CMOs & CX Leaders: Top Moves for 2025

Key Insights for Marketing and CX Leaders in 2025

CMSWire's Marketing & Customer Experience Leadership provides research and data for navigating customer, organizational, and technical environments. A CX Decoded episode highlights the 2025 State of the CMO and the 2025 State of Digital Customer Experience Reports. CMSWire’s Dom Nicastro and Sarah Kimmel discuss important trends for marketing and CX leadership, covering topics from skills to AI.

Essential Skills for Marketing Leaders

CMOs need to be fluent in data and tech. Critical skills fall into three areas: data aggregation, integration, and analysis; advanced marketing technologies (DXP, CMS, AI); and creative thinking. Data is needed for ROI, and data knowledge is essential for using marketing tech for personalization or AI. 98% of marketing leaders agreed that executing strategy requires tech skills, with 63% strongly agreeing. These skills are needed to get value from personalization and omnichannel delivery, and for prompting AI and workflow automation.

Modern CMOs must combine the roles of technologist, data analyst, and creative leader. Build teams to address gaps and cross-train.

Marketing Budget Trends

Marketing leaders saw budget improvements in 2024, but the outlook is uncertain. Two-thirds of marketing leaders reported budget increases, and 84% expect further increases in 2025, with a third anticipating a significant boost. This optimism, captured in December and January, might change due to economic volatility, supply chain issues, or customer behavior shifts. Agility is crucial: CMOs should prepare to pivot if conditions change and have a backup plan for their budget strategy.

The Imperative of ROI

CMOs face pressure to justify spending. Over a third of marketing leaders cite ROI measurement as a top challenge in improving customer experience, and 95% feel pressured to show a return on marketing spend. Many lack the necessary data, organization, or measurement skills, making ROI reporting a work in progress.

AI Adoption in Marketing

AI use in marketing is increasing rapidly, but strategy and governance are lagging. 68% of marketers used generative AI in the past year, and 23% plan to. However, about one in three have no formal guidelines. The main application is content generation, while strategic uses such as workflow automation and personalization are less common. Strategic and responsible AI deployment is essential, and governance is needed.

DCX Tools and Personalization

DX leaders are seeing better results from their tools. While in 2019 only 9% of organizations felt their DCX tools worked well, teams now find their stacks more effective and integrated, though challenges remain. This improvement allows for deeper innovation. Personalization is gaining traction through better tools and behavioral insight. It relies on understanding customer behavior and using technology to act on it. Aligning data, tech, and strategy is essential for effective personalization.

Evolving Customer Behavior

Customer behavior is changing quickly, making it hard to model. Organizations cite the speed of change as a major obstacle to understanding customers. Preferences have shifted since the pandemic, and traditional journey models are less reliable. Many organizations lack the expertise to keep up, and budget limitations add to the difficulty. Responsiveness and real-time adaptation are the new competitive advantage.

The CMS Renaissance

Organizations are investing in CMS, with 82% planning to do so. 30% are building their own CMS, indicating a move to composable architecture, while 29% are buying new platforms and 23% are upgrading. The goal is to integrate AI and machine learning into their experience stacks. CMS is now an engine for personalization, automation, and AI readiness.

AI as a Foundation

AI and machine learning are now the top investment priority for DCX teams. 45% of CX and marketing leaders report that generative AI supports at least half of their work. AI is essential for teams facing budget constraints and high demands. DCX teams that strategically integrate AI are poised to excel.