Dive Brief:

• Sixty percent of companies think they're "customer-obsessed," while only 12% truly are, according to findings of an Adobe-commissioned Forrester study provided to Marketing Dive.  The report examined the role of email innovation in driving customer obsession, which Forrester defines as "deliberately making your customer the center of your total operating model."
• Email is one of the most important channels for customer-obsessed marketing, but it isn't being used to its full potential, according to the report. Nearly 70% of marketers rely on email for promotions, but only 8% of consumers said they were "very satisfied" with them. Customer-obsessed email marketers were also 2.8x more likely to use data collected from email regarding location and consumer preferences to develop consumer profiles. 
• Most marketers, or 60%, think their emails are interactive, but just 26% of consumers agree. Among companies that put consumers at the center of their operations, 91% say email is a key strategy for innovation, and the same number say their efforts have improved customer satisfaction. Revenue increases and differentiation are other benefits of customer obsession.

Dive Insight:

Forrester's research puts a spotlight on the disconnect between how marketers view their email strategies versus how campaigns actually land with consumers. Many marketers are clearly missing the mark with email marketing, one of the most effective marketing tactics and top profit generator, according to research from the Direct Marketing Association and Demand Metric

Marketers may need to put a greater focus on more meaningful and personalized content to improve customer satisfaction. Brands that make an emotional connection to its consumers can see better email campaign results and stronger "customer-obsessed" sentiments. A 2017 study by Persado revealed that email subject lines that were the most impactful evoked feelings of anxiety, achievement, guilt and gratitude.

Creating more experience-driven and tailored content can be tricky since there is a fine line between personalized messages and invasive ones using information like a shopper's location. Despite all this data at marketers' finger tips, many can't convert it well, with 40% of consumers saying marketing messages only sometimes feel personal, according to Periscope By McKinsey research. 

In addition, overly promotional messaging or simply blasting deals often does little to build long-term brand loyalty. For example, email volume was 4% higher around Memorial Day weekend, but open rates were 8% lower and click-throughs were 6.2% lower on the holiday compared to other Mondays, according to SendGrid research.