Marketers Identify Top Investments for Next 24 Months
63% Plan to Utilize Marketing Service Providers to Gain Expertise Through Selective Engagement and Shared Best Practices
BOSTON, MA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- January 12, 2007 -- Aberdeen Group today announced the recent
findings of a benchmark report outlining top performing Marketer's
prioritized investments in the selection of customer analytics strategies
and solutions for improved customer retention rates, higher revenues from
up-sell / cross-sell campaigns, and greater customer satisfaction. The
research outlined the tremendous pressures that Marketers are faced with,
including the requirement to contribute to top-line growth, and the need
to increase customer install base as well as market share. Marketers also
strive to optimize resources as they are tasked to identify and invest in
their most valuable or profitable customers while efficiently utilizing
both budgets and resources. Identified as a resource was the investment in
Marketing service providers. 63% of the top performers that participated in
the recent benchmark study "Business Intelligence: A Customer Analysis
Solution Selection Guide" identified their planned investments include
greater utilization of marketing services providers over the next 24
months. Enterprises participating in three recent AberdeenGroup benchmark
studies cited Business Intelligence/Analytics applications and tools among
the top prioritized investments for the next 12-24 months.
This report by Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), notes that
leading companies surveyed had planned investments that underscore the
value they place in leveraging technology such as predictive analytics
(66%) and multi-channel marketing automation tools (66%) in providing a
seamless experience for customers. Top performers focus on customer value
and customer retention at rates 2X higher than other benchmarked groups,
and leaders outperform their peers at performance rates that are nearly two
times as high in all key metrics.
"Marketers must find effective ways to communicate, interact and to provide
service to customers based on value metrics. Ideally, highly profitable
customers would receive more attention, service and resources than less
profitable ones," notes Alan Hubbard, Sr. Research Analyst at Aberdeen.
The report also outlines that survey respondents revealed that behavioral
information is stored within multiple systems: CRM (42%), Marketing
Automation (32%), and Web tools (40%). Creation of predictive models,
scores or workflow can be done with either business intelligence platforms
or predictive analytics tools (43%) embedded within existing marketing
processes. All respondents confirmed that they are addressing challenges
from a technology, process, performance, and organizational persepctive.
To download a complimentary copy of this report, underwritten by
Intelligent Results, KXEN, Opera Solutions, Unica, please visit:
http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=3709
About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company
Aberdeen is a leading provider of fact-based research and market
intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having benchmarked more
than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is uniquely
positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating
demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment
analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets,
corporations turn to Aberdeen for insights that drive decisions.
As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in
context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's
analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of
Harte-Hanks (Information - Opportunity - Insight - Engagement -
Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role
Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit
Aberdeen http://www.aberdeen.com or call (617) 723-7890, or to learn more
about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748 or go to http://www.harte-hanks.com.