For most marketers, personalization is essential to delivering a good customer experience.

In fact, more than nine in 10 US senior decision-makers surveyed by customer experience agency Verndale from November 2017 to January 2018 said so.

Still, many (84%) also agreed that the technology's potential has not been fully realized just yet.

What's more, 91% acknowledged that their company needs to improve upon its personalization capabilities. And more than half said their organization "often fails to deliver the personalization ... customers crave."

But respondents were aware of which areas they need to improve on. Which is good, since a personalization failure can certainly be costly.

More than four in 10 said they need more real-time data and insights, and almost as many felt they need to gather more customer data. Investing in more advanced technology, like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, and improving web content management were other key areas of focus.

Separate data from Sailthru mirrors this sentiment—to achieve personalization, marketers need resources. Among the many challenges mentioned in the firm's survey, a plurality of UK and US marketers—roughly four in 10—said one of the leading barriers to meeting their goals was a lack of resources, such as time, people and money.