Introducing the Customer Acquisition Barometer 2015

15 Oct 2015

The Customer Acquisition Barometer 2015 - consumers get stricter as marketers become more lax

Our new research, produced in partnership with The Media Octopus, explored acquisition - how, where and when to find customers.

Like last year, the research includes a consumer and marketer survey, followed-up with marketer focus groups. This year the marketer portion includes B2B marketers as well as B2C.

Consumers will share data - depending on when they are asked

60% of consumers claim that they have not shared data when making a purchase or enquiry in the last 12 months. But they are not against sharing. With a brand they know, only 31% would not share, rising to 51% for a brand they do not know. This also depends on the channel, where the number claiming not to share data can fall as low as 26%.

Email is the prime marketing channel

Consumers and marketers agree strongly on one thing - email is their preferred contact channel. For 74% of consumer, they want email from brands they know and 60% want emails from unknown brands. Consumers rate email as the most trusted channel for sharing data (58%) and for marketers, 84% say they use email. But, only 36% say it's their most effective channel.

B2B use fewer channels, B2C want to lower costs

One-third or more of B2B marketers use six channels, compared to 15 used by the same proportion of B2C marketers. Marketers also want different things. B2B marketers wanted quality of leads (53% against 24% for B2C marketers), but B2C marketers wanted good cost-per-acquisition (48% against 24% for B2B marketers).

Incentives to share

Brands can encourage sharing with a range of incentives. For familiar brands, 46% would respond to a loyalty scheme, compared to 21% for an unknown brand. Competitions, coupons and free products/services from a known brand will encourage around three in 10 consumers, down to two in 10 for an unknown brand. Social sharing and exclusive content are the least influential incentives.

Consumers have a strong first-party preference

Consumers prefer their data to be used only by the company they provided it to (63%), with only 2% saying third-party usage is acceptable. As many consumers say they never read privacy policies (19%) as those that always do (20%), meaning their expectations on data usage could be better informed.

Marketers retreating on permissions and transparency

Only 56% gave clear and easy opt-outs at every step, while 62% clearly explained how data will be used, and 60% say why they need data in the first place. A minority (43% avoid small print or jargon. These are big falls compared to last year.

More DMA Code

While 65% follow the DMA Code, elsewhere there is a compliance gap. 55% follow the ICO’s guidelines, but 34% have their data processes checked by compliance. Most worryingly of all, 12% of marketers never conduct audits on their customer acquisition.

Customer Acquisition Barometer Report 2015