Outcome-based Performance Defines Success
The push for consumer privacy is precipitating major changes in the marketing universe. Marketers are no longer able to track and target customers and personalize messages in ways they have been for the last two decades. Digital media success can no longer be measured against indirect proxies via third-party data. The time has come to redefine performance and activate a ROI reset.
Brands that were using third-party data heavily must rethink how they identify and connect with consumers. This requires marketers to approach investment and measurement in new and different ways. Cookie based targeting strategies are out and so with it should go dated metrics like click-through rates (CTR) and cost per click (CPC).
The focus is now on outcomes. Integrating a greater number of data inputs, including first party data, increases a marketer’s ability to develop custom KPIs that ladder up to outcomes or create digital proxies that better represent outcomes.
There are upsides to this new world order. While some marketing organizations have been early adopters of this shift, others are lagging in resources, systems and support to move in this direction. This gives all players a chance to reset, but those who fail to act will be left behind.
To gain insight on where brands lie along the continuum of an ROI reset, The CMO Club, in thought leadership with Xaxis, recently surveyed 45 CMOs across a mix of B2B and B2C organizations and industries.
This research also includes 1:1 interviews with CMOs and senior marketers from leading brands such as Comcast, El Pollo Loco, Fun.com, Honey Baked Ham Co., Land O’Lakes, Inc. and Pampered Chef to identify how marketers are elevating first party data and contextual targeting to strengthen connections with consumers and are proving success without cookie based metrics.
Key Findings
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Brands are bracing for impact.
- Among CMOs surveyed, 84% anticipate additional consumer privacy requirements will have a “moderate to significant impact” on their ability to target customers across; 80% anticipate their ability to target customers across channels will be most impacted.
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Marketers are increasing investment in measurable, attributable channels.
- In the next 12 months, CMOs indicate they will increase spend allocation in earned media (64%), video (63%), and partnerships (63%). But measurement is key: 89% agree/strongly agree that the ability to measure the impact of a given marketing channel affects the likelihood that they will use that channel.
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All marketers need the same muscle.
- In the cookie-depleted world, marketers are on a fervent quest for first-party data. A full 89% agree that it is “important” to “very important” to move away from third-party sources to data sources that accommodate increased privacy requirements. Regardless of a company’s size, industry or market share, the muscle all players need to flex is building direct relationships with consumers as a means to developing a cache of valuable first-party data.
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Improving the omnichannel view.
- Marketers are on the right track with a 360-view, but there is room to grow: 57% of respondents say they use modeling and measurement across teams and channels to share data and measure performance; only 20% cite 360-degree measurement across all channels and structured coordination across teams. Sharing information across departments, organizations and strategies is a necessary—and actionable—shift for CMOs to make now.
Read the guide: The Great Marketing ROI Reset – A CMO Solution Guide
