Marketers Report 26 Percent Lift in Conversion Rates from Real-Time Marketing Activities

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 27, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Businesses have started to see results from responsive, real-time marketing efforts, but many are still struggling to implement them effectively. This was among the key findings in "The Real-Time Marketing Report," a new independent survey released today by Monetate and Econsultancy.

Real-time marketing; real business results
The survey of nearly 900 company and agency marketers across the globe, found that companies already delivering real-time marketing experiences realized a 26 percent lift in conversion rates. Other business benefits include:

• Better customer experience, reported by 84 percent of company respondents, and 82 percent of agency respondents
• Improved customer retention, reported by 47 percent of company respondents and 46 percent of agency respondents
• Better brand perception, reported by 34 percent of company respondents and 29 percent of agency respondents

From real time to right-time; the mobile effect
The survey also found that what has been defined as "real-time marketing" in the past is just one slice of what it has become. Due in large part to the proliferation of mobile devices, the new variables of "real-time marketing" go far beyond time itself to include weather, monetary/transactional data, location, behavioral data, segment/persona data, demographics, content viewed and device/browser data.

"Thanks to the mobile revolution, the amount of data now available to businesses has increased exponentially, and what we have previously known as 'real-time marketing' is rapidly evolving beyond social to include the full range of channels available to digital marketers,'" said John Healy, chief operating officer at Monetate. "Real-time marketing means not selling to customers, but serving customers – providing moments of convenience, surprise and delight that create a bond between a brand and a person, anytime, anywhere."

The survey findings mirror those found in Monetate's recent Ecommerce Quarterly report (EQ4 2013). According to the EQ4, in 2012, only one in five online purchases were made on a mobile device (phone and tablet). In 2013, that number jumped to one in three – an increase of 50 percent in one year. Mobile has unquestionably changed the way businesses interact with customers and their ability to deliver relevant, dynamic experiences.

Making it actionable
While the promise of real-time marketing has never been clearer to marketers, the implementation challenges continue to overwhelm businesses. According to the survey, technology and data are two of the biggest pain points for companies. Challenges reported include:

• 75 percent of respondents said their organization is somewhat ineffective, highly ineffective or has no capability to design customer experiences that take advantage of real-time responses
• 67 percent of respondents don't think their marketing technology is good enough to execute real-time marketing
• 55 percent of marketers rate their organization as somewhat ineffective, highly ineffective or incapable of collecting customer information as it occurs
• Only 19 percent of company respondents and 16 percent of agency respondents currently combine customer data insights from disparate sources into one centralized database/data warehouse

"Marketers – from the CMO to the brand manager, and everywhere in between - are trying to accomplish a transformation in 2014. They need to constantly learn about their customers every week, day, and minute, and then instantly act on those learnings," said David Brussin, CEO and co-founder of Monetate. "None of this is possible without the tools that find and combine relevant data and then make it instantly actionable. This lies at the very heart of what Monetate offers its customers."

The Real-Time Marketing Report was unveiled today during a pair of exclusive events in New York City, and London. 

Click here to download the full report.

About Monetate

Monetate is a marketing acceleration software company that believes when the customer wins, the marketer wins.

A new kind of marketing technology, the Monetate Acceleration Cloud lets marketers understand their customers' situations, behaviors and preferences, and act on those insights with in-the-moment, relevant experiences, targeted to the right customer at the right time.  The Monetate Acceleration Cloud runs above traditional infrastructure and is accessed through one seamless UI.

Monetate generates billions of dollars of new revenue for businesses, helping them grow 39 percent faster than the industry average. Brands such as Best Buy, National Geographic, and Celebrity Cruises rely on Monetate to put the customer first, creating stronger relationships that drive sustained competitive advantage.

SOURCE Monetate