​Report: Sharper customer lifetime value measurements attract bigger marketing budgets

Marketing leaders who can demonstrate accurate measurement of the lifetime value of customers and the impact of marketing activities on customer retention are most likely to succeed as influencers and get bigger budgets, a new report found.

The Telsyte whitepaper, Digital Leaders use Customer Journey Maps to Guide Business Transformation, sponsored by SugarCRM, surveyed 255 CMOs, marketing directors and other marketing decision makers from Australia and New Zealand in organisations with more than 100 employees to understand their attitudes, experiences and budgeting consideration for the Australian financial year commencing July 2015.

It found marketers who stated that their teams “always measure the lifetime value of each customer” and “always measure the impact of marketing activities on customer retention”, on-average received a 16 per cent increase to their marketing budget year-on-year.

Marketers who said only “often measure the lifetime value of each customer” and “often measure the impact of marketing activities on customer retention”, reported just a 4 per cent and 2.4 per cent on average marketing budget increase, respectively.

Those marketers who said they don’t measure either the lifetime value or impact of marketing activities reported an unsurprising zero per cent increase in marketing budget. Alarmingly, the research showed a third or more organisations still do not measure customer experience, customer lifetime value or use personalised marketing.

The report also highlighted the true priority of customer journey maps in today’s marketing mix. While a majority 75 per cent of Australian and New Zealand marketers in large organisations said have customer journey maps, 45 per cent admitting they rarely use them.

According to Telsyte managing director, Foad Fadaghi, marketers most skilled at measurement are being elevated in many organisations with both better funding and typically more stature.

“The CEO of the future will be data driven, and measuring, understanding and communicating customer data and insights is a critical part of this,” he said.

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