Creating personalized marketing content is marketers’ top goal for their data collection. That’s according to a new study, entitled “Data-Driven Marketing for Personalization,” from marketing research firm Ascend2, in which seven out of 10 respondents report that personalization as a form of targeted marketing is the primary objective when utilizing collected data on leads, prospects and current clients.

“Personalizing the customer experience is a top priority for 70% of data-driven marketing strategies,” said Todd Lebo, partner and CMO for Ascend2. “Personalization of email messages, landing pages and contact data segmentation are the top tactics used to meet this goal.”

A clear majority of respondents (95%) believe that data-driven personalization is increasingly effective as a marketing strategy to boost customer experience. However, for optimal ROI on personalized content, marketers are finding that data must be collected and analyzed effectively. The study found that, while 81% of the 220 respondents describe their data marketing as above average, only 37% stated it was “very successful.”

“The most significant barriers to achieving data-driven marketing success for about half of all companies [surveyed] are integrating data across platforms and enriching data quality and completeness,” Lebo said. “Marketers must put data silos in their rearview mirror if they want to compete in today’s marketplace.”

The study also found that businesses have been turning to third-party firms to personalize data-driven marketing; 85% of respondents stated they outsource their personalization efforts.

These findings come as personalized content continues to pick up steam in marketing strategy. In a recent related study by marketing research and advisory firm Demand Metric, called “Content Marketing’s Evolution: The Age of Hyper-Personalization and Automation,” 61% of survey respondents reported personalizing marketing content, though more than half said they’ve been doing so for fewer than two years. The majority (80%) stated personalized content is “more effective” or “much more effective” than content that isn’t personalized.