I’m pleased to announce that The Forrester Tech Tide™: B2C Marketing Technology, Q1 2026 just published. Forrester is known for its detailed coverage of marketing technology at the market level, and this Tech Tide offers broader context to understand the entire martech ecosystem. It defines the categories that comprise the martech ecosystem and assesses the relative maturity and business value of each category.

We were due for an updated B2C martech Tech Tide — the previous version was released in 2020 from the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic! Marketing, consumers, and technology have evolved dramatically in (nearly) six years, and it’s time for a fresh look at martech’s many-splendored capabilities.

Use The Tech Tide To Guide Martech Planning

All martech is important, but individual categories follow their own trajectory and deliver varying degrees of efficiency, value, and ROI. The Tech Tide provides B2C marketing leaders with planning guidance on which marketing technologies they need and when and how much to invest.

Effective martech adoption is critically important to B2C marketers’ ability to execute marketing strategy. A deep understanding of the martech ecosystem and how the pieces fit together is crucial because:

  1. No martech category stands alone. Martech is comprised of an interconnected set of tools that, together, cover the full customer lifecycle and range of customer engagement touchpoints.
  2. AI is driving new martech options. AI isn’t new to martech, but advances in generative AI and the arrival of agentic AI have reset decades-old usage patterns, redefining how marketers use technology for customer engagement.
  3. Brands must balance efficiency and efficacy. Current economic conditions dictate that martech investments must simultaneously drive revenue and support business goals while holding the line on — or ideally reducing — costs.

Use The Forrester Tech Tide™: B2C Marketing Technology, Q1 2026 to enrich your understanding of the modern martech ecosystem, identify potential gaps and areas for improvement in your martech stack that would benefit from new or differentiated capabilities, and effectively plan the timing and resource commitments of martech investments.

Please request a guidance session or inquiry with an analyst to discuss the report or to learn more about the ecosystem impact on specific martech categories.