Economic uncertainty leads digital marketers to focus on customer experience

The pandemic led to a boom in online commerce, but as it fades away enterprises are keen to find new ways to understand and reach their customers, at the same time as addressing increasing privacy concerns.

Customer experience company Acquia commissioned Vanson Bourne to seek the views of 2,000 consumers and 200 marketers in the UK and the US on the digital marketing landscape.

The study finds that 94 percent marketers surveyed in the report say that their organization has changed its digital CX strategy over the past 18 months, particularly in response to factors like COVID-19 and the current economic downturn.

However, despite unpredictable economic indicators, most marketers' budgets are on the rise, with only 15 percent believing their budget will remain flat or decrease. Most have doubled down on marketing technology investments and see the return. 93 percent say their organization’s return on investment for marketing tech tools has improved this year.

"With all of the changes associated with the past few years, one thing remains true. Marketers must be able to quickly pivot their digital strategy to align with the market's and consumers' demands," says Mike Sullivan, president and CEO of Acquia. "Our signature research and event themes share best-practices for how top marketers have achieved this flexibility in the face of adversity, and how they've leveraged technology innovation to create a competitive advantage."

Despite the challenges of the last few years, only 35 percent of marketers feel fully prepared to embrace a 'cookieless' future to adjust to third-party cookie tracking technology changes. Yet marketers understand the growing sense of urgency around this challenge, with 88 percent reporting that gathering first-party data is more important to their organization than it was two years ago.

Interestingly it's often marketing rather than IT that is driving the choice of tools used, 44 percent of respondents say their chief marketing officer (CMO) is responsible for deciding which tools their organization employs.

From a consumer perspective, however, only 51 percent trust how brands handle their personal data. Marketers, on the other hand, are more optimistic and 78 percent think their customers trust their company's use of their personal data more this year compared to last year.

Among consumers 76 percent report being frustrated when brands suddenly appear to market to them because they searched online about the brand or a similar one. In addition, 83 percent believe their data will be more private when web browsers phase out tracking cookies.

The full CX Trends report is available from the Acquia site.

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