Report:
Magic Quadrant for Personalization Engines
How does Gartner define the Personalization Engines market in 2025?
Gartner defines personalization engines as technology that enables marketing professionals to identify, set up, conduct and measure the optimum experience for an individual based on knowledge about them, their intent and context. Personalization engines apply context about individual users and their circumstances to select, tailor and deliver messaging such as content, offers and other interactions through various digital channels in support of three use cases: Marketing (delivering the right message to the right audience in the right context through behavioral inference, segmentation, testing, targeting and optimization), Digital commerce (tailoring content, offers, recommendations and experiences across digital sales channels including personalized site search, navigation, and customized content), and Service and support (using customer insight, journey context and user feedback to customize online and offline experiences across business functions to reduce customer effort or increase satisfaction and advocacy).
Key Facts for Magic Quadrant for Personalization Engines in 2025
- Publication Date: 04-Feb-2025
- Document ID: G00802144
- Coverage: Global
- Authors: Penny Gillespie, Alex De Fursac Gash
- Core Purpose: This Magic Quadrant evaluates personalization engine vendors based on their ability to execute and completeness of vision. It helps marketing professionals identify, evaluate, and select technology that enables them to deliver optimum individualized experiences based on customer knowledge, intent, and context across marketing, digital commerce, and customer service use cases.
Strategic Planning Assumptions
No strategic planning assumptions provided.
How was the Personalization Engines market evolved in 2025?
- The personalization engine market revenue grew 21% in 2023 to $908 million
- The market has a projected CAGR of 23.8% through 2027
- Personalization is the top reported capability gap for marketing organizations
- 51% of CMOs plan to increase digital commerce personalization investment
- About one-fourth of personalization efforts are supported by GenAI
- 62% of consumers prefer to give up personalized experiences rather than be tracked
- 73% of consumers cite convenience as the highest factor influencing shopping behavior
- The market consists of over 50 vendors, with 11 meeting inclusion criteria for this evaluation
- Most personalization engines support an average of six verticals
- 30% of marketing technology leaders have critical gaps in orchestrating personalized journeys
What product features are required to be included in this year's evaluation?
- In-session behavior tracking, data collection and ingestion
- Triggering interactions in real time based on individuals' actions, context, data or a combination of the three
- Flexible user segmentation across known and inferred values to support personalization rules, including responding to contextual data and user feedback
- Extensive testing capabilities, including the ability to test a wide variety of personalization elements and tactics
- Predictive analytic capabilities that minimally support content and product recommendations; these include predicted affinities or other values that can be used in audience targeting and triggering
- Personalization performance tracking, measurement and reporting
What are the common features of top products in the Personalization Engines space?
- Support for account-based data structures to support more complex B2B relationships and account-based marketing (ABM) strategies
- Automated machine learning capabilities that improve personalization outcomes, such as identifying underperforming audiences and recommending specific actions to improve outcomes
- Customer feedback survey design and execution
- Customer and prospect data unification and profile management from marketing and other data sources
Scope Exclusions
- Personalization engines that require purchase of additional vendor products (e.g., content management system, CDP, MMH, digital commerce platform, analytics solutions) to function
- Solutions that do not support at least two of three use cases (marketing, digital commerce, customer service)
- Vendors with less than $20 million annual software revenue from personalization engine product
- Vendors with fewer than 25 net new customer deployments in 2023 AND less than 20% year-over-year growth
- Vendors with more than 80% of personalization engine revenue from retail industries only
- Solutions without native ability to track, measure and report performance
Inclusion Criteria
Vendors must, among other requirements:
- Personalization engine must be generally available and sold as an independent solution
- Must support at least two of three use cases: marketing, digital commerce, or customer service
- Annual software revenue of $20 million or greater from personalization engine product (fiscal year 2023)
- Either 25+ net new customer deployments in 2023 (excluding pilots) OR 20%+ year-over-year growth in 2023
- At least 20% of personalization engine revenue from non-retail industries
- Native ability to track, measure and report performance through standard and custom reporting
- Must meet criteria without requiring purchase of additional vendor products
Ability to Execute — Relative Weighting
- Product or Service - High
- Overall Viability - High
- Sales Execution/Pricing - Low
- Market Responsiveness/Record - Low
- Marketing Execution - Low
- Customer Experience - Medium
- Operations - Low
Completeness of Vision — Relative Weighting
- Market Understanding - High
- Marketing Strategy - Medium
- Sales Strategy - Low
- Offering (Product) Strategy - High
- Business Model - NotRated
- Vertical/Industry Strategy - Low
- Innovation - Medium
- Geographic Strategy - Low
FAQs
Q: What does this research cover?
A: This research evaluates 11 personalization engine vendors based on their ability to execute and completeness of vision. It assesses stand-alone personalization engines that support at least two of three use cases (marketing, digital commerce, customer service) and meet specific financial criteria including $20 million+ annual revenue and either 25+ net new customers or 20%+ year-over-year growth in 2023. The evaluation emphasizes product capabilities, customer experience, innovation, market understanding, and strategic vision.
Q: Who should use this research?
A: This research should be used by marketing professionals, CMOs, digital commerce leaders, and technology decision-makers who are evaluating personalization engine solutions. It is particularly valuable for organizations seeking to improve customer experience, increase revenue, boost customer satisfaction, and reduce costs through operational efficiencies. Buyers should use this Magic Quadrant alongside the companion Critical Capabilities research and Gartner Peer Insights reviews to make informed vendor selection decisions based on their specific use cases, industry requirements, and organizational maturity level.
Q: What are the mandatory features of vendors included in this market?
A: Mandatory features for vendors included in this market are: (1) In-session behavior tracking, data collection and ingestion, (2) Real-time triggering of interactions based on individuals' actions, context, or data, (3) Flexible user segmentation across known and inferred values supporting personalization rules and contextual data, (4) Extensive testing capabilities for various personalization elements and tactics, (5) Predictive analytics minimally supporting content and product recommendations with predicted affinities for audience targeting, and (6) Native performance tracking, measurement and reporting through standard and custom dashboards. Additionally, vendors must support at least two of three use cases with specific native functionality: Marketing (targeting and triggering), Digital commerce (product/content promotion and discovery), or Customer service (testing and visual editor capabilities).
Q: What are some reasons for not being included in this report?
A:
- Failed to meet financial criteria: Less than $20 million in annual personalization engine revenue OR fewer than 25 net new customers in 2023 OR less than 20% year-over-year growth
- Failed to meet use case criteria: Did not support at least two of three required use cases (marketing, digital commerce, customer service) with native functionality
- Excessive retail concentration: More than 80% of revenue from retail industry only (did not meet 20% non-retail threshold)
- Product dependency: Personalization engine requires purchase of additional vendor products to meet core criteria
- Insufficient mandatory features: Lacking one or more of the six required standard capabilities
- Limited market presence: Did not meet minimum customer deployment or growth thresholds
Q: What differentiates Ability to Execute vs. Completeness of Vision?
A: Ability to Execute focuses on current performance and operational capabilities, emphasizing the vendor's actual product quality, viability, and customer experience delivery. It measures how well vendors execute their business today. Completeness of Vision assesses strategic thinking and future direction, emphasizing market understanding, innovation, and product strategy. It evaluates vendors' understanding of market needs and their vision for advancing personalization capabilities. Product or Service is weighted High in Ability to Execute (what they deliver now), while Market Understanding and Offering Strategy are weighted High in Completeness of Vision (where they're headed). Overall Viability increased from Medium to High weight this year in Ability to Execute due to client concerns about vendor stability.
Reference
- Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Personalization Engines, 04-Feb-2025, ID G00802144
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