Marketers have hit a breaking point with their technology stacks. After years of layering automation, analytics, and personalization platforms, most say their martech tools are more headache than help. But a new study from Hightouch, the data and AI platform for marketing, reveals the real culprit isn’t technology fatigue—it’s disconnected data.

The report, Has Martech Failed Marketers?, is based on 384 in-depth conversations with marketing leaders across industries. Its findings expose a growing rift between marketing ambitions and execution, especially in the AI era.

Martech Promised Growth. Data Chaos Delivered Frustration.

Despite record investments in marketing technology, nearly every marketer surveyed said their tools aren’t living up to expectations. The reason? The platforms can’t perform when the underlying data is scattered, incomplete, or trapped in silos.

According to the report:

• 95% of marketers struggle to find or target audiences effectively.

• 75% of martech pain points trace back to data issues, not the tools themselves.

• Only 10% believe they’re using AI effectively.

• Less than 2% say their AI-driven personalization efforts are successful.

“The next wave of marketing innovation is not about adding more software,” said Tejas Manohar, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Hightouch. “It’s about activating the data foundation that makes AI actually work.”

AI Can’t Fix Bad Data

Marketers have been eager to adopt generative and agentic AI, but most organizations aren’t ready for it. The reason is fundamental: AI is only as good as the data it’s trained on.

Without unified, accurate data, personalization becomes guesswork, automation breaks down, and AI insights lose relevance. Even as the martech landscape now exceeds 15,000 tools, the research shows most teams are struggling to connect the dots between platforms and outcomes.

“Speed and scale mean nothing if you cannot reach the right people,” Manohar added. “This is a wake-up call for every marketing leader chasing AI. Data is not just part of the strategy. It is the strategy.”

The Data Disconnect Behind the Martech Mess

The study found that while marketers often cite “too many tools” as their top pain point, the deeper issue is data readiness—a lack of unified systems and standardized data pipelines. Many marketing departments still depend on engineering teams to access or integrate data, creating delays and bottlenecks that limit agility.

This “pain behind the pain” affects every marketing outcome—from audience segmentation to campaign measurement. Whether B2B or B2C, industries like retail, fintech, entertainment, healthcare, and SaaS all share the same obstacle: fragmented data systems that prevent AI and analytics tools from realizing their potential.

Reframing Martech: From More Tools to Smarter Data

For years, martech has been about assembling the “perfect stack.” Hightouch’s findings suggest that this mindset is shifting. Rather than expanding their toolkits, marketing teams are now prioritizing data connectivity and activation—ensuring information flows freely between CRMs, analytics platforms, and AI engines.

The report echoes a broader industry trend. With the rise of data clean rooms, composable CDPs, and privacy-first frameworks, marketers are recognizing that success depends less on the number of tools they own and more on how intelligently those tools share and act on data.

The Conversation Continues: Data as the New Martech Battleground

To explore these findings, Hightouch will host a live webinar on November 13, featuring Scott Brinker, Editor of chiefmartec.com and a leading analyst in the space. He’ll be joined by Lizzie Yarbrough, Head of Product Marketing at Hightouch, and Adam Greco, Product Evangelist.

The panel will dive into why data has become the central bottleneck in marketing and outline steps companies can take to build the unified data foundations AI depends on.

As marketers push toward more advanced personalization and AI-driven automation, one truth is clear: technology can’t fix what disconnected data breaks. The winners in this new era of marketing won’t be those with the biggest stacks—they’ll be the ones who make their data work smarter.

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