Brands are losing customers because their marketing tech isn’t doing what it’s supposed to. A new survey by Intermedia Global, a digital marketing technology specialist, says 24% of senior marketers in the UK said they lost customers in the past year because of a problem with their martech stack.
About a quarter also reported bad press tied to tech failures. Four in ten had to respond to customer complaints, while others dealt with delayed campaigns (34%) or damaged client relationships (19%).
97% of CMOs said a martech issue caused some kind of issue in their business in the last 12 months. But the tools themselves aren’t always the problem, the company says: Most of the time, issues arise because of poor setup, systems that not working well together, and lack of practical support.
Intermedia Global (IMG) asked 250 UK C-suite leaders responsible for marketing technology in mid-sized firms earning between £100m and £500m a year.
One big trouble spot was AI. Nearly every CMO surveyed (93%) said they ran into at least one customer-facing problem last year tied to new AI tools that had been added to the martech stack, and half said it happened more than once.
Karla Wentworth, IMG’s chief strategy officer, said, “A badly-thought-out martech stack isn’t just a problem for the marketing and IT teams – it’s an existential threat to the entire brand. Ineffective targeting, error-filled communications and poor automation are causing brands to haemorrhage customers.”
She said AI tools often add to the problem, especially when rushed into old systems that can’t support them. “There are too many tools that don’t work well together. Marketing teams aren’t tech support, but they’re expected to act like it. I keep hearing the same thing: marketers are exhausted, frustrated, and overwhelmed. But it doesn’t have to be this way. They don’t need more tools – they need working ones, with clean data and solid processes.”
The survey also asked CMOs where customer-facing tech problems typically start. One-third pointed to IT, and nearly as many blamed their own departments.
Relationships with vendors aren’t helping either. Across every type of martech – analytics, CRM, website tools – CMOs said fewer than 30% of vendors are helpful. Email marketing and automation vendors got the worst reviews, with nearly three in ten CMOs saying these providers were difficult to deal with.
Wentworth said, “When marketing technology is failing customers, it’s failing the entire brand. CMOs are clearly unimpressed with most of the vendors they deal with, while customers are unimpressed with the results. If marketing departments are spending all their time troubleshooting their tech because they can’t rely on the vendors, where is the time for creativity and innovation?”
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