Study Finds Less Than Half of All Marketers Know Customer Communication Preferences

ExactTarget Launches Marketing Preferences Research Bundle Featuring New Studies on Marketer’s Multichannel Efforts, Customer Channel Preferences

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 23, 2009) – New data from a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of ExactTarget finds that while more than 85 percent of all marketers are executing multichannel campaigns, less than half know what channels their customers prefer.

The study found that while many marketers were relatively immature in their understanding of customers’ preferences those companies with a better sense of customer preferences achieved greater return on investment from their multichannel marketing efforts.

The best results come when marketers let down their barriers and collaborate on campaigns that span channels, according to Forrester’s Customer Knowledge is Marketer Power study commissioned by ExactTarget. The study found the key to selecting the best channels for customer communication is to know something about customer preference and behaviors; however, only 32 percent of the marketers surveyed know how customers behave across channels and only 37 percent know what channels their customers prefer to use.

The study is one of two new pieces of research released today as part of ExactTarget’s Marketing Preferences Research Bundle. The bundle also includes a study conducted by ExactTarget that surveyed more than 1,500 consumers to learn how customers’ online communications habits are evolving.

"The bottom line is that in an industry where new digital communications make it easier to send a variety of messages, it’s imperative that marketers not only send the right message, to the right person, at the right time, but that they use the right channel as well," said Morgan Stewart, ExactTarget’s director of research and strategy. "The ExactTarget Marketing Preferences Research Bundle provides marketers a complete library of research to improve their multichannel marketing effectiveness."

Key findings featured in the ExactTarget Marketing Preferences Research Bundle include:

Forrester’s Customer Knowledge is Marketer Power findings

· 80 percent of marketers surveyed claim customer preference is a key factor but only 12 percent ask customers their preferred frequency for email messages.
· 47 percent of marketers surveyed do not take any actions based on customer preferences.
· 27 percent of marketers surveyed measure whether efforts in one channel boost results in another.

ExactTarget’s 2009 Channel Preference Study

· Consumers prefer email more than 3-to-1 for marketing communications.
· Half of consumers consider unsolicited messages from companies whom they regularly conduct business unacceptable – up from 26 percent in 2008.
· 70 percent of consumers who visit Facebook at least once a month and say they are a "fan" of at least one company/brand and claim they have never given a company permission to send them information through a social network.

Source: ExactTarget