Let’s see what this week’s numbers say about online advertising, shall we?
- Understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) terminology and capabilities is growing among marketers, according to a recent report from the Marketing AI Institute in partnership with Drift, a Salesloft company. Some 77% of marketers surveyed (primarily at B2B or B2B2C companies) report an AI understanding that’s either advanced (16%) or intermediate (61%), up from 65% who said the same last year (11% and 54%, respectively). Based on a survey of almost 1,800 marketing and business professionals, the report finds that the CEO and CMO are almost equally likely to own the adoption and integration of AI technology for marketing, with 32% citing the former and 31% the latter. These results have changed little from last year, when the CEO was cited by 35% as the owner of marketing AI, and the CMO by 33%. Despite these hurdles, there’s a strong recognition of AI’s importance. About two-thirds (66%) of marketers consider AI to be either critically important (28%) or very important (38%) to their success in the next 12 months, while just 4% perceive it to be not important at all. Alongside this is a rising confidence in evaluating AI-powered marketing technologies, with 35% now expressing high (26%) or very high (9%) confidence, up from 32% last year.
- Adults in the US would be more willing to pay extra for upgraded materials or ingredients in products than they would be to pay an additional fee or charge for customized or personalized product options, according to recent survey results from Ipsos. The survey presented consumers with a list and asked for which – if any – they would be most willing to pay an additional fee or charge, with a maximum of 3 responses allowed. The top choice, by far, was better seats at a concert or sporting event, with almost 3 in 10 (28%) respondents including this within their top-3. Next up, about 1 in 5 selected upgraded materials or ingredients (19%) and groceries or food items facing shortages (19%), followed by enhanced functionality or technology features (17%). Rounding out the top 5 were customized or personalized product options, as cited by 16% of respondents. Exclusive or limited-edition products (15%) were around the middle of the pack in terms of willingness to pay a premium, on par with sustainable or eco-friendly product options (also 15%). Notably, only 1 in 8 (12%) chose premium customer service and support as a top-3 option for which they’d be willing to fork over an extra charge. The services that consumers would be least willing to pay extra for are luxury packaging and presentation and rideshares during peak times (“surge pricing”). Overall, a significant 28% of respondents would not be willing to pay extra for any of the 13 options listed.
- Customer experience (CX) professionals may be misreading what consumers want from a personalized experience, according to research from SurveyMonkey. Setting aside the finding that personalization of services isn’t actually all that important to them, the report suggests via parallel surveys of consumers and CX professionals that what consumers are looking for in a personalized experience isn’t necessarily what CX professionals believe they are. The CX professionals surveyed ranked what makes a personalized customer experience, putting individualized customer support first (cited by 48%). On this front, they were aligned with consumers, who in their own ranking of what they look for in a personalized experience also placed this first (43%). After that, though, a large gap in opinions emerged. Some 39% of CX professionals cited customizable products and services as a factor in CX personalization, while only one-quarter (25%) of consumers concurred, making this one of their least cited elements. To be fair to the CX professionals surveyed, past research has suggested that consumers do want customizable products and services, although it’s possible that preferences have changed since then. Several years ago, a piece of research found that consumers were equally as likely to view personalization in terms of customization as of service. A more recent study indicates that what might actually be important is personalized recommendations of products and services. In fact, a report released earlier this year found that tailored promotions are considered by consumers to be one of the top benefits of personalized engagement. Another even more recent study found that one of consumers’ most valued forms of personalization is for brands to send messages and offers that feel tailored to them.
- Customer experience (CX) leaders say they base their investment decisions more on customers than on competitors, but it may pay for them to listen a bit more closely to what consumers want, according to recently-released research from SurveyMonkey. That’s because in parallel surveys of consumers and CX professionals, SurveyMonkey found some significant gaps in priorities. For example, 40% of consumers chose unhelpful automated responses as being among their top 3 CX frustrations, making this their second-biggest frustration out of a list of 8. But when CX professionals were asked their top 3 priorities for improving the customer experience this year, only 1 in 4 cited making automated responses more relevant, putting this outside the top answers. Likewise, whereas almost one-third (31%) of consumers said that it’s a key frustration to have to continually explain their issue, only half as many (15% of) CX professionals placed this among their top priorities. CX professionals’ leading priorities also for the most part did not match up to consumers’ biggest frustrations. Although about 4 in 10 (39%) said that increasing personalization of services is a top-3 priority this year for improving customer service or support, only 12% of consumers reported that a top-3 frustration is service not feeling personal. And while 37% of CX professionals are looking to provide more proactive support as a top-3 priority, just 6% of consumers identified support that’s too reactive as one of their biggest frustrations. In fact, of the 6 areas highlighted, there was only one in which CX professionals and consumers were aligned: wait times. That’s because long wait times was the top frustration for consumers, and one of the top priorities for CX professionals to improve.
