We're just over a year into GDPR and its clear marketers are still floundering. Consumers want personalized experiences but don't want to give up their data to get it – so what are marketers to do? Digital experience company Acquia got to the root of the problem in its recently-released Closing the CX Gap: Customer Experience Trends Report 2019, which surveyed more than 5,000 consumers and 500 marketers across Australia, Europe, and North America.

Findings from the research shed light on the perception gap between consumers and marketers, what consumers care about and how marketers can best reach them. I invited Acquia's CMO, Lynne Capozzi onto my tech podcast to explore some of the interesting findings among US consumers and marketers, including:

• 56% of U.S. consumers feel that in their total experience with most brands, their marketing is mostly ineffective
• 69% of all US marketers believe technology has made it harder, not easier, for them to offer customers personalized experiences
• 80% of US marketers feel their customers wants higher levels of personalization than they can currently offer.
• Compared to other countries, U.S. marketers are less likely to be focusing on artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) or Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in the next 12 months.