Mumbai: Salesforce has unveiled the India findings from the 10th Edition State of Marketing Report, revealing that while 81% of marketers in India have adopted artificial intelligence (AI), the ability to unify customer data will be the defining factor in delivering meaningful customer engagement and personalization at scale.
The report highlights that fragmented data ecosystems, rather than a lack of AI adoption, remain the biggest obstacle to unlocking AI’s full marketing potential. While 86% of marketers said they trust AI to respond to customers and help scale engagement, many continue to face challenges due to siloed and poor-quality customer data.
According to the research, organisations with unified customer data are already gaining a competitive edge. Marketing teams that are satisfied with their data integration are 1.4 times more likely to regularly engage customers through two-way conversations and 1.6 times more likely to deploy AI agents to scale customer interactions compared to teams working with fragmented data.
Commenting on the findings, Nishant Kalra, Vice President – Sales, Salesforce South Asia, said, “The biggest barrier to personalization today isn’t AI, it’s the quality and connectedness of the data that powers it. As AI agents become the next frontier of marketing, organizations need a trusted, unified view of the customer to deliver contextual, real-time engagement at scale. The future of marketing lies in moving beyond one-way campaigns to intelligent, two-way conversations that build stronger, lasting customer relationships.”
The report found that customer expectations are evolving rapidly. Around 92% of marketers said consumers in India increasingly expect brands to support interactive, two-way conversations rather than traditional one-way marketing messages. However, 71% admitted they struggle to respond promptly because they lack access to complete customer context.
Cross-functional data integration also remains a challenge. Only 60% of marketers reported having complete access to customer service data, while 61% have full access to sales data and 58% to commerce data, limiting their ability to deliver seamless customer experiences.
The research further revealed that the growing demand for personalised marketing content is pushing marketers towards AI adoption. While 83% of respondents said they require more personalised content than they can currently produce, 81% are using AI to bridge this gap, with content personalisation emerging as the most common AI application.
Despite widespread AI adoption, 98% of marketers reported encountering barriers to personalisation. The most significant challenges include regulatory and privacy concerns, poor-quality or unstructured customer data, and limited technical expertise.
The report also indicates that organisations already leveraging AI agents are seeing better cross-functional collaboration. About 76% of marketers using AI reported satisfaction with their ability to connect customer touchpoints, compared to 55% among those not using AI. High-performing marketers were found to be 1.7 times more likely to unify customer data and use it to create more relevant customer experiences.
Beyond personalisation, the report points to AI’s growing influence on consumer discovery and search behaviour. Nearly 66% of marketers said they are struggling to keep pace with changing customer behaviours, while 47% acknowledged they have yet to adapt their marketing strategies to the widespread adoption of AI.
As AI-powered search transforms how consumers discover brands, 91% of marketers said AI is reshaping their search engine optimisation (SEO) strategies, with 92% already optimising content for AI-generated responses on platforms such as ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overview. High-performing marketers were 2.2 times more likely than underperformers to have adopted Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) strategies.
The findings are based on a global survey conducted between October and November 2025, covering 4,450 marketing decision-makers, including 250 respondents from India, across North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Europe. The report underscores that while AI adoption has become mainstream among Indian marketers, building unified, high-quality customer data foundations will be critical to enabling scalable personalisation and long-term customer engagement.
