Two-thirds of UK marketers adopt AI for experimentation to address consumers’ growing discontent with personalized content

London, UK, 18 June 2024 – Two-thirds of marketers (65%) in the UK use AI within their experimentation approach, with almost half (45%) having adopted the technology within the past year. That’s according to a new report, released today by leading digital experience platform provider Optimizely, which reveals how marketers are implementing AI to level up their approach to A/B testing and experimentation. 

The Tested to Perfection report, based on a study of 100 marketers and 1,000 consumers in the UK, examines the current state of experimentation practices, and how marketers are using, and planning to use, AI to address rapidly changing business and consumer expectations.

Nearly nine in 10 marketers (87%) believe experimentation is important for achieving their goals in 2024, yet one in five (20%) feel their current web experimentation approach is not effective. Nearly a quarter (23%) would go as far as to describe their current approach as ‘unsophisticated.’

When asked what has been preventing marketers from experimenting effectively, Optimizely’s report identifies several recurring themes.

Lack of budget is a challenge for almost half of marketers (43%), while a lack of resources, time and focus is also a barrier for 39% of respondents. Other challenges include a lack of effective tools or technology (25%), silos between relevant teams (25%), and the small scale of experiments (18%).

However, 89% of marketers believe AI will be the answer to overcoming these barriers.

Almost half (48%) of the marketers surveyed plan to use AI to create more targeted and personalized content in the future. Forty-one percent have their sights set on generating headlines, images and CTAs at scale. Over a third (37%) plan to use AI to dynamically allocate traffic between test variations. And three in 10 (32%) will turn to AI to create hypotheses for experiments.

Over two-thirds (70%) of marketers in the UK believe that AI will help make experimentation faster, and 62% believe AI will make experimentation more accurate.

In an age where every business decision is scrutinized, many organizations have yet to perfect their experimentation practices to improve personalization and drive more conversions. By combining the power of AI and experimentation, marketers can see with certainty what type of content resonates with specific customer profiles and adapt as needed to take digital experiences to entirely new levels.

Optimizely provides powerful testing, AI-rich optimization and customer data capabilities to help marketers create and deliver 1:1 experiences that drive revenue and brand loyalty. To learn more about how Optimizely powers the entire marketing lifecycle, visit https://www.optimizely.com/products/