Martech disappointment grows despite increased usage

The most recent CMO Survey results have been released, offering fresh insights into the state of marketing strategies. A key theme emerges from the survey: the growing pressure on CMOs to demonstrate value and ROI amid a shifting marketing landscape.

Since this fall 2024 survey does not ask the exact same questions as the spring edition, this analysis won’t be able to make a direct, question-by-question comparison between the two. Instead, I will focus on the martech section of the survey and reference other sections to provide context and hypotheses about the findings.

Budget trends and challenges

Despite increased budgets for CMOs, marketing budgets as a percentage of total company budgets have declined, dropping to 10.1% in Fall 2024 from a three-year high of 13.8% in September 2022. 

Marketing budgets as a percentage of company revenue also fell from 10.1% in spring 2024 to 7.7% in Fall 2024, the lowest level in over three years. 

When companies cut costs to drive revenue growth, marketing budgets are the most affected, with executives reducing them 44.6% of the time, more than any other area.

Dig deeper: How to align processes to drive martech utilization

Martech investment and usage patterns

Meanwhile, CMOs have slightly reduced martech spending as a share of the total marketing budget, down 0.9% from spring 2024. 

However, martech usage increased by 1.4% in the same period, suggesting possible stack consolidation or platform replacements to reduce costs.

Martech’s impact on performance and expectations

Marketing technology continues to be seen as having an above-average impact on company performance, scoring 4.8 on a scale of one (not important) to seven (great impact), unchanged since spring 2024. 

However, it still falls short of expectations, with 54.9% of respondents reporting disappointment in its payoff, a 6%+ increase from Spring.

Dig deeper: The impact of martech on company value

Utilization of martech tools in marketing activities

Survey results also reveal how CMOs are using martech platforms:

• Martech tools support 55% of marketing activities, leaving 45% not using these tools.
• Only 50% of martech tools are used in operations, down from 56% in spring, despite martech’s close connection to marketing functions.
• Fewer CMOs are focusing on strengthening data strategies and reducing data silos, declining from 51% to 48%.
• Marketing experimentation has also slightly decreased, from 35.6% to 32.7%.

Taken together, the rise in martech disappointment may be linked to the decline in martech usage across both marketing activities and company operations.

Recommendations for marketers: Maximizing martech ROI

Marketers face numerous challenges beyond the technology stack, but they can play a key role in maximizing martech value and ROI.

Reconsider martech’s impact on MOps

Marketers should assess each martech platform (e.g., CRM, MAP, CDP) by asking:

• Can this platform reduce dependency on external vendors?
  • For example, drag-and-drop platforms allow internal teams to create and deploy assets like social posts, templated emails and SMS messages without third-party involvement.
• Can my team achieve better outcomes using this platform?
  • Could tools with easy-to-edit templates help increase email communication frequency?

Enhance customer data collection

Since marketers are closest to both data collection (e.g., website forms and in-app surveys) and its use in customer activation (e.g., campaign creation and deployment), they can influence data quality. Clean data is easier to process and unify across platforms (CDP, CRM, data warehouse), reducing the need for extensive ops/IT involvement and enabling faster use.

Key questions to consider:

• Do we have processes to collect customer data as cleanly as possible?
• Is there accessible data governance for marketers and stakeholders?

Balancing martech investment with performance expectations

While the CMO Fall Survey offers valuable insights, it raises further questions about how companies allocate budgets for martech and use these tools effectively. What remains clear is that martech usage continues to grow in importance. Though not all answers are available, marketers can drive martech value by focusing on process improvements and data quality, as outlined above.

Dig deeper: How marketers can help boost martech utilization

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