Report: The Customer Journey Remains a Key Area of Improvement for Marketers

As marketers look ahead to the remainder of the year, new research suggests that the customer journey remains at the top of mind for many.

The CMO Council published its “Getting It Done in 2021” strategic brief, and statistics showed that for the majority of marketers (50%), the customer journey, acquisition and conversion are all key areas of improvement for the remainder of 2021. This is followed by planning around digital growth strategies (36%) and campaign execution and measurement (35%).

“Interestingly, many of their targeted areas of improvement are operationally focused,” wrote the authors of the report. “They are more confident in areas like pricing and promotions, media buying and social media voice and creativity, demonstrating that while they feel their marketing brand, voice and value proposition is strong. Meanwhile, their ability to better understand the customer journey, automate and engage is lacking.”

Marketers and Mapping the Customer Journey

Many marketers are shifting their focus to the customer journey for acquisition purposes, and previous research suggests that they are turning to mapping for help.

Ascend2 conducted its “Customer Journey Mapping Survey,” and statistics suggested that most marketers (30%) are at least planning to create and utilize journey maps in the future. Nearly 24% are already building or testing journey maps, while 26% have and use defined journey maps.

In general, the majority of marketers (59%) have been at least “somewhat successful” at achieving the goals they set for their customer journey mapping strategy.