Only one third of UK marketers understand how its customers behave across multiple channels, according to new research from Forrester (commissioned by email specialists Exact Target).

Though results show that the UK is well ahead of its geographic counterparts – with 70% showing a higher understanding of multi-channel marketing than any other country – just 29% take an integrated approach to actually measuring it.

According to Peter McCormick, co-founder of Exact Target, this could be due to the fact that UK marketers often mistake consumers’ personal communication preferences with their how they’d like to be marketed to.

To support Forrester’s findings, Exact Target conducted its own research to compare the opinions of marketers with those of consumers. In support of McCormick’s point above, they found that 69% of women aged 18-24 stated that they would rather use text messaging when communicating with a friend. Does this mean that marketers can get in on the act and make a sale? No, as in fact, only 12% of this group has made a purchase as a result of a text message. It was direct mail that came out on top, with 54% saying that they’d bought something after being marketed to in this way.

Judging by the results of this particular survey, it’s no wonder that opinions are divided about the future of marketing online. Roughly half (53%) of marketers believe that email will be as effective in two years as it is today, while some (35%) believe that it will be even more effective.

Though these findings aren’t wholly surprising (and a lack of integration is a recurring pain point throughout the industry), the fact that just 32% of UK marketers can track whether efforts in one channel affect another means that there’s a huge gap still to be filled by the right technology, a new approach to working together and most importantly, listening to consumer’s marketing choices.