Salesforce Research: Improving technology use is Irish marketers’ No. 1 Priority

Salesforce, the global leader in CRM, has just released the new State of Marketing report, sharing insights from over 4,800 marketing leaders across 29 countries — including 100 from Ireland.

The report covers the latest trends on how marketers are evaluating and implementing AI into their operations; approaching data acquisition, maintenance, and application strategies; and ensuring customer trust and security as vulnerabilities increase.

Key insights from the research include:

• Priorities for a new marketing era. Marketers are evolving their practices in a highly competitive landscape. They’re looking to AI — both generative and predictive — to help personalise at scale and boost efficiency.
  • Locally, improving our use of tools and technologies is Salesforce Ireland marketers’ No. 1 priority, while outdated tools and technologies/ creating a cohesive customer journey is their No. 1 challenge.

• Marketers shore up their data foundations. Businesses have long struggled to connect disparate data points to create consistent, personalised experiences across customer journeys. Yet as third-party cookies are depreciated and AI proliferates, that quest is only becoming more critical — and challenging.
  • 23% of marketers in Ireland are fully satisfied with their ability to unify customer data sources.
  • 66% of marketers in Ireland have access to real-time data to execute a campaign. 67% need the IT department’s help to do so.
  • Marketers in Ireland use a median of 10 different tactics to collect data, with customer service data being the most common.

• Marketers embrace AI with an eye on trust. Marketers are intent on successfully applying AI in their operations with the right data, but are concerned about security.
  • 75% of marketers in Ireland are already experimenting with or have fully implemented AI into their workflows.
  • AI implementation is also a point of differentiation: high performing marketing teams are 2.6x more likely than underperformers to have fully implemented AI within their operations.
  • The three most popular AI use cases among marketers in Ireland are: Automate data integration, generate content, and improve customer segmentation/lookalike audience modelling.

• Full personalisation remains a work in progress. To meet rising customer expectations around personalisation, marketers are graduating beyond broad audience segmentations, like location or age, to more specific identifiers like individual preferences or past interactions. There’s also a difference between how the highest- and lowest-performing marketing teams adapt.
  • High performers in Ireland fully personalise across an average of 6 channels, compared with underperformers who fully personalised across 3.5.

• Marketers seek unified analytics. There is no shortage of data sources, but putting that data to work is a challenge —especially when it demands a holistic or long-term view of data.
  • 58% of marketers in Ireland track customer lifetime value (CTV).
  • 90% of marketers in Ireland say they have a clear view into marketing’s impact on revenue.

• Deeper relationships emerge with account-based marketing (ABM) and loyalty programs. Companies are increasingly turning to strategies like ABM and loyalty programs for better acquisition and retention. Yet many of these programs’ information sources remain disjointed, as does the customer experience.
  • Only 69% of marketers in Ireland say loyalty data is fully integrated across all touchpoints.
  • 45% of marketers in Ireland say loyalty program functionalities are accessible across all touchpoints.
  • 59% of B2B marketers in Ireland use ABM for customer acquisition with a similar number 56% using it for upselling however just 38% for cross selling.

“Marketers have been quick to embrace the new era of AI and are already seeing it revolutionise how they connect with their customers. They also recognise the challenge, as the potential benefits from AI hinge on managing data efficiently and safely, with maintaining customer trust never being more important.” said Gareth Kelly, Head of Marketing, Salesforce Ireland.

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