Over 60 percent of marketers say AI-use has led directly to revenue growth, according to the AI in Marketing: Leadership and Impact in Europe study from Epsilon.
The report surveyed 300 senior marketers across the UK, France and Germany, to find out how they are currently using AI and their attitudes towards the technology.
The study was conducted by Censuswide for Epsilon in May 2025, surveying 100 marketers from each region across the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) and retail sectors. Each respondent marked which stage of the AI journey they are currently on: “Exploring”, “Implementing”, “Scaling”, or “Leading”.
It was found that 61 percent of marketers feel that AI investments are paying off as seen through improved revenue growth.
Only 16 percent of those surveyed see themselves as “Leading” – consisting of developing their own in-house models, building proprietary tools or using AI agents for campaigns.
While 47 percent of “Leading” organisations allow AI to make autonomous decisions, only 18 percent of those companies insist on human oversight, reflecting an understanding from marketers that AI needs space to scale effectively.
Key barriers to adoption for respondents included data privacy (37 percent), high implementation costs (35 percent), difficulty integrating AI tools (33 percent), limited internal knowledge (30 percent), lack of stakeholder buy-in (20 percent) and measurable ROI (20 percent), and internal resistance to change (19 percent).
Higher Expectations Based on Experience
Over a third of marketers surveyed (36 percent) said they were in the “Scaling” phase, using AI to personalise content and help with media buying. Many marketers (21 percent), however, are still at a phase of “Exploring” – which involves testing AI chatbots and assistants to support with simple tasks.
Those marketers in this early “Exploring” phase tend to have lower expectations of what the benefits of using the tools could be, with only half expecting to see revenue growth from AI adoption – this is 10 percent lower than more experienced respondents.
“What stands out is how expectations evolve once AI tools are actually deployed,” Esme Robinson, Director, Platform Solutions at Epsilon comments. “They deliver on topline metrics like revenue and acquisition, but gaps emerge when it comes to deeper performance indicators like conversion or ROAS.
“That’s where identity becomes essential. Without a connected view of the customer across channels, AI doesn’t know what it’s optimising for — you lose precision, and with it, efficiency. The marketers seeing the strongest returns are the ones anchoring AI in rich, first-party data and a clear customer identity.”
AI Region to Region
Out of the surveyed countries, France is the most ahead with its AI adoption, with 19 percent of those surveyed at an advanced level of integration, followed by Germany (17 percent) and then the UK (13 percent).
An overwhelming majority of these marketers are aware of the upcoming EU AI Act regulations, which will mostly come into effect in August 2026.
Out of those marketers surveyed, half are developing a response to the upcoming rules, 28 percent have a clear strategy in place with dedicated resources, and 21 percent have no plans in place.
