Marketers Struggle to Meet Customer Demand for Dialogue

Today’s marketing landscape is defined by a critical disconnect: while 83% of marketers recognize that customers expect two-way conversations, a significant 69% struggle to respond to inquiries quickly. This gap, highlighted in a major global survey of nearly 4,500 marketing professionals, signals a pressing operational challenge. The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence is intensifying this pressure, as customer expectations are now rising faster than most teams can adapt their strategies and workflows.

The integration of AI into marketing is now a widespread reality, with three out of four organizations actively using it. However, this adoption often represents a surface-level change. Many teams are simply adding new AI tools on top of existing, disconnected data systems and outdated processes. The true potential of AI, freeing up valuable time for strategic thinking and deeper customer insight, only materializes when marketers develop the necessary skills to guide and interpret these systems effectively. Data analysis and AI fluency are rapidly becoming non-negotiable core competencies for any marketing professional aiming to stay relevant.

A notable shift in trust is underway. An overwhelming 81% of marketers now express confidence in using AI to handle customer inquiries directly. This trust marks a turning point, enabling brands to offer responsive, round-the-clock communication at an unprecedented scale. Yet, speed alone is insufficient. For AI-driven conversations to be meaningful, they must be powered by unified, contextual customer data. A persistent obstacle for many organizations is that their marketing teams still lack complete access to customer information held by other departments like sales and service. When data remains trapped in silos, personalization efforts inevitably fall short, with 84% of marketers admitting their campaigns still feel generic to audiences.

The evolution is moving from experimentation to implementation. The concept of “agentic marketing,” where autonomous AI systems manage tasks, is becoming operational. Sixty-one percent of marketers report their organizations are either testing or fully implementing such AI agents, integrating them directly into live workflows. This is a strategic shift; for 68%, generative AI is critical to their overarching marketing strategy, indicating it is becoming foundational infrastructure. These autonomous systems depend entirely on real-time data to function correctly, needing current signals to personalize responses and adjust customer journeys dynamically. High-performing teams are 57% more likely to have a unified customer data platform, providing the single view necessary for AI to act with precision rather than guesswork.

Concurrently, marketing’s role within the business is undergoing a fundamental realignment toward direct revenue accountability. This is no longer an abstract goal but a measured outcome. High-performing marketers are 83% more likely to have a clear view of their impact on the sales pipeline compared to underperforming teams. The focus of key performance indicators has shifted, with over half of marketers now tying their top metrics directly to revenue growth and pipeline contribution. Improving orchestration of the customer journey across marketing, sales, and service is a top priority for 60%, underscoring the need for visibility across the entire customer lifecycle.

Despite these advances, delivering genuine personalization remains the field’s most stubborn challenge. The issue is not a lack of desire, 78% of marketers state they need more personalized content than they can currently produce, but an operational shortfall. While 64% understand that real-time data activation is crucial, many lack the integrated infrastructure to achieve it. The central barrier continues to be fragmented data; without a unified customer profile and strong data governance, even the most sophisticated AI tools simply accelerate the production of generic content. This creates a modern paradox: the technology for hyper-personalization is widely available, but the foundational data systems required to execute it effectively are not.

The collective data points to one clear trajectory. Marketing is advancing toward intelligent systems that operate alongside human teams, continuously optimizing interactions and triggering personalized journeys. The ultimate opportunity lies not in simple automation, but in achieving coordinated autonomy, powered by a unified customer view and real-time data.

(Source: MarTech)