Executive summary
Three quarters of marketers have adopted AI, yet most say they still send generic campaigns. Data fragmentation is the main barrier, and a large share are already shifting toward optimizing for AI search.
Key findings
- 75% Marketers using AI
Share of marketers who have adopted AI tools. - 83% Customers expect two-way conversations
Marketers who say customers expect to reply to a message and get a response. - 88% Moving to AI search
Marketers who say they have begun optimizing for AI-generated search answers (answer engine optimization). - 98% Personalization obstacles
Marketers who report obstacles to personalization, with data fragmentation and quality the main causes. - 58% Complete access to service data
Only 58% have complete access to service data, 56% to sales data and 51% to commerce data.
Methodology
Survey of marketing decision makers in North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Europe, fielded October 8 to November 17, 2025, run by Salesforce. High and low performers were separated by self-reported satisfaction.
Salesforce publishes a periodic State of Marketing report. The tenth edition came out on February 19, 2026.
How to read it
This is a vendor-run survey: Salesforce sells marketing software and agents, and the report’s framing (two-way conversations, unified data, agents) follows its product strategy. The figures are what respondents say about their own organizations. The report defines “high performers” as those who said they were completely satisfied with outcomes from marketing investment, and “underperformers” as those moderately satisfied or less, so the comparisons between the groups rest on self-assessment.