2023 Marketing Trends Every Brand Should Know

When it comes to making the most of your marketing budget, it’s a bit like building “The Dream Team” with limited resources – it’s not easy, but with smart scouting, strategic player acquisitions, and effective coaching, you can still compete with the big competitors. Just like any sports team, marketing campaigns require careful budget allocation, targeted investments in key areas, and a clear strategy for success.

That’s why we’re here again, folks – with a brand-new name and a fresh set of 2023 marketing trends and insights to help you navigate the ever-changing landscape of digital marketing! For the past three years, we’ve been surveying marketing pros across Europe to get the scoop on everything from industry trends to best practices.

And in our latest edition – the State of Customer Experience 2023 survey – we dug even deeper to understand how businesses navigate the unpredictable economic landscape and how it’s affecting their customer journey. We talked to hundreds of eCommerce, Finance, Media, CPG, and other businesses to get the low down on what’s working, what’s not, and what they’re doing to stay ahead of the curve.

So, buckle up and prepare for some fresh 2023 marketing trends and insights!

1. eCommerce Continued to Grow in 2022 Across All Regions

Based on our State of Customer Experience 2023 survey, it seems that businesses had a promising year in 2022, with 73% reporting an increase in sales (compared to 66% in 2021 and 44% in 2020) and 30% exceeding their expected growth rates.

But what’s driving this growth? Inflation and soaring prices have played a significant role in shaping consumer behavior. Instead, some industries saw more growth than others. For example, the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry exceeded growth expectations.

In retail, shoppers were particularly price-conscious and sought out deals and discounts, with many waiting until Black Friday to make high-volume purchases. This trend was seen globally, with online transactions up by 4.8% YoY during the peak, higher than what was predicted.

2. Improved marketing technologies and team maturity are significant factors in driving sales growth.

Investing in marketing technologies that are user-friendly can be a game-changer. Our survey found that 28% of senior business leaders attributed their increased sales growth to the use of improved marketing technologies.

Businesses that invest in user-friendly technologies won’t only improve their team’s overall understanding of customer data. They’ll be able to use it as an additional arm, particularly to smaller teams, as these enhance their ability to provide unique experiences for their customers.

For example, Forrester’s Total Economic Impact study on Mapp Marketing Cloud identified a key qualitative benefit as the ability to understand customer insights. This would provide marketers with the confidence to handle complexities and enable hyper-personalization. This, in turn, leads to increased team maturity and a deeper understanding of data, resulting in truly unique customer experiences that drive engagement and sales growth.

3. New Customer Acquisition Tops Priority List for Businesses in 2023

Once again, new customer acquisition is this year’s top priority for businesses as brands see increased/same budgets this year. But the traditional approach of investing more in paid advertising may not be a priority this time. With the rising cost of CPCs and CPAs, businesses are turning to first-party data and owned channels to drive customer acquisition. According to our State of Customer Experience 2023 survey, 31% of businesses plan to invest in new customer acquisition, while 30% plan to improve the use of tools and technologies, and 14% plan to adopt new marketing channels. Only 13% of businesses plan to invest in customer retention.

This all ties together: improving their tools and technologies will allow marketers to make better use of their MarTech stack and shift towards a first-party data strategy to collect and own data. This data can be utilized to optimize experiences on owned channels while adopting new channels additionally to enhance the cross-channel experience, increase customer acquisition, and grow customer retention for the long-term.

4. Top Customer Channels for Businesses: Email and Website Reign Supreme

Email and website dominate the channels businesses use to connect with their customers, with both being the most widely used and successful. With a usage rate of 95% each, these channels provide key touchpoints in customer experiences and offer opportunities for personalized marketing.

Marketers can achieve true personalization with email and website marketing, but mobile marketing (SMS, push, in-app) offers new and effective ways to stand out in cross-channel marketing and reach customers.

5. 82% Use Personalization in Their Emails, But Just 42% on Their Website

Personalization is powerful, but businesses still aren’t fully utilizing it across their marketing channels. While 82% of businesses use personalization in their email marketing, only 42% use it on their website.

This is quite a revelation, as last year, 36% of eCommerce businesses wanted to implement personalized experiences in 2022, such as dynamic content on their website, including product recommendations and dynamic banners. A common cause here is the lack of first-party insights and a fragmented customer view that often prevents businesses from fully personalizing on-site experiences. To achieve optimal personalization, businesses should ensure their technology helps provide a 360-degree customer view throughout their journey to help them adapt their strategies and provide customers with relevant content at the right moment.

Conclusion: Businesses Need an Insight-Led Marketing Approach

As businesses strive to improve their customer experiences and drive growth in 2023, adopting an insight-led marketing approach will be essential for success. But this requires having the fundamentals in their MarTech stack:

• Unified Customer Data
• Marketing Automation
• Customer Intelligence & Analytics

Think brands will be investing in these fundamentals or something else this year? Find out all the 2023 marketing trends and insights by downloading our full State of Customer Experience survey results here!