These days, not offering personalized experiences means losing valuable customers. But why do personalization strategies fail, even with the right tools and data?
Consumers expect every interaction to reflect their preferences, but few marketing teams feel confident that their organization has the right strategy to deliver on that expectation. That gap goes way beyond a missed opportunity. It’s a competitive risk.
Even with access to artificial intelligence tools, customer data, and content, many organizations still struggle to create personalization that feels natural, scalable, and effective. Based on industry research and conversations with marketing teams, four common challenges consistently emerge. Below, we explore these roadblocks and how to overcome them.
1. Organizational Misalignment
Most personalization challenges don’t stem from tools or tactics — they start with teams.
In many companies, marketing operates in isolation from product, data, and customer experience teams. Each group may have its own tools, metrics, and communication styles, leading to siloed workflows and inconsistent execution. That disconnect becomes painfully visible to customers. Studies show that over half of consumers feel frustrated when they have to repeat information across departments — a clear signal that the brand experience lacks cohesion.
Without internal alignment, even the most advanced personalization strategies fall apart. For example, marketing might build a dynamic campaign based on user behavior, but if product teams aren’t aligned on how that behavior is tracked — or if data teams aren’t syncing events properly — messages arrive out of context or miss entirely. What should feel personalized ends up feeling random or irrelevant.
One effective approach is to organize around customer outcomes rather than internal functions. This means assembling squads or pods made up of stakeholders from across the business, focused on specific use cases like onboarding, lifecycle marketing, or reactivation. When those teams share success metrics — such as time to value, engagement rates, or retention — collaboration becomes not only easier, but essential.
When alignment is in place, personalization no longer feels like a disconnected set of campaigns. It becomes a coordinated effort that reflects a deep understanding of each customer’s context — and delivers value at every touchpoint.
2. Fragmented or Inaccessible Data
Even well-aligned teams struggle to personalize if they don’t have access to the right data.
Most organizations collect vast amounts of customer information—but that data often lives in disconnected systems or is out of reach for marketers. Industry reports show that a majority of marketers believe the lack of accessible data limits their ability to apply AI effectively in personalization strategies.
Overcoming this challenge requires both the right tools and a clear focus. Platforms like Amplitude help teams identify behavioral trends and build real-time audiences. Braze then activates those insights across channels—enabling timely, tailored messaging without relying on a complex data infrastructure from day one.
This kind of setup accelerates personalization where it matters most: in the hands of marketers.
Personalization is one of the big trends gaining even more presence this year. Check out the prediction playbook to make sure you’re up to speed on every trend for 2026:
2026 Predictions: Consumer trends shaping the marketing landscape
3. Gaps in Skills and Execution
Even with access to data and a clear strategy, many teams struggle when it comes to execution.
Today’s personalization efforts demand both creative and technical skills. Marketers need to understand trigger logic, segmentation, testing, and increasingly, how to work with AI tools—not just write strong copy or design visuals.
Research shows that nearly half of marketers see lack of knowledge or technical skills as one of the biggest challenges to delivering effective personalization. But AI doesn’t have to overwhelm teams—it can amplify their impact by handling repetitive tasks and freeing time for strategy.
For example, triggered messages like cart abandonment emails or onboarding flows can drive conversion without constant manual setup. Tools like Braze make this easy to implement, while hands-on learning and experimentation can quickly build internal expertise.
Organizations don’t need to staff up with technical specialists—they need to invest in their existing teams.
4. Disconnected Messaging Across Channels
Even when teams are aligned, data is available, and skills are in place, personalization can still fall short—especially at the point of delivery.
The issue? Customers don’t experience channels separately. They move fluidly between apps, websites, emails, and even physical locations, expecting the brand to recognize them and respond consistently at every step. When campaigns are built around individual channels instead of customer journeys, the result is often disjointed: messages that overlap, repeat, or miss the moment entirely.
To fix this, brands need more than cross-channel messaging. They need omnichannel personalization—an approach that treats each interaction as part of a unified conversation.
Where multichannel marketing simply distributes campaigns across platforms, omnichannel personalization connects three critical layers in real time: data, decisioning, and delivery. This enables experiences that adapt to the customer—not the other way around.
With Braze, marketers can activate behavioral and contextual data the moment it’s available, use AI to determine the next best message or action, and deliver it through the most relevant channel—whether it’s email, push notification, in-app banner, or content card. The platform’s cross-channel capabilities ensure that messages reach the right place, while tools like BrazeAI Decisioning Studio™ go further by continuously optimizing when to engage, how often, and through which format.
The result is personalization that feels human, timely, and intuitive at every touchpoint.
What’s Next in Personalization Is Already Here
The personalization gap is real but it’s solvable.
The technology and data are already available. What often stands in the way is lack of alignment, focus, or confidence.
When done well, personalization drives business outcomes. It deepens engagement, builds trust, and strengthens loyalty. And it creates long-term value for both customers and brands.
With a strong foundation (and the right partners) teams can turn personalization from a theory into a growth engine.
Ready to Close the Gap?
When brands understand why personalization strategies fail, they can finally move toward scalable, consistent, and truly personalized experiences. At Minders, we help marketing and growth teams unlock the full potential of Braze and Amplitude to deliver true 1:1 personalization. From integrating behavioral data to building high-performing omnichannel journeys, we partner with brands to turn complexity into results.
Looking to evolve from fragmented campaigns to unified experiences? Facing roadblocks you haven’t yet solved?
