Press release

New Study Finds That 88% of Marketers Are Using Artificial Intelligence; Yet Many Marketers Still Don’t Feel Very Well Supported by Their Technology

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Sponsored by Businesswire

Albert
Technologies
(LSE AIM: ALB.L), creators of Albert, the world’s first
autonomous artificial intelligence platform for digital marketers, today
released the findings of a new study conducted by Forrester Consulting,
“Harnessing AI’s Potential.” The company commissioned the study as a
follow-up to its 2016 research, which gauged marketers’ early
perceptions of artificial intelligence. The 2019 research, which looks
at the current state of AI in marketing and the role technology is
playing in personalized marketing efforts, is available in full here.

The study reveals that 88% of marketers today have adopted—or are
in the planning stages of adopting—artificial intelligence, and that the
benefits vary according to both the type of AI they have adopted and
their application of AI in their marketing programs.

Of those that have adopted an AI-driven marketing solution, 74%
of respondents reported using AI-assisted technology, which surfaces
insights for marketers to consider during manual decision making. Only 26%
of marketers reported using autonomous AI, which can act on its own
insights and work collaboratively with marketers.

Though adoption of AI has increased from 43% in 2016 to 88%
in 2019, marketers using AI are still experiencing similar complexities
in their processes and marketing technology stacks as they were before
AI adoption. Forrester concluded that this was due in large part to
their narrow applications of artificial intelligence and its use in an
assistive capacity, rather than a collaborative one.

This usage was reflected in respondents’ limited perspective of how AI
can be applied to broader marketing operations, beyond supporting
tactical campaign tasks. Only 39% believe that AI can play a role
in creative development, while just 34% believe it can provide
insights into other business functions. Only 22% realize it can
serve both needs.

Other findings from the study include:

Marketers are using AI like previous generations of technology.
When respondents were asked what impact martech stack complexity has had
on their organization, 47% reported it is to blame for their
customer engagement tactics not being as relevant as they should be.
Another 37% say it’s the reason customer engagement is not
delivered in the optimal channel. Furthermore, over a third say it
contributes to a lack of flexibility in their ability to innovate and
causes campaign development and execution to take longer than it should.
This is to be expected when AI tools are primarily run manually by
humans, which is the case among the majority of respondents.

Marketers’ relationships with agencies are shifting, as they move
toward in-housing.
When asked about marketers’ relationships with
their digital media and creative agencies, 42% of respondents
reported exploring the potential of taking their digital media and
creative in house and 24% already intend to do so. Thirty-five (35%)
are currently running some part of their digital ad campaigns internally
but struggle with scaling those efforts due to limited resources.
Twenty-one (21%) have an internal agency but struggle to find,
retain and compete for talent to run it.

Marketers don’t feel their technologies support their top objectives
well.
While 86% of respondents say the success of their
marketing programs depends on the ability to deliver personalized
marketing across channels, devices and customer lifecycle stages, only 50%
or less
say they feel “very well supported” by their current
technology in meeting their top objectives, including:

  • Gaining direct control over digital media buying (only 50% feel “very
    well supported”)
  • Improving the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns (49%)
  • Improving customer experience (43%)
  • Increasing customer retention (39%)
  • Gaining efficiency and agility in their marketing operations (37%)
  • Achieving a better return on marketing spend (36%)
  • Increasing customer acquisition (33%)

Marketers are wasting money and struggling with talent as they try to
keep up with shifts in technology and the rapid pace of interactions.
Asked
about the biggest marketing challenges their organizations were facing
today, respondents answered: Wasted marketing spend (30%),
inability to operate quickly enough (30%); hiring, retaining and
organizing staff (28%), duplication of technology/vendors (28%),
lack of integration among technologies (26%), and difficulty
translating insights into actionable outcomes (26%).

The survey fielding began in December 2018 and was completed in January
2019. Forrester Consulting surveyed 156 director-level and above
marketing executives, decision-makers and decision influencers directly
from marketing/advertising (47%), ecommerce (31%) and
customer intelligence (22%) roles. Respondents work in Retail (19%),
CPG/Food & Beverage (21%), Financial Services (19%),
Telecommunications (12%), Software (8%), Travel & Hospitality
(6%), Consumer Services (6%), Media and/or leisure (6%) and Electronics
(5%).

To download the complete study, visit: https://albert.ai/insight/forrester-report-how-to-harness-ai-potential/

About Albert

Albert, created by Albert Technologies, LTD. (AIM: ALB.L) is the world’s
first and only autonomous artificial intelligence platform for digital
marketers. Albert is the self-learning digital marketing ally for some
of the world’s leading brands: a thinker, a doer, and a support system;
automating, orchestrating and evolving campaigns across search, social
and programmatic channels. Always aware of the entire landscape, Albert
analyzes the previously unanalyzable, taking purposeful action and
flexibly optimizing against business goals. Brands such as Harley
Davidson, Natori, Cosabella and Dole Asia partner with Albert to drive
better allocation of budget against channels, audiences and tactics. For
more information visit albert.ai.