• by Karl Greenberg , December 4, 2015

There's a relationship problem between CMOs and CTOs: There isn't one. To properly misstate: these are ships passing in the night with regard to how to reach customers and prospects online and how to measure results. 

According to the new CMO Digital Benchmark Study, in which the Leapfrog Marketing Institute surveyed 131 U.S. executives who hold a director title or higher (81% in marketing functions and 19% in IT functions), over 60% of marketers and IT types said they don’t see eye to eye on incentives and metrics: while 20% of CMOs believe working on data-driven or technology-driven programs has improved the CMO-CTO alignment, only 4% of IT feels that way; and while 40% of IT executives say they are more confident in their company’s omnichannel consumer experience, only 27% of senior marketers are.

There is also a big perceptual disconnect at work. More marketers than CTOs think the CMO-CTO relationship is collaborative. The study says 30% of marketers articulated the feeling that they have a very productive working relationship with their IT departments. But only 13% of IT execs say they have the same feeling about their relationship with marketing. 

Omnichannel still lags as a digital skill. Three out of four marketers believe creating a seamless customer experience is important, but marketers have the least direct expertise. Only 15% of marketers say they have personal experience in this area. The study also finds that only 6% of marketers think omnichannel marketing is well developed in their organizations.

What isn't terribly surprising, given that most people spend most of their connected time on phones and tablets, is the growth of the importance of mobile. Two-thirds of respondents said mobile’s growth has a significant impact on driving sales. and half said they have built a “mobile-first” environment.

Oddly, the pressure by people upstairs, including stakeholders of various kinds, on marketers to bring home ROI on digital marketing isn’t paying off. The percentage of respondents who said they can track digital sales is 46%, versus 68% last year. In descending order, data tracking/analytics, mobile/web and SEO/SEM are the top three capabilities cited by senior marketers to achieve objectives. Those capabilities are also the least developed in companies.