Brands Put Customer Relationships at Risk, Merkle Research Reveals How Customer Data Strategies Play a Crucial Role

Merkle’s Customer Engagement Report explores critical gaps in how brands manage customer data, the impact on business growth, and key steps to getting back on track

Merkle, dentsu’s leading technology-enabled, data-driven customer experience management (CXM) company, released its Q3 2022 Customer Engagement Report (CER) highlighting priority areas for CX, data, and technology leaders. The report explores what’s behind the ongoing disconnect between the high marks brands give to the quality of the customer experiences they create versus the comparatively low grades awarded by consumers.

Merkle surveyed more than 600 marketing and technology decision makers of major companies ($100 million +) from the US and UK. Key gaps were found between their self-assessment and their actual approach to customer data – gaps that correlate with the disconnect in their customers’ assessments of their own experiences with these brands.

For instance, while most leaders (85%) give themselves high marks for customer experience (CX) maturity, only a small group actually meets best-practice benchmarks. Just 32% of respondents utilize data across the entire enterprise; less than 25% have migrated all customer data to the cloud; and only 24% manage all their campaign data in a central repository. The results highlight the rough patch brands and consumers are experiencing and the critical pitfalls many companies need to address before they get dumped.

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“Customers’ changing expectations and the need for data integration have long been documented, but even as brands attempt to deliver personalized experiences, there still remains a breakdown between what is ultimately delivered and what customers are actually seeking in these relationships,” said Courtney Trudeau, vice president of technology strategy at Merkle. “We’ve identified the tough conversations brands need to have to ensure they aren’t driving consumers away. Even the most brand loyal consumers aren’t safe if this disconnect in both priorities and business practices isn’t addressed.”