Marketers constantly strive to balance innovation with execution. We want to create seamless, personalized experiences; leverage the latest technology like AI to anticipate customer needs; and drive long-term engagement. Yet, for many, execution remains a challenge.

To better understand these struggles, Acoustic surveyed mid-market and enterprise B2C marketers across retail and ecommerce, travel and hospitality, banking and insurance, and media and entertainment. The findings reveal key gaps between marketers’ strategic goals and their ability to execute, offering valuable takeaways for those looking to optimize their customer engagement strategies.

Below are seven key findings from our research.

1. Marketers prioritize acquisition over retention, despite stated long-term goals

It’s no secret that customer acquisition remains a major focus for marketing teams. When asked about their strategic priorities, respondents ranked them as follows:

• Customer acquisition and growth: 61.9%
• Customer retention and lifetime value: 57.1%
• Data-driven insights and decision-making: 41.9%
• Operational efficiency and cost management: 41.9%

 

While retention and lifetime value rank high, personalization and conversion optimization — which are critical for long-term engagement — ranked lower. This suggests a misalignment between retention aspirations and the actual tactics marketers use to achieve this.

💡 Pro tip: Set your brand up for long-term success by focusing on each stage of the customer lifecycle. By keeping customers engaged based on their changing interests and needs, your brand will increase customer loyalty and retention — which is typically more cost-effective than acquisition.

 

2. Operational inefficiencies and data fragmentation block marketing maturity

Many marketers claim to have mature engagement strategies, but the data tells a different story.

• 45.7% lack advanced analytics capabilities.
• 45.7% cite operational inefficiencies and lack of automation as major barriers.
• 40% struggle with data integration issues.

Despite these challenges, 64.7% of respondents rate their engagement strategy as “advanced” or “highly mature,” suggesting either an overestimation of capabilities or a misalignment in how maturity is defined.

 

💡 Pro tip: To advance your marketing strategy, choose technology that can grow with your brand. While you might struggle with inefficiencies and integration issues right now, you can put the building blocks in place to advance your strategy over time rather than continuing to rip and replace your MarTech as your needs change. Marketing platforms that offer flexibility, ease of use, and scalability are key.

 

3. Marketers struggle to act on customer insights and behavioral signals

Having customer data is one thing — acting on it in real time is another. Our survey found:

• 46.7% have difficulty acting on customer feedback.
• 43.8% struggle with real-time triggers.
• 36.2% find predictive behavioral attributes challenging to act on.

 

This suggests that while automation is widespread, marketers may lack the insights required to make real-time decisions across channels.

💡 Pro tip: Today, marketers must move beyond basic personalization to achieve long-lasting engagement. By understanding an individual customer’s needs, preferences, frustrations, and actions in the moment, you can capture attention and craft a digital experience that resonates. Behavioral data is essential to understanding customers on a deeper level and keeping them engaged over time.

 

4. Investment in technology and collaboration are primary solutions to challenges

To address these roadblocks, marketers increasingly invest in tools and cross-team collaboration:

• 59% enhance collaboration across teams.
• 52.4% invest in more tools or technology.
• 51.4% refine their marketing strategy and prioritize key goals.

 

However, without improving data unification and cross-team processes, these investments may not yield the expected efficiency gains.

💡 Pro tip: No marketing platform will be the solution to all your marketing challenges. Investments in internal processes, professional services, and continuous learning for your team are essential. Breaking down data silos and giving each marketer the skills they need to work efficiently and effectively will result in successful marketing campaigns and customer engagement.

 

5. Platform selection is driven by data and identity management, not just features

When evaluating marketing platforms, respondents prioritize:

• Data and identity management: 60%
• Advanced analytics and features (e.g., AI-driven insights): 47.6%
• Compliance and security: 43.8%

 

This reflects a growing demand for platforms that go beyond tactical execution and instead support data unification, governance, and long-term flexibility.

💡 Pro tip: If you can’t easily comprehend how your customers engage with your brand across touchpoints, the experience you provide will be disjointed, or even irrelevant. Rely on solutions that enable you to understand customers and act all from one platform while complying with local and national privacy regulations.

 

6. AI and personalization are high priorities, but execution remains a challenge

AI and personalization are top of mind for many marketers, but execution remains complex:

• 52.4% cite AI, advanced analytics, personalization, and content optimization as missing features in their current stack.
• 43.8% also cite data management and integration as a gap.

 

Without these features integrated with campaign execution and cross-channel orchestration, marketing effectiveness suffers.

💡 Pro tip: Soon having AI capabilities in your MarTech stack will be table stakes, whether it’s for content generation, data management and analysis, or campaign execution. By utilizing technology that helps you gather actionable insights andwork more efficiently, you can determine which actions will empower you to reach your marketing and business goals while saving time and resources. Work with platforms that have AI capabilities already integrated, but also those that plan to include more based on their product roadmaps.

 

7. Marketers value performance over cost justification

When measuring platform success, marketers prioritize:

• 58.1%: Engagement and conversion metrics.
• 56.2%: Customer value and retention.
• 47.6%: ROI and cost efficiency.

 

Marketers seek technology that enables them to demonstrate clear business outcomes beyond simple cost savings. The ability to drive meaningful engagement and retention will ultimately determine a platform’s long-term value.

💡 Pro tip: As marketing leaders and CMOs faced increased pressure to showcase the business impact of their campaigns, performance measurement and optimization becomes more critical. Many businesses rely on marketing teams to grow and retain their customer base. By working with providers that can help you clearly demonstrate the impact of your campaigns to stakeholders, you’ll position the brand for success.

 

The bottom line

Marketers must take a holistic approach — focusing not just on the tools they use, but on the processes, data strategies, and collaboration structures that drive long-term success. By understanding the gaps in your marketing strategy, you can pivot and start building a foundation that drives long-term engagement and business growth.

Survey methodology

Acoustic partnered with Alchemer to survey 105 B2C marketers at mid-market and enterprise companies. Participants represented the retail/ecommerce, travel/hospitality, banking/insurance, and media/entertainment industries. The research was conducted in December 2024.