A new study has found that better customer engagement and marketing interactions are the top priority for the country’s marketing leaders; however, many are citing significant barriers when it comes to achieving this.

The study was conducted by Econsultancy, in association with marketing cloud software company, Responsys. It found that almost all respondents believe customer engagement is important to their company. Despite this, almost half centre their marketing activity on sending campaigns, rather than supporting the customer journey.

Unsurprisingly, marketing leaders were also found to have a firm desire to drive success, but more than half said their organisations lack a foundation on which to build lucrative long-term customer relationships.

A lack of vision was cited as one of the biggest barriers marketers are facing. This is being blamed on insufficient internal resources and an inability to effectively manage customer data.

A heavy focus on short-term strategy and inadequate overall direction with marketing strategy were additional reasons given for a lack of satisfactory customer engagement, with more than one in three believing this to be the case.

President of Responsys Asia Pacific, Paul Cross, says of the results, “It’s clear that customer engagement is fundamental to successful marketing, yet far too many marketers are still focusing on campaigns, rather than driving smarter marketing interactions that lead to better experiences and lasting relationships with their customers.

“Australian marketers see that they’ve got to move away from the campaign focus – like the campaign calendar focus of marketing – into a programmatic, individualised customer focus. I think clearly they all agree with that; the challenge over the next years is executing it,” he says.