The State of Enterprise Cross-Channel Marketing
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Growing a business from ten employees to over a thousand is a monumental feat that many startups aspire to achieve.
Having navigated through hundreds of decisions to get to where they are, these enterprise brands stand tall as the powerhouses of innovation and strategy.
With their vast resources and unwavering commitment to excellence, they have embraced the transformative potential of advancements like AI, digital marketing, and data analysis to deliver cross-channel experiences that meet customers where they are in their buyer’s journey.
In this post, we’ll delve into the dynamic realm of B2C enterprise marketing, exploring its current state, trends, priorities, challenges, opportunities, and the remarkable strides these businesses take to engage and delight their customers.
Let’s get to it.
Who We Surveyed: Methodology + Demographics
Responses We Analyzed:
- All Responses: 730
- Enterprise Brands (1,001+ Employees): 221
Roles and Company Size
The majority of respondents said they are a Team Lead (29.9%) with 49.9% saying they are Director/Management/VP or another C-Level executive. In terms of company size, all respondents represented in this article are from companies with more than 1,001 employees.
Channels
According to our broad set of survey results, the most popular engagement channels that B2C marketers use are:
- Email (89.6%),
- Social Media (80.3%),
- Desktop Website (67.1%),
- Mobile Website (65%),
- Mobile App (49)%
When specifically looking at enterprise organizations, we see that while the channels they favor are in the same order as the general group, these brands are more likely to prioritize mobile apps by about 13%.
This might be the case because mobile apps allow for greater customization and branding opportunities compared to other channels. Also, apps can drive deeper engagement through features like push notifications, location-based services, and integration with other device functionalities—all of which can enhance the customer experience and foster loyalty.
This focus on mobile apps among large enterprises highlights their strategic shift towards more integrated and user-centric marketing approaches, leveraging technology to gain competitive edges in their respective industries.
Objectives
When looking at the survey results about enterprise top priorities, we see that 47.5% named “increasing customer engagement and loyalty” as their top response. The general group of respondents however, are much more concerned with finding new customers with 57% saying this is their number one objective in the next twelve months.
While it’s still important for enterprise brands to acquire new customers, enterprises have already invested a lot in brand-building and making a name for themselves in their target markets.
At this stage of their business, it is more cost-effective and beneficial to cater to people who already know, like, and trust their brand. They have the resources to create truly amazing omnichannel engagement programs at scale for their customers, who, in turn, will help spread the word about why others should purchase from their company.
Another interesting thing that they also prioritize understanding the optimal customer journey, which indicates that they are looking to invest in sophisticated software like analytics, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and customer engagement platforms (CEPs) to track and enhance each touchpoint within the customer lifecycle.
This focus not only aids in personalizing the customer experience but also in identifying key opportunities for engagement and retention, ultimately aiming to increase customer lifetime value and reducing churn.
AI Usage
Based on the graph, you can see that, when it comes to AI in enterprise cross-channel marketing, chatbots are the number one use case by a large margin at 36.7%.
Enterprise brands are also using AI to predict consumer behaviors to a greater degree than the general population of respondents (31.2% vs. 23.2%).
But why is that?
Well, enterprise brands significantly utilize AI, especially in AI chatbots and predictive analytics for a few compelling reasons.
First, the scale of operations in these large organizations demands efficient management of extensive customer interactions. AI chatbots enable instant, scalable customer service without the need for a proportional increase in human resources. This allows for consistent high-quality customer interactions even during high-volume periods.
Second, enterprises face complex customer journeys due to diverse product lines and customer segments. Predictive analytics powered by AI helps enterprise customer marketers understand these complexities, which demystifies customer intentions and behavior. With that kind of information, marketers can build robust engagement programs that give customers what they want.
Additionally, with access to large datasets, AI aids these organizations in data-driven decision-making, forecasting consumer behaviors, and market trends, thus optimizing marketing efforts and resource allocation.
Finally, in competitive markets, enterprises leverage advanced AI integration across various channels to maintain a technological edge. This not only improves the effectiveness of marketing strategies but also ensures a seamless customer experience across all touchpoints, crucial for retaining market position and maximizing efficiency in large-scale operations.
Challenges
According to the survey data, 38.9% of B2C enterprises have difficulty delivering personalized experiences, whereas the general group mainly struggles with budget and resource constraints.
This outcome is not surprising because, as noted earlier, B2C enterprises typically handle a large, diverse customer base and vast data volumes, which presents a significant challenge in delivering personalized experiences.
Despite having access to advanced technologies, the complexity of integrating and utilizing data effectively requires sophisticated analytical capabilities, which can be resource-intensive, especially if the technology they are using is difficult to adjust.
On top of this, high customer expectations for personalization, given their visibility and brand reputation, make any shortcomings in personalization more noticeable and impactful.
In contrast, the general group, which includes smaller businesses, faces more pronounced budget and resource constraints. Consequently, these groups are sometimes forced to prioritize immediate ROI activities over more resource-intensive strategies such as personalized marketing.
Another interesting data point from the survey concerns the average time it takes for companies to launch a new cross-channel marketing campaign.
While about 38% of enterprise respondents indicated they can get a campaign live in under a week, 26.7% admitted that it takes them over a month! This extended timeframe can be a significant drawback in a market where customers expect timely personalized communication from brands.
Every marketer fears investing a ton of time and resources into programs that fall flat because they didn’t get out the door fast enough to have the desired impact. And, as we’ll discuss in the next section, enterprises are notorious for using clunky legacy systems, which slow them down when it comes to campaign execution and optimization.
A campaign taking over a month to launch could be a costly missed opportunity, which is why it is critical to be as agile as possible in today’s constantly shifting market.
Along the same lines, 50.7% of enterprise brands noted that they can’t react quickly enough to create timely personalized experiences.
The delay is often related to the complex decision-making processes and necessary approval stages within large organizations, as well as the added time required to integrate personalized elements across diverse customer segments and channels. This slow response rate highlights the enterprise marketing challenge of balancing speed with effective customization, critical for maintaining competitive relevance and customer satisfaction in dynamic environments.
Technology
From our survey, we found that the majority of Enterprises (18.6%) are using cumbersome legacy systems to manage their cross-channel marketing programs.
Unfortunately, legacy systems often lack the integration capabilities needed to seamlessly connect different marketing channels, leading to siloed data and a disjointed customer experience. This hinders the brand’s ability to execute agile marketing strategies and is a main contributor to their inability to create timely, personalized experiences for their customers.
To circumvent this blind spot, brands can lean on a holistic customer engagement solution that will help them identify and easily act on patterns in their data. This software can stitch together data from various channels, offering a complete picture of how different customer groups engage with the brand, thus improving their understanding of the customer journey and the long-term impacts of their customer engagement program.
Best Practices
When examining the fundamentals of an effective cross-channel marketing strategy, one crucial element that emerged as a common factor across all sectors including within enterprise B2C was the utilization of customer data analytics for making strategic marketing decisions (29.9%).
By delving into the depths of customer data, valuable insights can be gleaned regarding consumer behaviors, preferences, and emerging trends. Armed with this knowledge, marketers are empowered to develop targeted strategies that precisely cater to and fulfill customer needs.
This approach facilitates the creation of personalized experiences that not only deeply resonate with the audience but also foster ongoing loyalty and engagement. It involves striking the ideal balance between professionalism and a personal touch to keep customers captivated and coming back for more.
In terms of how these organizations are using personalization, customizing communications for different stages of the customer journey was the most popular response, with 41.2% of enterprise survey participants saying they are personalizing in this way.
This is a slight departure from the number one response of all general respondents, which was using age, gender, location, and other basic forms of personalization.
Again, this is not surprising because enterprise brands have access to a lot of customer data—much more than a smaller operation. Because of this, they can perform more advanced personalization tactics to reach and engage their customer base.
By customizing communications for different stages of the buyer’s journey, these organizations can provide targeted messaging and content that aligns with the specific needs and interests of individuals. This level of personalization enhances the overall customer experience and increases the likelihood of engagement and conversion.
It’s also exciting to see that businesses at this stage are more likely to use some form of personalized communication than the general group. Only 9.5% said they are not personalizing at all whereas 10.1% of the general population responded that way.
Cross-Channel Marketing in Enterprise Brands: Closing Thoughts
In closing out our deep dive into the state of enterprise cross-channel marketing, it’s clear that brands at this stage face many difficulties due to the nature of their growth and scale. But, challenges aside, we’ve seen in this research that there are still many unique opportunities for enterprises to explore.
To recap, today’s enterprise organizations prioritize keeping their current customers engaged while digging deep to understand the optimal customer journey. This implies the need to invest in sophisticated technology that will allow them to measure and enhance each touchpoint within the customer lifecycle.
On a positive note, the lower percentage of enterprise brands not personalizing at all compared to the general population suggests a recognition of the importance of personalization in maintaining a competitive edge in the market, which as we’ve already noted is imperative for success.
However, even with access to advanced technologies, effectively integrating and utilizing data can be challenging for businesses at this stage due to the complexity of their organizations. This challenge necessitates sophisticated analytical capabilities, which can be resource-intensive, particularly if the technology they are currently using is a legacy system and is not agile enough to support their shifting needs.
Organizations that are struggling to execute timely personalized experiences or that are missing the mark with customer engagement due to technological limitations must take a hard look at their current strategy and determine whether it might be time for a change.
Interested in leveling up your enterprise cross-channel marketing program? See MoEngage’s cross-channel marketing platform in action by scheduling a demo today.
