HubSpot Research Reveals AI Maturity In Marketing
HubSpot's 2026 State of AI in Marketing research shows 98% of marketing teams use AI, but only 10% report transformational results. AI maturity measures how consistently teams turn AI into business outcomes.
Original reporting · blog.hubspot.com
Original: “AI maturity in marketing: What the research reveals”
Read “AI maturity in marketing: What the research reveals” at HubSpot Marketing Blog →
How this was written. Content Catalyst wrote this article with a language model from HubSpot Marketing Blog’s reporting (model: @cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast); it describes that reporting rather than adding to it. The original, linked above, is the full story.
Key points from HubSpot Marketing Blog’s report
- HubSpot's research shows that 98% of marketing teams use AI, but only 10% report transformational results.
- AI maturity measures how consistently teams turn AI into business outcomes.
- There are four AI maturity stages: Early, Emerging, Established, and Transformational.
- Achieving higher AI maturity levels can lead to better business outcomes.
- Teams should assess their AI maturity regularly to identify areas for improvement.
According to HubSpot Marketing Blog, AI maturity is crucial for marketing teams to achieve measurable business outcomes. This concept explains why many teams use AI but fail to see significant results.
The research indicates that having tools and pilots is not enough, as the gap between adoption and impact needs to be addressed. Teams must assess their AI maturity to identify areas for improvement.
HubSpot's research defines four AI maturity stages: Early, Emerging, Established, and Transformational. These stages help teams understand their current level of AI adoption and plan their next steps.
The stages are characterized by the level of AI integration into workflows, data access, and governance. For instance, Early-stage teams use AI in individual and ad-hoc ways, while Transformational teams have redesigned their workflows around AI.
The study found that 96% of Transformational adopters met or exceeded their targets, and they were more likely to outperform their customer acquisition cost targets. This suggests that achieving higher AI maturity levels can lead to better business outcomes.
Other research, such as MIT CISR's Enterprise AI Maturity Model and Gartner's AI maturity model, also support the idea that AI capability builds in stages. However, HubSpot's stages focus specifically on marketing adoption.
To assess AI maturity, teams should evaluate their use cases, data access, workflow integration, governance, and outcomes. This involves scoring each use case on six dimensions and identifying areas for improvement.
Questions and answers
What is AI maturity in marketing?
AI maturity refers to how consistently a marketing team turns AI into measurable business outcomes.
How often should teams reassess their AI maturity?
Teams should reassess their AI maturity quarterly in the first year and then twice a year after that, or after any significant changes.
Who should be involved in the AI maturity assessment?
A marketing operations or revenue operations lead, along with a senior marketing leader and other stakeholders, should be involved in the assessment.
