8 marketing automation trends for 2026

If 2025 was the year marketers experimented with AI, 2026 is the year they become expert in it. What began as a creative shortcut has become a full-fledged marketing copilot, one that can analyze, plan, and optimize campaigns automatically.

At the same time, stricter privacy regulations, rising ad costs, and evolving customer expectations are forcing brands to rethink how they use data. Autonomous marketing is no longer just about efficiency. It’s also about trust.

And, of course, how marketing and service teams can work together on one CRM to deliver end-to-end experiences.

We spoke with 13 marketing automation experts from around the world about the biggest trends they think will shape 2026. From AI-driven orchestration to omnichannel integration, here’s what they see coming next.

1. AI will become every marketer’s copilot

David Visser, CEO of Zyber and Unlocked, two of New Zealand’s top digital commerce agencies helping brands scale globally, believes 2026 is the year AI will finally “handle the heavy lifting so marketers can focus on creativity, strategy, and community connection.”

And AI won’t just be assisting. “AI will become every marketer’s copilot, rapidly building flows, testing variations, and personalizing messages at scale,” Visser says.

Stefan Milicevic, strategy director at Underground Ecom, one of the world’s largest retention marketing agencies, agrees. “AI will start recommending triggers, delays, and messaging angles after spotting trends and gaps in customer retention cycles,” he says. “This will make it possible to work on customer retention at scale while maintaining a lot of the intimate, personal feeling between each customer and the brand.”

AI is already saving smaller teams time. “I’m a one-person department,” says Zach Scheimer, senior marketing operations manager at Criquet Shirts, a lifestyle apparel brand. “We can ask K:AI Marketing Agent to analyze our flows and make adjustments based on the results.”

These copilots augment a marketer’s workflow by accelerating tasks, analyzing performance, and suggesting improvements while keeping humans firmly in the driver’s seat.

On the customer service side, AI customer agents like K:AI Customer Agent can recommend products and resolve support questions, making AI a copilot for both marketing and service teams.

How to prepare for increased AI use in 2026

“Make sure to integrate your favorite AI tools with your email service provider (or CRM, if you have Klaviyo),” Milicevic recommends. “Be sure that it’s trained and has learned from your current data set, including the data frenzy that is Q4,” he says.

As AI takes on more operational lift, these integrations create the foundation for the next phase: systems that don’t just assist, but act autonomously.

2. Autonomous orchestration will evolve quickly

Zac Fromson, co-founder of Lilo Social, a full-service performance marketing agency helping ecommerce brands scale, sees automation evolving rapidly in 2026: “Marketing automation will move from scheduled workflows to self-optimizing systems that plan, execute, and adjust campaigns across channels in real time.”

Beyond its role as a copilot,it will anticipate customer needs and optimize marketing strategies proactively. Predictive models built on first-party data will analyze behavior and adapt creative, timing, and channel mix dynamically.

“Automation won’t just trigger messages,” says Ben Zettler, founder of Zettler Digital, a digital marketing agency specializing in retention, paid media, and Shopify development. “It’ll generate and evolve them. The winners will be brands that know how to train AI on their tone, not just prompt it.”

Joe Hsieh, founder of Retention Commerce, a lifecycle marketing consultancy focused on data-driven retention, predicts brands will finally reach true one-to-one communication. “AI systems will take the full context of a customer’s relationship with the brand and generate messaging that feels handcrafted for that individual,” he says. “Every touchpoint will become a live conversation instead of a scheduled broadcast.”

Together, these innovations point to a future where automation doesn’t just execute strategy, but continuously improves it.This shifts AI from suggesting improvements (the copilot role) to independently orchestrating campaigns end to end.

How to prepare for autonomous AI orchestration in 2026

Hsieh and Zettler recommend taking these 3 steps to set your AI-powered marketing automation up for success.

First, build a structured creative data set and deepen the “context layer” of your product catalog and content. Hsieh suggests that brands invest in:

• Richer product metadata
• UGC libraries
• Founder stories
• Customer reviews
• Behind-the scenes content

Invest, too, in any digital assets that explain why your product matters. “The more complete the brand’s digital footprint, the better the personalization engine performs,” says Hsieh.

Next, shift creative testing frameworks from manual A/B tests to “continuous optimization.”

Finally, invest in a QA system that prioritizes human review. “The tech will move fast,” says Zettler, “but someone still needs to catch what shouldn’t ship.”

3. Privacy and consent will drive personalization

As AI gets smarter, privacy will become even more essential. Fromson emphasizes that compliant automation will be a competitive advantage in 2026: “The winners will be brands that use automation to deliver value with consent.”

Christian Nørbjerg Enger, chief product officer at Segmento, a Danish performance marketing agency helping ecommerce brands grow online, adds: “With stricter EU and Apple regulations and rising consumer demands for privacy, marketers need to shift to a privacy-first approach emphasizing zero- and first-party data.”

This shift isn’t just about compliance. It reshapes what personalization means.

Marika Tselonis, director of retention at Kulin, a performance marketing agency that helps DTC brands scale through paid acquisition and retention marketing, points out that brands succeeding in 2026 won’t just have better AI. “They’ll have better ingredients,” she says: “Rich, consensual data that reveals not just what customers did, but what they want.”

To that end, she predicts that “zero-party data collection will become the defining competitive advantage in ecommerce automation.”

Blake Imperl, senior vice president of marketing at Digioh, a personalization platform that helps ecommerce brands connect every stage of the customer journey, agrees that owned identification will become “the cornerstone of cross-channel personalization.”

He also sees a broader strategic shift. “With rising CACs and disappearing cookies, the smartest brands in 2026 will focus on activating data across the funnel, turning quiz and preference data into personalized journeys that convert.”

This investment in data quality has business implications, of course. Nørbjerg Enger links it directly to profitability. “By prioritizing integration and using data-driven automation, marketers can retain loyal customers, drive higher profits, and differentiate themselves in a crowded space,” he says.

Transparency will also build loyalty. “Consumers are more likely to engage and share data when they trust a brand’s transparency,” says Ashley Ismailovski, director of email marketing at SmartSites, a full-service digital marketing agency specializing in SEO, PPC, and email.

Klaviyo Data Platform, Klaviyo’s built-in customer data platform (CDP), helps brands uphold that trust by unifying zero- and first-party data and enabling predictive personalization that respects consent.

How to prepare for a more privacy-oriented marketing strategy in 2026

Tselonis recommends that brands audit their current collection points. “Most brands only have 1–2 when they should really have 5–7 across the customer lifecycle,” she says. “Create compelling value exchanges like discount codes for surveys or early access for sharing preferences. Then integrate everything into Klaviyo segments.”

“The gap in 2026 won’t be between brands using AI and brands not using AI,” Tselonis adds. “It’ll be between brands with rich customer data and brands guessing at what their customers want.”

4. Unified data will become the backbone of marketing accuracy

Once you’ve audited your data collection strategies, connecting every touchpoint will be essential. In 2026, it will be more important than ever to invest in a tech stack that unifies:

• Email
• Text messaging
• Social
• Web
• Retail

Nørbjerg Enger predicts: “The brands that stand out will be those leveraging owned and earned data to optimize every stage of the customer journey for profitability and loyalty.”

Milicevic calls this “omnichannel marketing automation powered by deep access to back-end data.”

At Criquet Shirts, for example, Scheimer uses Klaviyo’s AI-powered channel affinity to identify the channels where each customer engages most. Then, “we use Digioh to continue that experience from email and text messaging right to the website, and we’ve added direct mail using PostPilot,” Scheimer explains. “Being able to give customers full omnichannel experiences that match is easier than ever, and it drives results.”

“Fragmented data limits automation accuracy,” Ismailovski adds. “Unified data unlocks smarter segmentation, more relevant messaging, and reliable measurement.”

Klaviyo brings these capabilities together in one platform, giving brands a single source of truth. That same data powers Klaviyo Service products like Klaviyo Customer Hub, K:AI Customer Agent, and Klaviyo Helpdesk, so marketing and support teams work from one shared customer profile.

How to prepare for a unified approach in 2026

Ismailovski says “marketers should be looking at their tech stack to determine where consolidation makes the most sense, and standardize data structure across platforms.”

Milicevic recommends that brands prioritize good data hygiene, emphasizing that Klaviyo Data Platform can help.

5. Shoppable videos will shorten the customer journey

Ismailovski points to shoppable video as the next big step: “Consumers want fewer clicks between discovery and purchase,” she says. “Interactive, shoppable videos shorten the buyer journey and increase conversion by letting viewers act on impulse without leaving the content.”

How to prepare for interactive and shoppable content in 2026

Ismailovski and Tselonis recommend that marketers prepare by:

• Using embedded videos on landing pages and pairing Klaviyo flows with interactive landing pages
• Partnering with platforms that support interactive media
• Testing short-form video placements that drive direct action
• Eliminating unnecessary clicks to your site for simple actions to reduce friction

“Static emails aren’t going anywhere in 2026,” Tselonis acknowledges. “But brands using interactive elements will create superior customer experiences that drive higher engagement and conversion rates.”

6. Post-purchase transparency and integrated support will define customer loyalty

Retention doesn’t end at check-out.

“Gone are the days of having to jump through hoops to get in contact with support,” says Mike Kumlin, senior marketing technology manager at ButcherBox, a subscription meat service. “It needs to be readily available and used in ways that customers may not immediately be aware of, like automating white glove experiences when a customer has a negative interaction with your brand, or proactively reaching out at the right time based on a series of customer behaviors.”

“Customer support can’t just be the last item on your nav bar,” Kumlin adds. “It needs to be infused throughout the journey.”

How to prepare for a more robust post-purchase experience in 2026

Use Klaviyo automations to trigger follow-ups after poor service experiences or send educational content when a product ships.

The Klaviyo Service suite, which includes Customer Hub, Customer Agent, and Helpdesk, also gives shoppers self-service options, instant AI support, and human help in one connected experience.

7. Relevance will overtake hyper-personalization

Michael Pattison, lead digital strategist at Klaviyo, sees marketers returning to fundamentals in 2026: “Being relevant throughout the journey is more important than trying to achieve one-to-one personalization in every channel.”

How to prepare to achieve relevance in 2026

Pattison recommends using Klaviyo’s AI-powered channel affinity to communicate where customers are most engaged—whether that’s the inbox, text messaging, or multiple channels.

“We need to be in more channels,” Pattison says. “Consumers have never been more distracted, and a single channel can’t retain them.”

8. Authenticity and trust will become the ultimate differentiators

In 2026, AI saturation will make authenticity a brand’s most valuable asset. “Customers are getting more and more savvy,” says Kumlin. “If you’re not authentic, they’ll see right through it. Poorly targeted recommendations destroy trust.”

How to prepare for more authenticity in 2026

“Being proactive about privacy and transparency builds credibility and long-term loyalty,” Ismailovski suggests.

And Fromson reminds marketers that even the most advanced automation can’t replace genuine connection: “The brands that win will combine AI’s precision with human authenticity.”

In 2026, technology may power your campaigns, but trust will power your growth.

The future is automated and human

Marketing automation in 2026 will be more connected, more intelligent, and more personal than ever. But it’ll also be more human.

Data will power personalization. AI will handle the analysis. And marketers (the storytellers, strategists, and creatives) will finally have the space to focus on what they do best: building relationships.

Klaviyo brings these elements together in one place: AI-powered automation, a built-in CDP, and unified marketing orchestration across email, text messaging, mobile push, WhatsApp, and more to help brands create connected, compliant, and genuinely personal experiences, at scale.

And with the Klaviyo Service suite, those experiences extend beyond the inbox into every support interaction, all on the same CRM.

Because the future of marketing automation isn’t about replacing marketers.
It’s about amplifying them.