Forrester has put out a new report commissioned by Silverpop, surveying 157 U.S. marketers on behavioral data and automation.

“Of the findings, the most notable might be that while marketers who leverage buyer insight / data in their campaigns experience significant biz benefits above their peers, behavioral data still remains, per Forrester, ‘the greatest untapped marketing asset’—with only 45% actually capturing this data in a way that’s both efficient and actionable,” a spokesperson tells WebProNews. “Having data is important, but remember, brands have to be able to use it—this means consolidating it within a single unified database for easy handling, etc. ”

Essentially marketers have a lot of data, but it’s inherently disorganized and messy.

The study was conducted in May, and found that when asked to assess the potential gain of taking specific actions with prospective customers based on their behaviors across channels, ROI and customer satisfaction/loyalty were the biggest perceived benefits (44%/42%).

It also found that behavioral marketers are getting more sales. In the B2B space, they attributed 34% of total sales pipelines to behavioral marketing (about 10% higher than their peers at 26%). B2C marketers attributed 26% of their revenues to their behavioral programs (with peers at just 21%).

“While marketers have come a long way in automating their efforts, not all are using marketing automation at its full potential and incorporating buyer behavior into their campaigns in order to deliver the most personal and engaging customer experiences possible,” said Bryan Brown, Silverpop director of product strategy. “Data is the fuel that powers today’s digital marketing campaigns and no insight is more valuable than what buyers tell you based on the actions they take. By capturing and then quickly acting on this behavioral data, marketers can form very rewarding individual relationships that lead to revenue and a deep sense of loyalty that can last a lifetime.”

The report can be found here (download page).

Image: Forrester