Just in Time Marketing Drives Higher ROI for Businesses

Just-in-time marketing can deliver a higher return on marketing dollars, and companies pursuing this approach are three times more likely to beat their peers on revenue growth, according to a report from Accenture.

Thirty-eight percent of the companies Accenture identified as just-in-time marketers have grown their annual revenues by more than 25 percent, compared to just 12 percent of their peers.

They also are ahead of the curve regarding capabilities including waste consciousness—82 percent report large efforts to minimize marketing inefficiencies, while their peers came in at 49 percent.

In addition, 57 percent of respondents said they are very satisfied with their ability to share the right message with consumers at the right time, compared with 36 percent of their peers.

“Just-in-time marketing is an approach where the overarching priority is reaching the right customer, at the right time, with the right message or offer to convert a sale,” Rob David, managing director of Accenture Interactive, told eWEEK. “What we found is that companies in general are doing quite the opposite. On average, fewer than 20 percent of all individuals that companies reach with their marketing have any interest in the product or service they’re being pitched. In other words, most marketing departments are vastly overproducing marketing that underperforms.”

These just-in-time marketers also have the ability to generate customer insight—87 percent have employees with specialized analytical skills to develop actionable customer insights, compared with 67 percent of their peers.

Just-in-time marketing companies don’t isolate digital marketing efforts from the rest of their marketing organization, as 58 percent described their digital and traditional marketing initiatives as very highly integrated, compared with just 19 percent of their peers.

They also have a handle on freedom with technology—58 percent report complete independence when it comes to making IT investment decisions (compared with 14 percent of their peers), indicating that the CIO-CMO relationship has grown more collaborative in just-in-time marketing companies.

“It’s encouraging to find that companies with the highest levels of just-in-time marketing capabilities were, on average, significantly outperforming their peers when it comes to revenue growth. There is, in reality, a very logical connection,” David said. “Just-in-time marketing isn’t simply about reducing waste, it’s also about boosting quality. When more of your efforts go to producing quality marketing that reaches the right targets, that’s a competitive advantage and becomes a strong driver of growth.”