The online survey of 400 CEOs, CFOs and marketing employees at companies with 100 or more employees, was conducted in April and May this year by marketing consultancy CMG Partners and research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey.

The study identified a “significant gap” between measuring marketing activity and putting the results into action – with 93% of respondents conducting at least some measurement, but only 60% saying it was used as “a trusted input to budget and other marketing investment decisions”.

Only 24% of those surveyed said they believed they were improving business results by measuring the performance of marketing initiatives. The majority said the impact of measurement efforts was ‘neutral’, while 22% said there was no impact on improvement efforts, suggesting the investment was wasted.

Lack of data was identified as one of the main barriers to successful marketing performance management, along with inadequate technology, lack of organisational commitment to processes, lack of alignment between departments and lack of skills.

Rich Schreuer, senior VP of Chadwick Martin Beiley, said: “We found a high degree of interest in marketing measurement, but surprisingly very few executives reported success with translating that interest into improved marketing effectiveness or bottom line results.”

Schreuer said that those companies who were succeeding in marketing performance management reaped benefits in terms of market share.