Executive Summary

A new Acxiom + EMARKETER report reveals that most brands still struggle with fragmented customer data, disconnected systems, and immature identity infrastructure. 

As personalization and AI-driven marketing become critical growth priorities, brands can no longer rely on transactional data alone. Cohora helps brands continuously generate first-party customer signals through participation, engagement, and behavioral interaction to power smarter retention strategies and more connected customer intelligence.

---

For years, brands treated customer data like a marketing asset.

Now it’s becoming operational infrastructure.

According to a new Acxiom + EMARKETER survey report, the majority of brands are still operating with siloed customer data, disconnected systems, and incomplete customer visibility. 

At the same time:

• personalization expectations are rising
• AI adoption is accelerating
• retention efficiency matters more than ever
• first-party data is becoming increasingly valuable

The issue is not a lack of customer data.The issue is that brands still do not have a connected understanding of their customers after purchase.

The Data Behind the Problem

The report highlights several major gaps in modern customer infrastructure:

• 55.4% of brands say their first-party data is siloed or only partially connected 
• 42% rate their customer data foundation as immature 
• 31.3% say fragmented data is the biggest factor limiting marketing performance
• 52.7% say they are unprepared for AI-driven marketing 
• 50% say personalization and customer experience are driving identity investment 

The report also found that:

• 8 in 10 marketers report improved ROI from identity efforts 
• personalization was the single biggest improvement area at 40.2%

The industry is clearly moving toward:

• unified customer views
• connected first-party data
• interoperable systems
• AI-ready customer infrastructure

Unfortunately most retention programs are still built around static lifecycle campaigns and historical purchase behavior.

Why Traditional Retention Strategies Fall Short

A purchase only tells part of the story.

It does not explain:

• why customers disengage
• what motivates repeat purchases
• how customer sentiment changes over time
• which products customers actually care about next
• how emotionally connected customers remain to the brand

That creates a major problem for brands attempting to personalize customer experiences using incomplete data.

AI and automation do not solve disconnected customer understanding.

In fact, the report directly warns that AI is only as effective as the quality of the underlying data infrastructure. 

Or simply: Garbage in. Garbage out.

The bigger challenge isn't selecting the next MarTech tool, it's the accumulation of tools. 

Most brands have built stacks optimized around channels and functions rather than customers. Every additional platform creates another data silo, another integration, and another opportunity to lose customer context. 

The result is a fragmented view of the customer and an increasingly expensive path to personalization. 

Cohora approaches the problem differently by organizing engagement around the customer rather than the channel. Through participation, behavioral interaction, and ongoing engagement, Cohora helps brands generate the live customer signals most traditional systems fail to capture.

‍

How Cohora Helps Solve This

Cohora helps brands continuously generate live customer signals through participation and engagement.

Instead of relying only on transactional history, Cohora captures:

• polls and feedback
• product preferences
• UGC participation
• social engagement
• quiz and survey results
• behavioral activity
• customer sentiment
• engagement patterns between purchases

This creates a richer customer intelligence layer that helps brands:

• improve personalization
• power predictive segmentation
• identify churn risk
• reactivate dormant customers
• increase customer lifetime value
• improve retention performance over time

Most importantly, it gives brands a more complete and continuously evolving understanding of their customers.

The Future of Retention Depends on Participation

The next generation of retention will not be built on email automation alone, but rather it will be built on:

• connected customer infrastructure
• unified first-party data
• continuous customer interaction
• participation-driven intelligence

Ongoing customer engagement generates stronger signals, better personalization, and smarter retention decisions.

Because personalization without participation is still guesswork.

Conclusion

The Acxiom + EMARKETER report confirms what many brands are now experiencing firsthand: disconnected customer data is limiting personalization, retention, and long-term growth.

As AI-driven marketing, first-party data strategy, and customer experience expectations continue accelerating, brands need more than transactional history and static segmentation. They need connected customer intelligence that evolves continuously over time.

Cohora helps brands close that gap by transforming customer participation into a live stream of actionable retention data through engagement, behavioral signals, preferences, feedback, and ongoing interaction.

The result is a more connected understanding of customers, stronger personalization, smarter retention strategies, and better long-term customer value.

Want to explore the full Acxiom + EMARKETER report?

Download the full report here

‍

FAQ

What is identity infrastructure in eCommerce?

Identity infrastructure refers to the systems brands use to connect customer data across channels, devices, and touchpoints to create a unified customer view.

Why is fragmented customer data a problem?

Fragmented customer data limits personalization, retention, attribution, and customer understanding. According to Acxiom and EMARKETER, 55.4% of brands say their first-party data is siloed or only partially connected. 

Why is first-party customer data important?

First-party customer data helps brands improve personalization, retention, customer intelligence, and long-term customer value without depending heavily on third-party signals.

How does Cohora improve customer retention?

Cohora helps brands collect and activate continuous customer signals through engagement experiences like quizzes, polls, surveys, UGC, and behavioral participation to improve personalization and retention performance.

Why is participation important for personalization?

Participation creates live customer signals that help brands understand preferences, intent, engagement, and customer behavior beyond purchase history alone.

‍