Marketing Updates Oct. 2020, Part 1: CMOs Are Unimpressed by Marketing Analytics, Chief Sales Officers Must Master Virtual Selling in 2021

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This is the first martech roundup of the top product launches and surveys in October 2020

Table of Contents:

Top Martech Product Launches

Top Martech Mergers and Acquisitions

Martech Surveys

Top Martech Product Launches

Facebook Messenger introduces a new-age logo and adds new features

Facebook Messenger announcedOpens a new window its brand new logo and introduced new messaging features for the app. This announcement came as a part of the cross-app communication with Instagram, which will be rolled out to most users in North America soon. The new logo showcases a move to the future of messaging, which is more personalized and fun.

Facebook Messenger’s new logo

 

“10 million people customize their conversations every day, so we know that personalization is important when it comes to how you connect. Along with our new logo and default chat color, we’re also rolling out new chat themes, like love and tie-dye, and custom reactions. Together with new delight features like selfie stickers and vanish mode that are coming soon, making your chats fun and personalized has never been easier,” said Stan Chudnovsky, VP of Messenger, Facebook in a blog.

Facebook Messenger’s new features celebrate life and togetherness.

Source: Facebook

 “With over a billion users around the world, our mission is to be a universal way to connect and be closer together. That mission has never been more important as people everywhere look to private online spaces to stay connected,” Chudnovsky added.

Samsung Ads welcomes Samsung Demand-Side Platform for programmatic buyers

Samsung Ads announcedOpens a new window the launch of its demand-side platform, Samsung DSP to provide direct access to programmatic traders and buyers. With this platform, programmatic traders can manage reach and frequency of their video campaigns across linear TV, CTV, and mobile/desktop.

Samsung DSP enables advertisers to target households who were exposed or unexposed to linear ad creative (cable/satellite/antenna). In addition, advertisers can control total frequency, measure reach by platform type, find and segment audiences across the Samsung household universe.

“Samsung DSP puts the power of the Samsung Ads proprietary data, scale, reach into the hands of the buyer,” said Karyn Johnson, U.S. president of precision, Publicis Media.

Google Marketing Platform announces third-party brand verification for campaigns

With the idea to offer seamless campaign execution, Google Marketing Platform introducedOpens a new window automated third-party verification in Campaign Manager and custom pre-bid filtering in Display & Video 360. The new feature allows advertisers to see if their ads are viewable and if they are running in environments that are suitable for their brand.

“The previous process required multiple teams working in spreadsheets to add third-party verification to each placement on your media plan. This required a lot of resources and often resulted in reporting discrepancies. Automated third-party verification is faster and less error-prone because it uses system-to-system API calls between Google and the third-party vendor,” said Sunil Gupta, product manager, Google Marketing Platform.

Okta brings no-code identity automation to digital initiatives

Okta, announcedOpens a new window Okta Customer Identity Workflows to help product builders automate the most complex digital transformation identity processes. The new product is designed with an access to an open platform for custom automation. It also offers options for developers and non-technical team with fully no-code options, and user-friendly flows that use a drag-and-drop tool.

“Every interaction within the customer journey today is unique, with businesses needing to cater to a variety of users in a personalized way,” said Diya Jolly, chief product officer, Okta. “Okta has built an identity platform that is broad and flexible enough to suit each of these unique experiences use cases. Customer Identity Workflows leverages automation to empower everyone in an organization, from a non-technical business leader to a developer, to program how user identity flows to and from every piece of the customer journey. This is incredibly powerful for any organization embarking on digital initiatives.”

AppsFlyer integrates deep links in email campaigns with Salesforce Marketing Cloud

AppsFlyer, announcedOpens a new window OneLink, deep linking solution on Salesforce AppExchange. OneLink creates a single link to lead users to a mobile app or app-store. With this single link, customers can gain visibility of the entire mobile user journey post email. They can also leverage mobile app behavioral data to make better decisions based on real-time analytics.

“Attribution and analytics are increasingly important across campaigns and reliable data is key to unlocking ROI and optimization,” said Elad Mashiach, chief partnerships officer, AppsFlyer. “Through OneLink’s deep link integration and availability on the Salesforce AppExchange, more customers will be able to not only create enhanced user experiences but better track the effectiveness of campaigns.”

Braze adds Microsoft Azure to its list of supported cloud platforms

Braze announcedOpens a new window its multi-cloud support for Microsoft Azure with general availability expected in early 2021. Braze’s Microsoft Azure will empower marketers with added flexibility, faster insights, and an expanded integration ecosystem to build adaptable customer engagement programs. Braze on the cloud computing platform aligns with their customer’s long-term technology strategy and investments. Customers will be able to use Braze on two global cloud platforms, offering the scalability needed to win in their markets.

“As consumer preferences continue to evolve due to uncertain conditions, brands are looking for flexible technologies that can withstand any type of disruption,” said Kevin Wang, senior vice president of product, Braze. “These offerings are intended to help brands evolve and reimagine their customer engagement programs faster than ever, which is especially critical during these challenging times.”

Top Martech Mergers and Acquisitions

Infosys plans to add U.S. based Blue Acorn iCi to its portfolio for $125M

A U.S. based digital customer experience company, Blue Acorn iCi, has been on Infosys’ radar of acquisitions for a consideration of $125 million. The deal is expected to close during the third quarter of fiscal 2021, subject to customary closing conditions. The acquisition will help Infosys consolidate its cross-technology capabilities through the convergence of customer experience, digital commerce, analytics, and experience-driven commerce services.

Ravi Kumar S, president, Infosys, said, “The Blue Acorn iCi acquisition is another important milestone in Infosys’ journey to build capabilities relevant to the digital priorities of our clients and reaffirms our commitment to the Adobe ecosystem.”

Dun & Bradstreet to bring Bisnode into their group for $818M

Dun & Bradstreet announcedOpens a new window it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase the outstanding shares of Bisnode Business Information Group AB (“Bisnode”). Upon closing the deal, Dun & Bradstreet will add over 110,000 Bisnode customers to its client base, ranging from small businesses to large enterprises, including having direct access to nearly 50 Global 500 companies headquartered in Bisnode territories.

“We are pleased to bring Bisnode into the Dun & Bradstreet family following a nearly two-decade strategic alliance,” said Anthony Jabbour, CEO, Dun & Bradstreet. “The powerful combination of our data, analytics and innovative solutions, paired with Bisnode’s deep client relationships and expertise in European markets will provide our existing and future clients with vital business intelligence to support their own growth ambitions. We look forward to welcoming the Bisnode team to Dun & Bradstreet and to working together to grow the global business.”.

Genpact bolsters its customer experience business with Something Digital’s acquisition

Genpact, announced its plans to acquire Something Digital, an interactive agency to deepen its commerce expertise for Rightpoint’s customer experience leadership. This acquisition will further Genpact’s strategy to fuse experience and process innovation to help clients drive end-to-end digital transformation and win in the growing experience economy.

“The shift from offline to online is impacting companies across every industry in a variety of ways, large and small,” said Katie Stein, chief strategy officer and global business leader, enterprise services, Genpact. “Bringing together Rightpoint’s tremendous experience expertise, with Something Digital’s commerce resources, creates a step change in our ability to help clients connect their enterprise front to back to finally be able to solve for experience-led, end-to-end digital commerce.”

TransUnion Announces Acquisition of Tru Optik to solidify measurement across CTV

TransUnion, announced to acquireOpens a new window Tru Optik, a data marketplace and data management platform for connected TV. This deal will allow TransUnion to focus on streaming TV/audio as part of an omni-channel identity strategy.

“Connected TV has quickly become most consumers’ preferred way to access long form video content. With the standard digital identity signals being sunset, marketers and media companies are looking toward a new generation of identity and audience products to reach the right people and households,” said Matt Spiegel, EVP marketing solutions and media vertical, TransUnion. “Tru Optik has been at the forefront of innovation in this area. Their data marketplace is integrated with the leading buy- and sell-side platforms and is available now for streaming TV and audio campaigns. By bringing our two companies together, our combined assets will result in an expanded suite of solutions that modern marketing requires.”

Sabio Group strengthens its partnership with Anana

Sabio Group announcedOpens a new window the acquisition of customer experience solutions platform Anana. The acquisition supports Sabio’s goal to become the leading player across the European customer experience market, adding scale and significantly strengthening the organization’s multi-vendor capabilities across EMEA.

“This is an important acquisition for Sabio Group as it further strengthens our expertise and relationship with Genesys. Acquiring Anana builds on our earlier addition of two Genesys partners – Coverage Group in France in July 2020 and Team vision in Spain in January 2020 to position Sabio as a key Genesys partner across Europe,” said Jonathan Gale, CEO, Sabio Group.

Martech Surveys

More than half of CMOs are unimpressed by marketing analytics, says Gartner survey

The Gartner Marketing Data and Analytics Survey 2020Opens a new window  revealed that more than half of senior marketing leaders are unimpressed by the impact of marketing analytics on their businesses. As a result, only 54% of marketing decisions are being influenced by marketing analytics.

“Though CMOs understand the importance of applying analytics throughout the marketing organization, many people struggle to quantify the relationship between insights gathered and their company’s bottom line. In fact, nearly half of respondents in this year’s survey say they are unable to measure marketing ROI,” said Lizzy Foo Kune, senior director analyst in the Gartner Marketing practice. “This inability to measure ROI tarnishes the perceived value of the analytics team.”

The key findings include:

  • Only 23% of respondents said they prioritized spending time on skill development.
  • Data science and campaign analysis are the top two areas where analytics can meet the expectations of CMOs.
  • 73% of respondents surveyed in 2020 plan to increase investments in the next fiscal year.

Chief sales officers must master virtual selling to address buyer needs, Forrester report

Forrester revealedOpens a new window the findings of its Planning Assumptions 2021 report to help leaders uncover key trends to prioritize their resources and investments in the year ahead. The report shares actionable insights for 13 B2B leadership roles to capitalize on in 2021. The key insights include:

  • B2B CMOs must be agents of change, not advocates for a comfortable status quo.
  • Chief sales officers must master virtual selling for their sales organizations to address buyer needs.
  • Demand and account-based marketing leaders need to drive engagement across buying groups in compelling ways.
  • Sales operations must improve capabilities to collect and analyze data.

Comscore predicts consumer vehicle shopping habits to recover during COVID-19

Comscore shared the resultsOpens a new window of its latest research on automotive industry. The study predicts vehicle shopper interest to rebound from its lowest point during the pandemic and new vehicle sales to recover as well.

Though consumers may be more wary, there’s still evidence that shoppers will strike out for compelling models, the survey says. While overall industry sales are down year-over-year, several top-shopped models have already met or exceeded their highest sales tallies for the year in August 2020, such as the Honda CR-V, Ford F-150, Ram 1500, and the Jeep Grand Cherokee.

“Automakers have thus far done a decent job responding to the challenges of the pandemic, supporting and incentivizing consumers, implementing new safety protocols to get plants reopened, and working with dealers to launch novel shopping experiences both online and in person,” said Dennis Bulgarelli, vice president, commercial, Comscore. “In order for auto makers to continue to reach buyers, it remains critical for them to adapt to the changing consumer behavior during the pandemic.”

User engagement online with brands across all industries take a dip, Decibel finds

Decibel unveiled its survey findingsOpens a new window from Digital Experience & Conversion: Industry Benchmarks for 2021 report. The survey analyzed 4.1 billion user sessions throughout 2020 across 11 industries to understand what frustrates, engages, and converts customers.

The user engagement score was below 5/10. This means organizations need to work toward better engaging their users. This is true especially in tech, where the average user engagement score is just 3.9, the report revealed.

“With the upheaval in early 2020 shifting much more activity online, the customer experience provided on digital channels is becoming the main competitive battleground for businesses seeking to win and retain more customers. For organizations serious about success today, investing in digital experience optimization has never been so important,” said Shane Phair, Decibel CMO. “The results of our annual report show us that there’s still plenty of optimization work to be done, and that no business or industry is getting it exactly right.”

Invoca finds 1 in 3 consumers will move to a new brand in case of troubleshooting websites

Invoca released the highlightsOpens a new window of its High-Stakes Purchases and Consumer Confidence in the COVID Era report. The study uncovers that 80% of consumers said fully functional website across devices made them feel confident. With the aim to help businesses cater to customer needs, the report highlights how consumers are approaching expensive and complex purchases in this new environment. The key findings of the survey include:

  • Brands must create a smooth online experience with options to get live help.
  • 33% of consumers will leave the brand if the website does not make it easy to find product or pricing info.
  • 87% of consumers said talking to a person on the phone made them feel more confident in making high-ticket purchases online.

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