CDP Institute

In a follow-up to their January report, the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority raised the number of concerns they have with Privacy Sandbox to 79. Among other issues, they adopted the privacy concerns raised by another U.K. regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office. Google’s recent decision to shift third-party cookie deprecation to next year might mean they saw this coming.

Two-thirds of 1,000-plus employee companies report growing levels of CX maturity (33% at the “investigate” stage, 33% at “mobilize”) according to a survey of almost 300 experience management pros by Qualtrics XM Institute. While a growing number (almost 70%) see customer trust as key to success, only 21% are measuring it regularly. Businesses are spending more on XM technology, less on XM consultants.

For CEOs, improving customer experience ranks around fifth on their list of priorities for this year, lagging behind recruiting and retaining talent and increasing efficiency. Curiously, CEOs were much more concerned with meeting “customer expectations,” as if those expectations don’t include a good experience. Marcum-Hoftstra University surveyed over 250 CEOs and other senior executives.

Just over half of consumers (54%) like to receive personalized messages because they show the consumers are known to the brand, plus they can be time savers. The rest (46%) find it at best unimportant, at worst creepy. Relevance far outstrips personalization when it comes to driving email opens (54% vs. 19%). Takeaway: treat each customer the way they prefer.

Marketers say their top KPIs are long-term ROI and full-funnel ROI, but 70% plan to increase their performance marketing spend and reduce investment in brand building — a tactic that may not support the long-term strategic goals. There have been significant reductions in ad spend in traditional mass channels like TV and radio as dollars shift to digital channels. Nielsen research shows TV leading the way as a long-term ROI multiplier.