Qubit recently commissioned Forrester Consulting to carry out a research project on the difficulties marketers are facing in getting the most out of their digital marketing technology. Read on for the key findings from the whitepaper, 'Digital Technology: The Organizational Quandary', September 2013.

1. The Organizational
Quandary
Qubit commissioned a Forrester Consulting
survey to find out the issues marketers face
with digital marketing technology
What did we learn?

2. 1. Executives support
digital marketing
technology

3. “Do you have a marketing technology strategy in place today?”
Yes
84%
“Do you agree with the following statements regarding
you marketing technology strategy?”
Senior manager supports it
91%
It is well defined
88%
Successfully implementing
it is key to delivering on
revenue growth targets
86%
It is tightly aligned
with business and
corporate strategies
84%
It is tightly aligned
with my IT strategy
81%
Base: 185 digital marketing decision-makers from the US and the UK
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Qubit, August 2013

4. 2. Having no marketing
technology strategy
affects business

5. “Do you have a marketing technology strategy in place today?”
No
16%
“Given that you do not have a marketing technology
strategy in place today, do you agree with the following
statements?”
It will negatively affect my firm’s
ability to deliver on its revenue
growth targets
90%
It’s why my digital marketing
technology is poorly integrated
87%
It’s why my digital marketing
technology is not clearly
measured against the revenue
it generates
63%
It’s why my digital marketing
technology does not support
an end-to-end digital
marketing workflow
60%
It’s why my digital marketing
technology is a joint crosschannel interaction with
my customers
53%
Base: 185 digital marketing decision-makers from the US and the UK
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Qubit, August 2013

6. 3. Companies believe
their digital marketing
is integrated

7. “Do you feel that your existing digital marketing technology is...”
Integrated; it supports end-to-end marketing workflows
and multichannel campaign execution, which contribute
to a unified customer experience across all digital channels
43%
Somewhat integrated; it supports end-to-end marketing
workflows and multichannel campaign execution but has
gaps that affect its ability to deliver a unified customer
experience across all digital channels
44%
Channel-focused; it lacks a full end-to-end marketing
workflow, which significantly affects my organisation’s
ability to deliver a unified customer experience across
all digital channels
13%
Breakdown of marketers with integrated digital marketing technology
By geography
By vertical
By company size
US
39%
Retail
39%
$10m - $99m
12%
UK
50%
Wholesale
trade
50%
$100m - $499m
49%
$500m - $999m
44%
Over $1 billion
61%
Travel, media
utilities
29%
Base: 185 digital marketing decision-makers from the US and the UK
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Qubit, August 2013

8. 4. But the majority
have existing
digital marketing
technology that
lacks full integration

9. “Which statement best reflects the state of your existing
digital marketing technology?”
We use all of our digital marketing technology to its
maximum capacity
44%
We use all of our digital marketing technology, but don’t
use (or underuse) some features and functionality
35%
A small proportion of the marketing technology we
invested in is “shelfware”
12%
A significant proportion of the marketing technology we
invested in is “shelfware”
9%
Base: 185 digital marketing decision-makers from the US and the UK
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Qubit, August 2013

10. 5. When marketing
technology does not work,
business costs increase
and revenues suffer

11. “What are the three biggest negative impacts to your business of your
marketing technology not working for you?”
Increased cost of customer acquisition
51%
Reduced new sales revenue
52%
Reduced customer lifetime value
43%
Decreased renewals
40%
Increased marketing effort and costs
32%
Increased customer churn
30%
Base: 185 digital marketing decision-makers from the US and the UK
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Qubit, August 2013

12. 6. Ecommerce and
marketing own
digital marketing
technology

13. “Which department controlled, controls, and will control the majority of your
marketing technology budget?”
Last financial year
IT
Current financial year
Next financial year
32%
15%
11%
Marketing
42%
49%
36%
eCommerce
16%
30%
48%
Operations
9%
6%
6%
1%
1%
0%
Other
“Which department has been, is, and will be mostly managing the
implementation and execution of your marketing technology?”
Last financial year
IT
Current financial year
Next financial year
30%
16%
16%
Marketing
41%
56%
56%
eCommerce
22%
24%
24%
Operations
7%
3%
3%
0%
1%
0%
Other
Base: 185 digital marketing decision-makers from the US and the UK
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Qubit, August 2013

14. 7. Digital marketing
toolkit expands to
include optimization

15. What are your firm’s plans to adopt the following digital marketing technologies?
Ad serving
62%
56%
Mobile website
54%
Product
recommendations
54%
Behavioral targeting
54%
Bid management
48%
Personalization
platform
43%
Multivariate testing
43%
A/B testing
Optimization
64%
Web analytics
Measurement
Paid search
SEO
Audience acquisition
70%
41%
Base: 185 digital marketing decision-makers from the US and the UK
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Qubit, August 2013

16. 8. Optimizing digital
experience is
currently a
top priority

17. “Which of the following digital marketing strategies will be your two most
important strategies this year?”
Optimize the digital customer experience
50%
Deliver a consistent and improved
customer experience across all channels
36%
Optimize marketing spending
36%
Grow marketing spending
33%
Achieve greater agility with our digital
marketing campaigns
24%
Improve the effectiveness of our
digital marketing technology in
generating revenue
22%
Base: 185 digital marketing decision-makers from the US and the UK
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Qubit, August 2013

18. 9. Several factors interfere
with effective marketing
technology use

19. “What are the top three factors preventing you from being more effective
with your digital marketing technology?”
The structure of my organization’s marketing teams
41%
Our marketing services partnerships aren’t always aligned with
what we want to achieve with our digital marketing technology
41%
We lack a well-defined and/or standard digital measurement
strategy, so we don’t have a consistent view on the effectiveness
of our digital marketing tools
32%
We struggle to recruit and/or retain relevant digital marketing
skill sets
32%
Lack of budget is a significant constraining factor
32%
Marketing workflows are poorly aligned with development cycles
30%
Our technology does not work well together and/or
is not integrated
24%
Our digital marketing workflows are incomplete and/or ineffective
23%
Our digital customer data does not work well together
19%
We lack a customer data-driven culture
13%
There are gaps in our digital marketing toolkit
12%
Base: 185 digital marketing decision-makers from the US and the UK
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Qubit, August 2013

20. 10. Building out mobile
channel and integrating
technology is in the top
three priorities

21. “What will your organization’s top three digital technology projects
be in the year ahead?”
Build out our mobile channel (apps, mobile
Web, etc.) capabilities
53%
Integrate digital marketing technology
46%
Build out social channel capabilities
44%
Build out strategic digital marketing
services partnerships
43%
Rationalize existing digital
marketing technology
39%
Rationalize existing marketing services
partnerships
31%
Reorganize digital, marketing, and analytics
teams to better support joined-up
digital marketing
31%
Integrate customer data
13%
Base: 185 digital marketing decision-makers from the US and the UK
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Qubit, August 2013

22. Download the
whitepaper here
to read more