Nearly 4 in 5 marketers (78.6%) say AI made a positive impact on their marketing performance, but as CoSchedule’s After The AI Shift report further explains, “for most, AI didn’t lead to increased ROI.”
“[AI] reduced friction, sped up execution, and made it easier to produce the volume of work marketing demands,” the report says. “To turn AI from a helpful tool into a competitive advantage, marketers need tools designed for strategic marketing.”
For many marketers, that road to ROI goes through what’s stable and working.
More than a quarter (27.99%) said email marketing created their highest ROI, ahead of SEO (26.13%), events (22.06%), and paid search (19.54%). And for nearly half (48.19%), lead generation is the top priority for 2026.

(Source: CoSchedule)
“Marketing leaders are prioritizing efforts that stabilize performance more than experimentation in 2026,” the report says of lead generation and other leading priorities such as customer retention (24%), AI and automation (22%), and brand awareness (21%). “2026 will be most about revenue stability and less about scaling and new channels.”
For more information about how to improve your email deliverability, download A Beginner’s Guide to Email Marketing by Mirabel’s Marketing Manager:
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