Marketers Continue to Struggle With Data Quality & Strategy

Marketers have a wide array of data at their fingertips, but new research suggests that its quality leaves much to be desired.

Salesforce recently published the seventh edition of its “State of Marketing” report, and statistics showed that, on average, B2B marketers have 12 sources of data they can tap into at any given time. In 2022, this is expected to increase to 15, specifically in the B2B marketing sector.

However, only 33% of marketers are “completely satisfied” with their ability to generate more relevant experiences with customer data. About 42% are satisfied with their data’s quality/hygiene, and only 40% are satisfied with its completeness. ­Seventy-eight percent of high-performing marketers have a customer data platform they can turn to, compared to just 58% of underperformers.

Finding a Single Source of Marketing Data

Much of marketers’ struggles may be due to the fact that they have too many sources of data. Previous research indicates that several are still challenged to find a single reliable source.

Airtable conducted its “Marketing Trends Report,” and the results showed that marketers believe between 20% and 49% of data is duplicated in multiple places, such as spreadsheets, docs, and apps. This indicates that there is not a single source of data that marketers can turn to for all of the information they need.

A “lack of timely data to make strategic decisions” (46%) topped the list of challenges for marketers. This was followed by “gaps in skills or expertise” (41%) and “inefficient workflows” (38%).