According to the report, only 3% of marketers believe that they are exceptionally effective in turning data and intelligence into marketing action, while 72% admit that it takes them too long to act on insights.

As a result, 81% of marketers surveyed by the CMO Council, in partnership with Catalina, say they are challenged to meet consumer expectations for personalised engagement.

"Brands and retailers have not yet closed the gap between consumer insight and shopper action and are, therefore, missing opportunities to respond in the moment of consumer need to influence purchase decisions, grow loyalty and improve engagement," said Dave Murray, of the CMO Council.

The marketers surveyed for the Measuring Marketing in the Moment report also reported that they see critical data sources and capabilities — like multi-touch attribution, digital engagement insight, real-time shopper behavior data and automated response capabilities — as major needs to close the gap.

"Understanding intent — the 'why' behind the buy — lies at the heart of personalising engagement and reaching the consumer in their moment of need," says Marta Cyhan, CMO of Catalina, a market leader in shopper intelligence and personalised digital media for CPG brands and retailers.

"Many of our most successful brand partners are tapping into insights tied to motivations like all-natural, organic and social good to engage shoppers at a more personal level, rather than buying media based purely on demographics," adds Cyhan.

"For example, factoring in whether someone seeks protein, prefers plant-based ingredients or avoids GMOs? — and then quickly measuring the reach of those shoppers and tracking their response to a campaign in near real-time — is delivering better campaign results and valuable new insights for CPGs," says Cyhan.

Nic Umana, global digital lnsights Lead at Mars Wrigley, says, "The consumer journey is no longer predictable or linear; rather we have to find those moments of discovery where we can deliver a smile and, hopefully, a chocolate." 

"We have prioritised 22 moments that we think represent the biggest opportunity for conversion, either to eat or buy," adds Umana.

Jonathan Lorenzini, founder of Advertising and Marketing Analysts and former leader at Facebook and Google, says that many personalisation and marketing efforts are sidetracked by hierarchical thinking that is slow to understand and react to consumer insights.

"One of the biggest problems that we see structurally is organisations making budgetary decisions at a very high level," Lorenzini says.

"They're far removed from the learnings of those closest to consumers, the people operating on a day-to-day engagement. This top-down planning makes it very difficult to have flexibility," adds Lorenzini.
 
Findings in the report include:
  • Seventy-one percent say that their personalisation capabilities are evolving too slowly, stymied by an inability to effectively measure results, a lack of the right talent and budget and an inability to access the necessary data.
  • Only 5% say they are satisfied with their current metrics for measuring campaign effectiveness.
  • Multi-touch attribution is viewed by far as the most valuable data that marketers need to improve their effectiveness, followed by digital channel engagement, location and real-time shopper behavior insights.
  • Only 10% are able to immediately move from intelligence gathering to marketing action, and
  • Fifty percent report that they cannot or do not adjust advertising and media mix mid-campaign to optimise results.
According to the report, today, the right data, analytics and marketing partner can help brands tap into a shopper's DNA to a shopper's purchase motivations, target their preferences to enhance relevance and make real-time pivots to reach them.

"Marketers need to prioritise winning in the moment by gathering, understanding and responding to buyer intent data and utilising multi-touch attribution and automated capabilities to respond more quickly to the shopper, and to optimize their campaigns in-flight," concludes Murray.

The full report is available for download here. 

For more information, visit www.cmocouncil.org. You can also follow the CMO Council on Twitter.