Implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning is currently relatively low – but in the next three years, top marketers expect to integrate these technologies to a greater degree, per the latest report [pdf] from The CMO Survey.
Among respondents who are currently using AI, some 56.5% said they were using it for content personalization. While personalization has proven to be effective for marketing efforts, it is also time-consuming and difficult to do at scale. AI may be able to alleviate these issues.
Another 56.5% of companies employing AI employ the technology for predictive analytics for customer insights. Some of the other key uses include targeting decisions (49.6%), customer segmentation (40.9%), programmatic advertising and media buying (38.3%) and improving marketing ROI by optimizing marketing content and timing (33.9%).
B2C Dominates AI Usage
The CMO Survey found that B2B CMOs’ implementation of AI is particularly low. Wpromote data reinforces the low adoption rate of AI among B2B firms, with more than half (54%) of B2B marketers they surveyed stating that they had not tried or currently use AI technology. However, this latest study does indicate that the level to which B2B companies implement AI will double in the next 3 years.
Currently, B2B companies that do use AI are lagging behind B2C in their application of AI in various marketing activities. While B2B service companies are the top user of AI for content personalization (62.2%) – and B2B product companies use AI for augmented and virtual reality , facial recognition and visual search more than any other business types – B2C companies dominate when it comes to using AI for most marketing activities.
More specifically, it’s B2C service companies that use AI the most overall. Of the eleven marketing activities named in the survey, B2C service companies are the top user of six of the activities listed. These include targeting decisions (72.7%), predictive analytics for customer insights (68.2%), programmatic advertising and media buying (59.1%), and improving marketing ROI by optimizing marketing content and timing (40.9%).
To read more, view the report here.
About the Data: The CMO Report is comprised of results from a survey of 323 top marketers from US for-profit companies. A majority (97%) of respondents were VP-level or above.
