The divide between brand and performance marketing is costing retailers revenue. Against today’s collapsed marketing funnel, the old playbook of awareness first, conversion later no longer applies.
Shoppers move fast and unpredictably. They discover a product on TikTok, research reviews on Google, see a retargeted ad days later and still abandon their cart. Customers don’t distinguish between branding, performance or product interactions — yet many retailers still organize their teams in silos.
The result is missed opportunities, wasted resources and frustrated customers who expect seamless journeys but encounter fractured ones.
The Real Cost of Siloed Thinking
When teams operate in isolation, the customer experience suffers. In a recent survey of digital professionals, over 52% said they spend up to half their workweek just searching for or validating data insights. Instead of spending valuable time directly solving problems, they’re wasting it simply trying to understand them.
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Meanwhile, the friction shows up where it matters most: 40% of all sessions still show signs of user frustration through rage clicks, slow load times and abandoned journeys. In addition to damaging the experience, this erodes loyalty and revenue in real time.
The problem runs deeper than poor coordination. When a customer moves from an Instagram ad to an email to a product page and drops off, who owns that insight? Marketing measures reach and engagement. Performance tracks ROAS and conversions. Product focuses on user experience metrics. But more often than not, none of them capture the full picture of why that customer walked away, just where they did.
Why Traditional Solutions Fall Short
Retailers often respond by layering on more tools or reporting. The core issue is the lack of shared intelligence. When teams can’t view the same behavioral signals in real time, decisions rely on fragmented or incomplete insights.
Take the case of a mobile form that creates friction, for instance. UX might uncover the issue through testing. Performance might see conversion rates decline. Brand might notice engagement dropping. By the time the insight is shared, though, thousands of customers have already abandoned their journey.
Sustainable growth requires faster, connected decision-making supported by shared data.
What Success Actually Looks Like
Transformation happens when teams stop measuring in silos and act on behavioral intelligence together. At Kendra Scott, the digital team ran 20 UX experiments in 2024 informed by unified customer data.
One test added visual indicators to mobile product listings showing that more images were available. This seemingly small change, guided by customer feedback and shared behavioral insights, increased swipe rate by 60% and lifted conversions by 1%–2%.
Another test clarifying the loyalty program’s value above the fold on landing pages generated nearly $1 million in incremental revenue. These examples highlight full-funnel optimization, with marketing, product and experience teams aligned around the same data.
Clarins achieved similar results across 29 ecommerce sites. With visually similar products causing confusion and their best-selling Double Serum going unnoticed by 70% of online shoppers, the luxury brand needed a better way to replicate its in-store experience digitally.
By acting on shared behavioral intelligence, Clarins introduced intuitive product differentiation icons, gamified engagement elements and strategic exit-intent overlays. The result: higher traffic to product pages, increased conversions and triple-digit growth in Double Serum sales.
Breaking Down the Silos: A Practical Roadmap
Brands like Kendra Scott and Clarins show what’s possible, yet many businesses remain stuck. Legacy structures, entrenched KPIs and data ownership battles often prevent organizations from delivering the seamless experiences customers expect.
Progress requires a fundamental rethink of how goals are set, how insights are circulated and how decisions are made. Here are a few steps retailers can take to address this:
- Align on journey-based KPIs. Replace disconnected metrics with shared measures that capture the full customer journey. For example, track how top-of-funnel creative drives qualified traffic, where engagement stalls and how those who return ultimately convert.
- Create real-time feedback loops. Behavioral signals lose value when trapped in quarterly reviews. Teams need systems that surface issues, such as a broken mobile form or confusing product layout, within hours or days. Monitor constantly and pivot often.
- Establish shared decision-making processes. Cross-functional sessions should go beyond updates. Marketing, UX and product teams must use the same behavioral data to set priorities and act collectively.
- Invest in connected intelligence tools. AI-driven behavioral analysis can explain, recommend and prioritize actions that matter most, turning insights into immediate improvements across teams. Seek out tools that account for both quantitative and qualitative data insights.
The Path Forward
Retailers gaining ground today operate in sync. They use behavioral intelligence as connective tissue across marketing, UX and product, making it a shared asset rather than the responsibility of a single team.
Organizations that fail to adapt risk losing customers to competitors that deliver smoother, more intuitive journeys. The consequences include lost conversions, reduced loyalty and weakened brand equity.
The future belongs to retailers that unify data, align goals and orchestrate across teams and every customer touch point toward one outcome: customers who stay, buy and advocate for the brand. Those who embrace this shift will define the next era of growth.
Dave Anderson is VP of Product Marketing at Contentsquare, specializing in marketing and customer experience. He also hosts Tech Seeking Human, a podcast exploring the intersection of technology and people.
