July 15, 2014
Chart

Ecommerce Research Chart: Which department owns the mobile experience?

SUMMARY: As new channels and ways of engaging with customers emerge, many organizations are challenged with this question: Where does each customer experience best fit into our organizational structure?

Should IT control the mobile experience, or does it make most sense to live in an ecommerce department?

Should social media reside in the marketing department, or is it a Sales function?

In this MarketingSherpa Chart of the Week, we'll share our discoveries from 2,435 respondents concerning five aspects of the online presence – including social and mobile, of course.
by Daniel Burstein, Director of Editorial Content

In the MarketingSherpa Ecommerce Benchmark Study survey, we asked:

Q. Which functional department controls each portion of your online presence?

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Click here to see a printable version of this chart



Marketing department most likely to own social media and email campaigns

At more than half of companies, the marketing department was most likely to own social media (55% of companies) and email campaigns (54%).

However, not every ecommerce company has a marketing department, as this survey respondent mentioned, "Since we no longer have a marketing department, many things were a challenge, and we missed out on a lot of profitable opportunities."

For both social media (13%) and email campaigns (15%), a general ecommerce department was the second-most likely department to own these functions.

IT department has a role in the mobile experience

The IT department can be an internal challenge for many marketers. For example, one survey respondent remarked, "Our marketing department is moving too fast for IT to keep up with our needs."

For marketers interested in optimizing the mobile experience, a good relationship with IT is essential. While the marketing department was still the most likely to own the mobile experience, only 26% of marketing departments did. The second-most likely department to own mobile was IT, with 24% of companies putting this department in charge of mobile.

For a deeper look into which departments own different aspects of the online presence, download your complimentary copy of the MarketingSherpa Ecommerce Benchmark Study, made possible by a research grant from Magento, an eBay company. In the Benchmark Study, we explored how the ownership of these five functions changes as a company's revenue grows.

Related Resources

Ecommerce Research Chart: How marketing budgets are changing for successful companies

Ecommerce Research Chart: Does customer responsiveness correlate with success?

Ecommerce Research Chart: How can companies increase conversion rates? [Video]



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