Spotlight

Report:

The Forrester Wave™: Cross-Channel Marketing Hubs, Q1 2023

How does Forrester define the Cross-Channel Marketing Hubs market in 2023?

Cross-channel marketing hubs (CCMHs) help marketers overcome data and channel integration issues to consistently engage with customers in their moments of need. The market has evolved from 'cross-channel campaign management' (CCCM) to reflect the shift from scheduled promotional campaigns to personalized experiences triggered by customer behavior. CCMH vendors are evolving with new platform architectures, customer data platforms (CDPs), and mobile-oriented vendors expanding globally. The market faces challenges including tough economic conditions, data deprecation, and 3D connected consumers, requiring sophisticated cross-channel experiences at scale, customer outcome measurement, and AI-based recommendations in business language.

Key Facts for The Forrester Wave™: Cross-Channel Marketing Hubs, Q1 2023 in 2023

How did the Cross-Channel Marketing Hubs market evolve in 2023?

What product features are required to be included in this year's evaluation?

What are the common features of top products in the Cross-Channel Marketing Hubs space?

No common features specified.

Scope Exclusions

Inclusion Criteria

Vendors must, among other requirements:

Offering Strengths — Relative Weighting

Strategy Strength — Relative Weighting

FAQs

Q: What does this research cover?

A: This research covers a comprehensive evaluation of 15 cross-channel marketing hub (CCMH) providers using 26 criteria grouped into three categories: current offering (customer data management, analytics, experience design, orchestration, measurement, and localization), strategy (product vision, innovation roadmap, market approach, performance, supporting services, and partner ecosystem), and market presence. The evaluation identifies Leaders, Strong Performers, Contenders, and Challengers in the CCMH market.

Q: Who should use this research?

A: B2C marketing professionals should use this research to select the right cross-channel marketing hub provider for their needs. The report helps marketers evaluate vendors based on their ability to support sophisticated cross-channel experiences at scale, deliver both business and customer outcomes, and ease human workloads with AI-based recommendations. It provides detailed vendor profiles, strengths and weaknesses, and customizable scoring tools to help buyers make informed purchasing decisions in the CCMH marketplace.

Q: What are the mandatory features of vendors included in this market?

A: To be included in this Forrester Wave evaluation, vendors must: 1) Serve at least 300 CCMH customers with significant enterprise focus (companies >$1B revenue) and notable global interest from Forrester clients; 2) Enable cross-channel use cases with at least 50% of customers orchestrating personalized experiences via three or more marketing channels, and at least 25% using five or more channels; 3) Have global go-to-market presence with at least one-third of CCMH revenues or 300 customers from outside their primary headquarters region.

Q: What are some reasons for not being included in this report?

A:

  • Customer base smaller than 300 CCMH customers
  • Insufficient enterprise customer focus (less than significant portion of customers with >$1B revenue)
  • Limited cross-channel adoption (less than 50% of customers using three or more channels)
  • Insufficient multi-channel deployment (less than 25% of customers using five or more channels)
  • Lack of global market presence (less than one-third of revenues/customers from outside headquarters region)
  • Vendor declined to participate in evaluation
  • Vendor only partially participated in evaluation process
  • Vendor did not meet material submission deadline of December 16, 2022
  • Solution does not meet core CCMH functionality requirements
  • Insufficient notable interest from Forrester clients globally

Q: What should buyers consider when evaluating products in this market?

A:

  • Support for sophisticated cross-channel experiences at scale across email, mobile messaging, digital advertising, and additional channels
  • Ability to help marketers deliver both business outcomes (transactions, revenue, CLV) and customer outcomes (satisfaction, emotion, friction, effort)
  • AI-based recommendations in business language using natural language processing to ease cognitive workload
  • Real-time dashboards that align customer outcomes with marketing and business metrics
  • Specific integration requirements for mobile app, web, or e-commerce channels
  • Support for e-commerce marketplaces, social media engagement, human-assisted channels, and emerging self-service channels
  • Vendor's vision alignment with transforming campaigns to personalized customer experiences
  • Change management requirements and implementation complexity
  • UX localization and regional data center needs for global deployments
  • Partner ecosystem strength for specific vertical or regional expertise
  • Service and support quality, training, and out-of-the-box integration capabilities

Q: How has the Cross-Channel Marketing Hubs market evolved in 2023?

A:

  • Evolution from scheduled promotional campaigns to personalized experiences triggered by customer behavior
  • Enterprise marketing suite (EMS) vendors in transition with new platform architectures and customer data platforms (CDPs)
  • Mobile-oriented vendors growing dramatically in Asia and expanding in North America
  • Tough economic conditions and budget constraints requiring marketers to 'do more with less'
  • Data deprecation and privacy legislation challenges
  • Rise of 3D connected consumers
  • AI and ChatGPT innovations making AI more accessible to marketing users through natural language processing
  • Shift from campaign-centric strategies to customer experience (CX) focused approaches
  • Growing emphasis on customer outcome metrics beyond traditional marketing metrics

Q: What differentiates Strength of Offering vs. Strength of Strategy?

A: Current Offering (vertical axis) evaluates the strength of vendors' existing CCMH solutions based on functional capabilities including customer data management, analytics, experience design and orchestration, measurement/optimization, and global access. Strategy (horizontal axis) assesses vendors' future direction and execution through product vision, innovation roadmap, market approach, performance, supporting products/services, and partner ecosystem. Market Presence (marker size) reflects enterprise customer adoption using the solution for three or more channels.

Reference

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