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Despite Spending Increases, Online Marketers Still Flying Blind, Coremetrics Study Finds

SAN MATEO, Calif., Feb. 3, 2010 – A new Coremetrics study, “The Face of the New Marketer,” finds that while most marketers report a desire to use online data to personalize their marketing efforts and deliver tailored offers to their customers, their current technology use does not support this goal. Furthermore, there is a marked discrepancy between marketers’ need to manage to metrics and their confidence in the accuracy of the data. “The Face of the New Marketer” study was conducted on Coremetrics’ behalf by Bloomberg BusinessWeek Research Services.

Fully three quarters of marketers report that using various online tools for personalization is a priority and 81% claim that it’s very important for them to increase visitor value through compelling product and content offerings. Yet only half report they currently use online personalization tools (51%). This suggests that the information and data gathered through online marketing efforts is not being utilized to its full potential.

“Business leaders are aware of the value online marketing provides, but there is a disconnect in that many are not sure they are utilizing it effectively,” says John Squire, chief strategy officer, Coremetrics. “Companies that can harness marketing technology can then get the most meaning and value out of the data they collect from it. In turn this enables companies to personalize their marketing efforts and create a competitive advantage.”

While spending on online marketing efforts has increased, most marketers lack confidence that they are using the right metrics to gauge marketing success and value. When asked how they would evaluate marketing success at the end of 2009, nearly half (47%) said “meeting our key performance indicators.” However, well over half of marketers (62%) claim they are not confident they are tracking the right metrics for online marketing performance—a significant discrepancy.

Other key findings in “The Face of the New Marketer” include:

  • The two top challenges facing marketers are:
    • Obtaining an integrated view of customers across online marketing touch points (45%)
    • Interpreting the resulting data (41%)
  • The three areas that have seen the biggest spending increase this year are:
    • Online marketing (69%)
    • Generating online business (56%)
    • Web 2.0 (55%)
  • Marketing has always been viewed as critical to the organization. Two-thirds of marketers (67%) indicated that marketing has always been viewed as critical in their organization—only 19% say that marketing is seen as discretionary.
  • The three most commonly used forms of online marketing are:
    • Email marketing (87%)
    • Display advertising (86%)
    • Paid search (69%)
  • The three most commonly used marketing measurement tools are:
    • Individual online marketing campaign performance (77%)
    • Online customer behavior—per visit/session (76%)
    • Display advertising performance based on impressions (69%)
  • Collaboration is important and could be easier if barriers are removed. 97% of marketers say it is important for their organization to collaborate to better target customers. However, only about half indicate that this is an easy process. The biggest barriers to collaboration are:
    • Organizational structure (47%)
    • Control issues (38%)
    • Decision making procedures (33%)
    • And poor communication (33%)

Methodology
This research was conducted by Bloomberg BusinessWeek Research Services in conjunction with Coremetrics. The research was fielded in September and October 2009 to determine the attitudes and opinions of marketing executives with regard to the current online marketing landscape. The study is based on a survey 361 interviews with senior marketing executives in the U.S. and U.K., and can be found at www.coremetricsBW.com.

About Coremetrics
Coremetrics is the leader in marketing optimization. Its products help businesses relentlessly optimize their marketing programs to make the best offer, every time, anywhere, automatically. More than 2,100 online brands globally use Coremetrics’ Software as a Service (SaaS) to optimize their online marketing. Coremetrics’ integrated marketing optimization solutions include real-time personalized recommendations, email targeting, display ad targeting across leading ad networks, and search engine bid management. The company’s solutions are delivered on the only online analytics platform designed to anticipate the needs of every customer, automate marketing decisions in real time, and syndicate information across all customer channels. The company is privately held with funding from Accel Partners, FTV Capital, Highland Capital Partners, and W Capital Partners, and is headquartered in San Mateo, California.

Find more information at coremetrics.com or 866-493-2673.

Coremetrics has strongly supported online privacy since its inception. To learn more, visit www.coremetrics.com/privacy.

Media Contacts:
Michela Stribling
Senior Director, Corporate Communications, Coremetrics
Tel: (650) 762-1433
Email: mstribling@coremetrics.com

Shelley Risk
Horn Group for Coremetrics
Tel: (415) 905-4037
Email: srisk@horngroup.com

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