This lack of detailed understanding of GenAI among senior decision-makers in marketing may be hindering the eventual adoption of more sophisticated uses of GenAI — uses that could translate to improved organisational efficiencies, sustained marketing effectiveness and ultimately a sustained competitive advantage, according to the research.

While 75% of marketers are currently using GenAI in their day-to-day work — in fact, marketing is ahead of other business functions, including IT, in the adoption of GenAI — many marketers are using GenAI for simplistic tasks like copywriting, editing and content creation, which only scratches the surface of what's possible.

The research shows that when it comes to more sophisticated marketing use cases, only:

  • 18% are using the technology to build audiences
  • 16% are using GenAI for customer journey mapping
  • 14% are using it for price optimisation, and
  • 19% are using GenAI for audience targeting.

This is not optimal, according to the study, as marketers report that when they do embrace GenAI, they are seeing strong return on their investment, particularly in terms of personalisation (92%), customer satisfaction and retention (89%), processing large data sets (88%) and accuracy in predictive analytics (88%).

"It isn't surprising that marketers lead the way in GenAI adoption, as it lends itself to experimentation and creativity — both hallmarks of the marketing profession," says Jenn Chase, Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President at SAS.

"However, it is disappointing that a lack of understanding of GenAI at the CMO and senior management level is holding organisations back from experiencing the full potential of this exciting new technology. Education and training are critical to overcome this obstacle as GenAI usage not only increases productivity, but it can also improve customer experience and drive business growth," adds Chase.

The good news is this looks set to change as marketers predict that they will expand their use of GenAI within the next one-to-two years in the hope of:

  • saving time and costs (63%)
  • improving risk management and compliance (62%), and
  • enabling more efficient processing of large data sets (60%).

One in five anticipate immersive applications such as adaptive virtual reality, rising to three in 10 among those who have already fully adopted GenAI, according to the research.

While lack of strategic direction from CMOs is an obstacle to the successful utilisation of GenAI, so too is concern over privacy and trust. Six in 10 (61%) marketers reveal their main concern about GenAI usage is data security, and 61% also cite data privacy.

These are the top two concerns across all respondents and with good cause. While one-third of organisations have a well-established and comprehensive governance framework for data management, this falls to less than one in 10 for GenAI. Those who have fully implemented GenAI for marketing are more likely to have a well-established and comprehensive governance framework, but four in 10 do not. 

"A significant gap exists between the art of what is possible with GenAI for MarTech and what is being accomplished today," says Jonathan Moran, Head of MarTech Solutions Marketing at SAS.

"The research highlights that most organisations across industries have significant work to do around GenAI education and enablement as well as data governance and compliance — and performing that work will aid in fostering trust between brand and consumer when it comes to the application of AI for marketing and customer experience pursuits," adds Moran.

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*Image courtesy of LinkedIn