Study: Lack of solid foundation in AI leads to poor results for marketers in SG

The majority of marketers in Singapore are embracing AI, with 78% having experimented with or fully implemented AI into their workflows. However, many lack a solid data foundation, which hinders their success with AI, said Salesforce in its new State of Marketing report, sharing insights from over 4,800 marketing leaders across 29 countries — including 100 from Singapore.

In Singapore, only 21% of marketers are fully satisfied with their ability to unify customer data sources – the second lowest globally, after the Netherlands (19%). The report added that many Singapore based marketers are concerned about security, but still around 78% are already experimenting with or have fully implemented AI into their workflows.

Globally, 41% of CMOs cite data exposure as a top concern, and around 98% of marketing leaders believe trustworthy data is essential. But, just as the data must be trustworthy, so should its integration with AI. To work successfully, generative AI systems require access to large datasets to learn, generate content, and create interactive experiences, underscoring the need to follow ethical and accurate guidelines while also taking steps to safeguard sensitive customer information.

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Interestingly, high-performing marketing teams are 3.1x more likely than underperformers to have fully implemented AI within their operations.

While the majority of high and moderate performers are testing, refining, and deploying AI, over one-third of underperformers have yet to graduate from a formal consideration phase.

“As a result, any AI benefits will elude these underperformers until they shift from evaluation to active experimentation,” said the report.

Many of these marketers use AI to generate content, automate customer interactions or improve customer segmentation / lookalike audience modeling.

In contrast to just two years ago in 2022 where 68% of marketers had a defined AI strategy, today 75% of marketers are already rolling up their sleeves and experimenting with or fully implementing AI.

Data related challenges persist

The modern marketer's challenge isn't a lack of first-party data - it's fully integrating this data across departments to get insights and plan effective campaigns that reach the right audiences. However, globally, only 31% of marketers are fully satisfied with their ability to unify customer data sources.

While the majority of marketing teams have at least partially integrated data for these tasks, roughly half or fewer have done so fully. Fully integrated data is more common among high performers, suggesting that investing in the right tools can pay off and investing in unification can give marketers an edge.

When it comes to data, marketers are under pressure to make sense of and apply the information they collect about prospects and customers – and do so quickly. About two in five marketers still don’t have real-time data at their disposal for crucial tasks, relying instead on potentially outdated insights — or even intuition. Even teams with live data are slowed down by their ability to activate it.

Case in point: while over half of marketers say data is available in real time to execute a campaign, 59% need the IT department’s help to do so. This could hint at a lack of tools needed to quickly unearth real-time data, or a shortage of expertise and training necessary to use said tools.

“As Marketers, we are used to the pressure of needing to do more with less whilst meeting the increasing expectations of consumers - especially around personalisation. And so, it's no wonder that we are leading the way with integrating AI,” said Wendy Walker, VP, marketing, Salesforce ASEAN.

“However, as we embrace this technology, what becomes critical is the need for the data we work with to be unified across systems, to give us a comprehensive view of customer engagements. Technology should empower creativity, allowing marketers to deliver meaningful and relevant content to their audiences; this is only possible with trusted data,” she said.

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