Insights from Dotdigital’s Hitting The Mark Whitepaper

In an era where marketing evolves at lightning speed, staying competitive means mastering the delicate balance of strategy, data, and customer experience across every touchpoint. Dotdigital’s groundbreaking Hitting the Mark report by our partner Dotdigital provides unprecedented visibility into how 100 global brands navigate this complex landscape, revealing critical insights on what drives marketing success today.

This report is for anyone in marketing, CRM, or customer experience who wants to step up their strategy and make the most of the latest trends in email and personalisation. Whether you’re a CMO leading big campaigns or in a marketing role fine-tuning emails and boosting engagement, the team at WeDoCRM and Dotdigital has broken it all down into real insights and practical tips that you can easily apply to your own marketing.

CRM experts at WeDoCRM share their thoughts on these trends

What makes Hitting the Mark so compelling? It goes beyond just industry benchmarks, it breaks down real-world trends, actionable strategies, and key performance insights that help businesses boost engagement, build loyalty, and future-proof their marketing efforts. All great stuff!

From the rise of mobile engagement to the power of first-party data and the growing influence of AI, this report highlights the shifts shaping today’s modern marketing, plus a detailed breakdown from our very own business development manager with his sales tips.

Here, our CRM experts at WeDoCRM share their thoughts on these trends and how we’re leveraging them to deliver exceptional results for our clients.

Data Collection and CRM Strategy

The report revealed many brands are missing opportunities by not effectively collecting and utilising customer data, particularly zero-party data (customer-provided preferences and interests). 

Annalisa – CRM Manager 

Question: What best practices would you recommend for ensuring brands effectively collect and leverage zero-party data?

“When collecting zero-party data, I would prioritise transparency and ease of collection. Your contacts need to see the value in sharing their information, so it’s crucial to communicate how it will enhance their experience with you. Try to make your form of collection engaging, rather than sharing lengthy forms, I’d focus on more interactive methods like simple preference centres, quizzes, or surveys.

The data you collect should help you build a picture of your customer, but remain relevant and geared toward improving the customer experience. Plan exactly how you’ll use this data, whether it is to refine workflows, improve segmentation, or enhance personalisation.

And most importantly, privacy and compliance with data protection regulations are non-negotiable. Make sure any data you collect is handled responsibly and securely, and adhere to the relevant data-protection acts in the targeted country.”

Personalisation & CRM Implementation

The research conducted in the report shows something surprising. Even as companies invest more in digital experiences, they are still missing the mark on personalisation. Across all the categories measured in the research, personalisation scored the worst, with only 8% of brands within the health and lifestyle, travel, and B2B sectors using personalisation tactics. It seems many companies are collecting plenty of customer data, but haven’t quite figured out how to use it effectively. 

Even basic tactics like location-based messaging or ‘welcome back’ prompts are underutilised.

Jordana Makin – CRM Manager

Question: What are the biggest challenges in integrating personalised marketing within a CRM system?

“Collecting and using data might seem simple at first, but it’s often much more complex, especially for businesses with multiple customer touchpoints. If you only have one or two entry points, like a website, booking form, or app, data collection can feel pretty straightforward.

But for many businesses, data comes from all over – mailing lists, contact forms, free trial sign-ups, webinars, e-commerce platforms, donations, and in-person events—often spread across different systems. Pulling all that information together into a single, reliable source of truth, whether it’s a CRM or CDP, requires development work to ensure everything syncs smoothly.

One of the biggest challenges? Getting company buy-in. CRM platforms aren’t just sales and marketing tools; they’re powerful, complex systems that need proper setup and maintenance to work effectively. Without dedicated expertise, businesses often run into issues like:

1. Unmet expectations – without the right support, teams can’t fully optimise or connect the platform.
2. Unintended changes -users with permissions may tweak settings without realising the ripple effects.
3. Underutilised potential—without proper guidance, companies might miss out on features that could drive real value”.

Email Best Practices & CRM-Driven Automation

The report highlights that while email remains a powerful marketing channel, many brands fail to optimise key areas. For example, only 6% implement BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification), and just 20% use personalised subject lines in their communications.

Daniel Clarke – CRM Manager

Question: How can CRM best practices improve email marketing performance?

“Utilising CRM best practices is a simple way to optimise your email marketing. 

For example, only 6% of brands have integrated BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification – an email specification – allowing the display of verified brand logos in inboxes). Despite BIMI being a reliable way to enhance email deliverability, security and trust, crossing over into greater open rates and purchase likelihood”.

To implement BIMI, email providers require:

• A brand logo in SVG Portable and Secure format (with specific requirements).
• A DMARC authentication policy is set to the enforcement level (“quarantine” or “reject”). 
• A consistent sending reputation and authentication practices. 
• Some providers (such as Gmail) require a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC).

Other underused but impactful email marketing strategies include using pop-ups on websites for list building; these also offer instant conversion opportunities. 

The best practices are: 

• Easy Subscription: A simple form with minimal fields.
• Immediate benefit:  Provide something of worth to your audience.
• Include a clear CTA: Be persuasive – encourage visitors to subscribe.

Finally, brands can collect customer feedback during the unsubscribe process to gain insights into why their customers unsubscribe. Utilising this information can help you align with your subscribers’ preferences and prevent further customer loss.

Cross-Channel Campaigns & CRM Integration

The report highlights that despite the shift to omnichannel marketing, brands are failing to integrate cross-channel personalisation effectively. Only 10% of brands use their data for personalised experiences across multiple channels.

Kirsty Dorby – Head of Clients

Question: What are the best ways to use CRM tools to synchronise messaging across email, SMS, social, and the web?

“I think it’s less about just integrating tools and more about strategic planning. Yes, you can (and should) integrate your SMS, email, social, and web tools with your CRM, but the real key is team alignment on a 360° messaging strategy.

For example, if the business is opening a new store in Covent Garden, the team should have a clear plan for when and how each platform, email, SMS, social, and web will promote it. Synchronising messaging ensures consistent communication across all channels, maximising engagement and impact”.

B2B Sales & Business Development

The report highlights how, in recent years, there has been a significant shift in B2B marketing. The market has been turned upside down by the growing number of Millennial and Gen Z buyers in the industry. 64% of all B2B buyers belong to these cohorts.

Cameron Gibson – Business Development Manager

Question: How can CRM help sales teams send more personalised messages to potential customers?

“In the corporate world, we understand ‘personalisation’ isn’t just a buzzword; it’s the bedrock of modern sales. A CRM should empower a sales team to build detailed customer profiles. We’re talking more than just names and titles. We capture interaction history, purchase patterns, pain points, and most importantly, company goals and objections. This data allows sales reps to segment their audience with laser precision. Having the ability to send a message tailored to a specific industry, addressing a unique challenge they face, or referencing a recent interaction. That level of personalisation builds rapport, shows you’re genuinely invested, and ultimately, drives conversions”. 

Quote from Roscoe Brown Partner Manager at DotDigital

“By choosing to work with suppliers that have great partner and affiliate networks, businesses can build a tech stack that is uniquely tailored to their specific goals. This allows for nuanced and underused techniques that are proven to drive success, to become a central part of your approach. For example, the creation of automated, personalized marketing campaigns that are simple to implement, great at keeping you ahead of the competition and perfect for building strong customer relationships.

Roscoe Brown – Partner Manager at Dotdigital

We can’t forget that business people are still people, they’re just at work – so the expectation for personalized messaging doesn’t change between when someone is shopping on Amazon and seeing recommended products, tailored suggestions and birthday reminders, versus when they’re looking for the right technology supplier. CRM systems are completely pivotal to that. By selecting a platform that enables marketing and customer success teams to send more targeted and relevant messages to potential customers, and that allows you to integrate customer data directly into your marketing strategies, the platforms you use start doing the heavy lifting for you.”

How WeDoCRM can help you

At WeDoCRM, we’re at the forefront of these trends, helping our clients achieve outstanding results by blending creativity, data-driven insights, and strategic execution. Want to learn more about how we can help your business thrive? Contact us today.

You can check out another piece from our comment series—this time featuring our partner Customer.io right here:
👉 Insights from the Customer.io Whitepaper: State of Messaging Report

In this comment series, we dive into key takeaways from Customer.io’s latest report on the State of Messaging including what’s working, what’s changing, and how brands can level up their customer communication strategies. It’s a great read if you’re looking to stay ahead of messaging trends!