In a world where brand loyalty hinges on relevance, Data Axle is sounding the alarm: most marketers are personalizing wrong.

Unveiled today, The Connected Customer: Unlocking Relevance Through Unified Identity Intelligence exposes a critical gap between how brands personalize and how people experience those efforts. Based on a May 2025 survey of 1,000 consumers and 250 senior marketers, the guide paints a sobering picture of misaligned expectations and underutilized data.

Personalization Is Broken—But Fixable

Despite abundant access to data, marketers are struggling to connect the dots. While 77% of consumers feel emotionally connected to at least one brand and 70% are more likely to buy from companies that “get them,” most brand strategies still rely on siloed signals—treating personal and professional identities as separate entities. The result? Fragmented customer profiles and underwhelming engagement.

“Marketing today isn’t suffering from a lack of data. It’s suffering from a lack of understanding,” said Andrew Frawley, CEO of Data Axle. “People don’t live in neat B2C or B2B boxes—they live in both.”

Indeed, 91% of marketers agree that blending professional and personal data could boost targeting accuracy and outcomes. Yet only 34% of organizations are doing it, often hampered by legacy systems, departmental silos, and regulatory hesitations.

Consumers Want Smarter, More Responsible Personalization

While it may be tempting to interpret these findings as a call for more personalization, the message is more nuanced. Consumers aren’t asking for louder marketing—they’re asking for smarter, more responsible personalization.

According to the report:

• 78% of consumers welcome improved experiences via responsibly blended data

• 85% demand transparency in how their data is used

The message is loud and clear: identity-based marketing must evolve beyond convenience to intentionality, balancing trust with relevance.

From B2C/B2B to B2Me

Frawley frames it as a paradigm shift—from traditional segmentation to what he calls B2Me. It’s a move away from transactional engagement to building long-term, identity-first relationships.

“Brands that treat identity as a strategic discipline, not just a data point, will win in the long run,” he said.

At the heart of the guide is a call for a new kind of infrastructure: an identity spine—a permissioned, scalable framework that unifies consumer data across personal and professional touchpoints. With it, marketers can drive engagement strategies that reflect not just what customers do, but who they are.

Practical Roadmap, Not Just Rhetoric

The Connected Customer doesn’t stop at diagnosis. It offers actionable steps for brands to:

• Break down internal silos

• Streamline data collection and use

• Strengthen identity resolution strategies

• Operate ethically and transparently

In an era where attention is fleeting and trust is fragile, Data Axle’s latest guide offers marketers a blueprint for staying relevant—and more importantly, human.

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