This distinction matters because personalization at scale requires more than creative messaging. It demands integrated data, advanced analytics, and operational coordination across marketing, sales, and digital teams. Leaders treat personalization not as a campaign tactic but as a system capability—embedded into the commercial workflow, with a high degree of data democratization. Here is what leading organizations do differently: — Build a unified, dynamic customer data foundation. Leading organizations integrate customer relationship management, behavioral, and transactional data into continuously updated profiles. — Embed next-best-action insights directly into frontline tools. They ensure recommendations surface within sales and marketing workflows. — Tie personalization to revenue outcomes. Leading organizations track impact on conversion velocity, deal size, and retention. — Establish governance guardrails. They clarify data ownership and accountability to scale personalization consistently. Exhibit 4 Very personalized One-on-one Web <2026> Exhibit <5> of <8> PLEASE NOTE WIDER SIZE—USE “CENTERED WIDE” IN ARTICLE LAYOUT Marketing personalization level, selected strategies, ¹ % of respondents Note: “Winners” represent respondents from companies whose market share has grown by more than 10% year over year, while “laggards” represent those from companies whose market share has declined by more than 5% over the same period. 1 Question: For the marketing activities or content below, to what degree do you implement personalization? The following responses are not shown: “personalized,” “somewhat personalized,” “not personalized at all,” and “don’t know.” Source: McKinsey Global B2B Pulse Survey, Apr 3–24, 2024, n = 3,664; Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, UK, US Genuine one-to-one personalization tactics help market leaders pull ahead of their peers. McKinsey & Company Email campaigns Winners Laggards Overall Winners Laggards Overall Winners Laggards Overall Winners Laggards Overall Winners Laggards Overall Winners Laggards Overall Events Website and e-commerce 43 16 23 6 32 7 Social media 45 18 15 6 32 8 50 15 18 7 32 8 Search engine optimization; search engine marketing 40 13 23 3 29 6 Chatbots 42 17 23 5 32 8 41 17 24 5 30 8 11 The surprising economics of B2B growth: The new survival threshold—and what it takes to thrive