Survey Finds 89% of Graphic Designers Blamed for Poor Sales

Graphic designers spend significant time managing small tweaks, like swapping headlines, dates, or images. According to a study of 300 professional graphic designers conducted by Santa Cruz Software, these requests often distract them from bigger design projects while stifling their productivity.

According to the study, 89% of respondents say they get blamed for poor sales performance. In addition, 24% of the designers say they get blamed “all the time.”

The solution to this problem, in the opinion of the respondents, is customizable, branded templates. Nearly all survey participants (95%) agreed that the design customization process would be easier with this type of solution. 

“The disconnect between graphic designers and the departments that they work with acts as a roadblock, especially for sales,” says Mark Hilton, CEO of Santa Cruz Software. “When you remove this roadblock, you enable sales and on-site marketing teams to make alterations to existing designs while maintaining brand compliance. This empowers teams across an organization to have the flexibility to customize collateral for their specific needs while also giving graphic designers more time to design new materials, streamlining the entire design process.” 

Survey highlights

• 65% of designers spend half their week or more making small tweaks, often at the request of sales and marketing departments
• 55% of designers would rather spend 30+ hours weekly designing new materials
• 57% have been forced to refuse design customization requests due to a lack of time
• The departments that most often request materials are marketing (79%), sales (70%), business development (64%), and product development (62%)
• Most graphic designers work on social media ads (70%), banner ads (65%), posters (64%), and event fliers (63%)
• 88% of graphic designers say that a new design requires at least three revisions on average
• 42% say that new designs require six or more revisions
• The most common mistakes that graphic designers report seeing include designs that are non-brand compliant (48%), misleading claims (58%), informational mistakes (63%), spelling mistakes (60%), and unlicensed images (48%)