create a solid strategy.

With an ever-greater number of responsibilities and tactics to test, marketers must keep a tight focus on the metrics that not only matter to their business, but also can truly be influenced. We asked survey respondents to identify their top metrics for success in the new year.

Figure 1 (Source: Salesforce’s 2015 State of Marketing)

As shown in Figure 1 above, revenue growth is the primary success metric marketers intend to use in 2015. It is closely followed by customer satisfaction, with 30% of all surveyed marketers citing it as one of their top metrics. “Increasingly, marketers are shifting attention from traditional metrics like conversion rates and return on investment to metrics that better reflect customer satisfaction,” Salesforce reported.

The study also found that email marketing—along with social media advertising and social media listening—have the highest very effective/effective ratings. [See Figure 2]

effectiveness-of-digital-marketing-channels-and-strategies

Figure 2 (Source: Salesforce’s 2015 State of Marketing)

On the other hand, the majority of marketers say they don’t know whether they’d use blogging, display/banner ads, corporate websites, or native advertising for their campaigns. Hence, marketers need to receive training and education to help them use these channels more effectively.

Lastly, among the many obstacles faced by marketers today, the three most pressing challenges are new business development, quality of leads, and remaining up-to-date with current marketing technology and trends. [See Figure 3]

Figure 3 (Source: Salesforce’s 2015 State of Marketing)

What digital marketing channels will you invest in this 2015? What digital marketing metrics are you planning to use?

About
Latest Posts

Marketing Digest Writing Team

The Marketing Digest Writing Team provides the content you need to keep you well-informed on the latest developments and trends in the digital marketing industry.