The report, from Forbes Insights and Turn, broke respondents down into four categories along the “data-driven marketing continuum”: leaders; contenders; dabblers; and laggards, based on the extent of their company’s progress towards the goal of a “data-driven culture”.

Those organisations that are seen as leaders in data-driven marketing reported far higher levels of customer engagement and market growth than laggard counterparts: nearly three quarters of leaders said they were seeing increased customer engagement as a result of their efforts, compared with 24% of laggards.

Other key findings from the report, Data Driven and Digitally Savvy: The Rise of the New Marketing Organisation, were a rise in growth and commitment to data-driven marketing and a lack of training and education to develop data-driven marketing skills.

“Data-driven marketing requires changes in organisations — calling for new skills, new processes and new ways of looking at customer relationships,” the report said.

“Marketing is no longer a series of projects and campaigns, it is now an ongoing process of engagement and learning.”

The survey gathered responses from 331 senior US executives in October 2014. 64% of respondents were vice presidents or directors and 28% were C-level executives or senior vice presidents.