Consumers and marketers agree that personalization is falling short; Data Axle urges brands to unify B2B and B2C data for a single, cohesive customer profile

Data Axle, a leader in data solutions that drive meaningful connections between companies and people, released The Connected Customer: Unlocking Relevance Through Unified Identity Intelligence, a guide built on insights from a recent survey of consumers and senior marketers across diverse sectors. The findings reveal a growing gap between what people expect from brand experiences and how organizations are structured to deliver them. Despite the reality that customers move fluidly between personal and professional roles, many brands still draw a hard line between B2C and B2B engagement, beckoning marketers to rethink their approach.

The learnings paint a clear picture: Personalization, as currently practiced, is lacking. While 77% of consumers say they feel emotionally connected to at least one brand, and 70% are more likely to buy from brands that “get them,” many marketers still rely on fragmented data signals. Whether personal or professional, behavioral or transactional, these data streams are rarely unified into a cohesive customer profile.

This is where the disconnect becomes most apparent. While brands continue to speak to broad audiences, consumers increasingly expect to be recognized as individuals. The divide isn’t merely technical—it’s philosophical. “Marketing isn’t suffering from a lack of data. It’s suffering from a lack of understanding,” said Andrew Frawley, CEO of Data Axle. “Real connection begins when brands acknowledge that people don’t fit neatly into a B2C or B2B box. They exist in both—and marketing strategies must evolve to reflect that complexity.”

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While 91% of marketers surveyed believe that blending personal and professional data would lead to improved targeting and business outcomes, only 34% say their organizations are currently executing this vision. Barriers such as organizational silos, legacy systems, and regulatory complexity continue to hinder progress.

Consumers, meanwhile, are attuned to the disconnect. In attention economy, loyalty is earned when engagement is not only accurate but meaningful—when brands demonstrate that they understand not just what someone is doing but who they are.

Yet the data suggests that consumers are not calling for more personalization but, rather, intelligent personalization:

• 78% said they would welcome improved brand experiences through the responsible blending of data.
• 85% demand transparency in how their data is used.

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The clear takeaway: Marketers must evolve beyond surface-level personalization to strategies rooted in trust, identity, and intentionality. To do this effectively, brands need to build an identity spine—a permissioned, scalable framework that unifies individual data across personal and professional touchpoints—that enables marketers to move beyond transactional engagement and develop more intentional, enduring relationships with their audiences.

“What we’re seeing is a paradigm shift,” added Frawley. “The future of marketing is not B2B or B2C; it’s B2Me. Brands that treat identity as a strategic discipline, rather than a data point, will be best positioned to build trust and drive long-term relevance.”

The survey results and key themes are explored in depth in The Connected Customer: Unlocking Relevance Through Unified Identity Intelligence. The guide outlines practical strategies for marketers to streamline data and strengthen identity resolution to enable more relevant, impactful engagement.