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McKinsey survey on what marketers say about working online

January 24, 2012 | Online Marketing

A recent McKinsey Global Survey revealed that marketers see clear value in social media when it comes to driving customer engagement, but they feel they are ill-equipped to transform insights into action because they do not have sufficient familiarity with skills such as data analytics.

Digital media and online tools remain a largely untapped resource for companies, according to a recent survey of marketing executives.1 Most respondents agree that their online presence is important and that digital tools provide their companies with a major opportunity, but few are taking the structural steps required to benefit from selling online or engaging consumers through new technologies such as social media. Indeed, most respondents indicate that companies are still trying to figure out how digital media can meaningfully improve their bottom lines. The survey asked marketing executives from around the world about the digital tools and channels their companies use and expect to use, the challenges they face and actions they have taken in response, and the metrics available to assess performance online.

The most pressing competitive challenge marketing executives identify is producing and using customer insights, and respondents hope to use data to drive sales and customer engagement. But they also say their companies often have only basic customer information—despite the tremendous increase in data available to them in recent years—and they report difficulties in measuring the impact of online tools and channels. Respondents also say they lack the internal leadership and resources to develop better analytical capabilities and, as a result, better information and insights about customers.

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