Companies waking up to customer experience

Gathering behavioural data about customers is vital

The vast majority of organisations are embarking on multi-channel marketing strategies, despite only a small number currently having the ability to integrate offline and online activities to maximise sales, according to new research from Econsultancy.

The CRM 2.0 Report, published in association with customer insight firm Speed-Trap, found that companies are finally beginning to realise that customer experience has a direct impact on sales, and that 83 per cent of respondents either 'definitely' or 'somewhat' put customers at the heart of decision making.

The integration of offline and online data also seems to be advancing. Nearly 80 per cent of firms surveyed had offline and online arms, and 70 per cent said that they had a central repository for storing customer records.

However, the majority of companies are not yet able to integrate digital and offline marketing, according to the survey. Just 22 per cent of respondents are able to link online and offline data to optimise the user experience, 17 per cent can link real-time and historic data, and only 12 per cent can carry out real-time personalisation based on behaviour.

There also appears to be a disparity between the data being collected and its usefulness. Behavioural data is most useful, according to 68 per cent of respondents, yet only 45 per cent collect it.

"We are living in a multi-channel world. The technology is there for companies to take a holistic view and use it to engage with their customers in a more personalised way," said Econsultancy head of research Linus Gregoriadis.

"Companies want to take customer relationships seriously but, when it comes down to the nuts and bolts, they're stopping short."