Finally, let’s pay some rare attention to small business marketers. Roku has launched an app that lets merchants buy streaming TV ads through Shopify.  UZE has created a self-service platform that lets small advertisers place ads on vehicle-mounted digital displays across Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Austria. And all-in-one digital marketing platform Sendinblue has become aller-in-one and indulged its fetish for odd company names by purchasing Chatra (messaging), Metrilo (ecommerce analytics), and PushOwl (web push).

Adobe is also pressing for increased automation, and just proudly announced that over 80% of Experience Cloud customers are using at least one AI-powered feature.  Huzzah.  The latest additions to their AI menagerie are automated marketing mix modeling and marketing spend optimization based on estimates of the incremental impact of specific marketing touchpoints.

Not only do 64% of consumers believe AI will improve and speed CX, CX leaders seem to agree with 42% making the use of AI a top priority. These figures come from a survey by Genesys on the customer service component of CX. While only 11% of consumers rate service as excellent, 63% do say it has been getting better.