Omnichannel Personalization Stats for B2C Marketers

If you’re like most B2C marketers, the question is no longer, “Why omnichannel marketing?” You’ve probably already embraced the idea of data-driven marketing. Now the question is how to get the data you need about what works, what others are doing, and the ins-and-outs of creating a new omnichannel marketing program or updating an existing one. Some questions that might be weighing on your mind as well as the minds of your colleagues and competitors:

• Where should I target my efforts?
• How much of my marketing budget should I devote to omnichannel and personalization efforts?
• How can I use personalization to snag market share from competitors?

To help you answer those questions, we’ve rounded up a list of compelling stats about omnichannel marketing. Read on for insights to help you plan a successful personalization strategy.

The Power of Omnichannel Marketing

Just in case, you’re not entirely sold on the need for seamless omnichannel marketing, here are some telling stats. While there has been a shift in overall consumer behavior, growing up with online shopping and social media has profoundly affected how Millennials and Gen Z shop.

1. About 73 percent of shoppers use multiple channels when making a purchase.
2. Omnichannel experience results in a 10 percent increase in spend online—and 4 percent in-store.
3. Customers log 23 percent more visits to a retail store within six months after a successful omnichannel shopping experience.
4. Statistics show a 19 percent engagement rate for omnichannel compared to 5.4 percent for single-channel efforts.
5. Some omnichannel marketing research finds a 250 percent higher purchase frequency with omnichannel versus single-channel.
6. Omnichannel marketing boosts loyalty, showing a 90 percent higher retention for omnichannel compared to single-channel.
7. Less than 10 percent of Gen Z reports purchasing items in a physical store; compared to about one-third of Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers.
8. Over half of Gen Z and Millennial spend is devoted to products they find through Instagram and Snapchat.
9. About 34 percent of Gen X purchases are influenced by Facebook. This is followed by 29 percent for Millenials, 25 percent for Boomers, and 12 percent for Gen Z.
10. About 86 percent of consumers feel word-of-mouth is an essential sales channel; 80 percent view it as trustworthy.

Tending the Path to Purchase

Securing sales and customer happiness is not as simple as being everywhere, in customers’ awareness, all the time. Marketers must also truly understand the customer’s journey—length, touchpoints, and its various twists and turns. However, many companies find themselves struggling to both track and connect with customers along their journey.

11. About 40 percent of companies say that their customer journey is four months or longer.
12. Many customer journeys are long, with more than 61 percent of customer journeys having three or more customer touchpoints.
13. Almost one-third (32 percent) of sales occur after more than six customer touchpoints.
14. Approximately 87 percent of consumers rate salespeople as important to the sales cycle.
15. But, only 23 percent trust salespeople.
16. Nine out of 10 customers prefer to shop with brands that provide personalized offers and content.
17. About 87 percent of companies think the web is an important sales channel, but only 51 percent trust company websites.
18. Only 28 percent of companies use a multi-touch attribution strategy.

The State of Personalization

The vast majority of digital companies are making inroads with personalization. And with at least a dozen sources to choose from, there’s no shortage of customer data. Unfortunately, leveraging data remains a perennial challenge for many companies.

19. A whopping 89 percent of digital businesses are investing in personalization.
20. More than 83 percent of shoppers are willing to share their data for a personalized experience.
21. Forty percent of companies say personalization has directly impacted sales, specifically related to basket size and profits in direct-to-consumer channels such as e-commerce.
22. But good data is a problem. About 48 percent of companies struggle with data quality.
23. Many companies lack confidence in their data, with only 32 percent of organizations strongly agreeing that their data segmentation is granular enough to support personalization efforts across channels.
24. Only 23 percent say their organization is equipped with sufficient digital media targeting experience.

The Mindset of Personalization Leaders

For organizations leading the industry in personalization, the investment is paying off and shaping future plans. The following are some key learnings from the Forbes Insights publication: The Clear Path to Personalization. Based on survey results, Forbes Insights determined that “personalization leaders” saw much better results than “learners.”

25. About 54 percent of personalization leaders exceeded their target revenue compared to 15 percent of learners.
26. About 78 percent of personalization leaders say their organization can deliver real-time personalization across all channels.
27. Almost all of the leaders (93 percent) classify personalization as a high or very high priority, compared to only 28 percent of the learners.
28. Personalization leaders invest more—85 percent want at least 20 percent of the marketing budget to go toward personalization. This is compared to 4 percent of learners who feel the same.
29. AI has become a priority—71 percent of leaders say artificial intelligence is important or essential to their personalization efforts.
30. About 76 percent of leaders believe a customer data platform is critical to a personalization initiative.

Become a Leader in Personalization

Taking the lead in personalization can help your organization pull ahead in sales. But overcoming data challenges remains a struggle for many organizations. To learn more about the success and strategies of personalization leaders, download the Forbes Insights report: The Clear Path to Personalization.

Treasure Data is an enterprise-grade customer data platform designed to help businesses unify, analyze, and activate data. Request a demo to get started.