Last week, we did something we’ve never done before. We brought some of the most experienced digital experts in the world together for a full day in Amsterdam. Not for a conference. Not for another round of vendor slides. But for a genuine, practitioner-first gathering where people who’ve spent decades in the data trenches could finally meet, swap stories, and talk about where the discipline is headed.
The first-ever Amplitude Marketing Summit was built for this community: the analysts, data leaders, and measurement experts who have quietly shaped the . We forged meaningful connections, dove into the future of marketing in the AI era, and engaged in small-group exercises that surfaced challenges and sparked solutions. And all day long, a single question kept coming up:
What’s next for marketing analytics?
Because the ground is shifting quickly. AI is changing how we build models. Privacy changes are redefining what “signal” even means. And companies everywhere are asking marketing teams to be both more creative and more accountable than ever.
So before everyone flew home, I pulled a handful of these leaders aside—people who’ve spent their careers measuring what matters—and asked them one simple question:
“What’s your bold prediction for marketing analytics in 2026?”
Here’s what they said.
We’ll see some fundamental shifts in how we do and think about marketing analytics
In the age of instant gratification and personalization, the urgency for marketers to grasp the complete customer journey and intimately understand their needs and preferences is higher than ever. This means eliminating siloed analytics thinking and —in a way that respects privacy while unlocking data’s true potential.
Talia Wolf, Founder and CEO, GetUplift
is the CEO of , a conversion optimization agency that helps high-growth brands transform their customer journeys by creating emotionally resonant funnels. She’s the creator of the and has helped hundreds of brands solve the fundamental problem of uncovering their customers’ real motivations.
Talia’s prediction: “We’re going to see data analysts and marketers use a lot of new tools to try to connect all the dots in the customer journey. But my biggest prediction and hope is that we’re also going to marry psychology and user intent to do so.”
Glenn Vanderlinden, Co-founder, Human37
As the co-founder of , has witnessed the fragmentation that often exists between data collection and data activation. This led him and his co-founders to combine their skills to help brands bridge these gaps and deliver the experiences users deserve.
Glenn’s prediction: “It’s not a prediction, but a hope, that product and marketing analytics will come closer together on a unified dataset. I hope that we can simplify what analytics means, and that everybody will stop working in siloes. Then we can stop talking about marketing analytics vs. product analytics vs. experience analytics and just look at what the customer does, what the customer doesn’t do, and how to optimize that.”
Rick Dronkers, Founder, Data to Value
believes that data has no intrinsic value. Action does. As the founder and Principal Consultant of data analytics consultancy , he works with ambitious marketing teams to close the loop between data and decisions. He and his team are focused on one thing: turning data into a competitive advantage through decisive action.
Rick’s prediction: “I hope that GDPR gets a whole new shape. I hope that it doesn’t deteriorate privacy, but that it opens up some new possibilities for marketing analytics in a way that’s privacy-friendly but a little more useful to businesses.”
AI will keep advancing and force marketing teams to take a hard look at their data
Predictions related to AI? We know, shocker. But that’s because AI is redefining how everyone works, and marketers are no exception. From the shift from search economy to to AI assistants that accelerate marketing analytics workflows, our experts predict that marketing teams will further embrace AI’s potential in 2026—while also realizing that at the end of the day, the job hasn’t changed.
Dan Grainger, Head of Analytics, Haven
As the Head of Analytics at , has been pivotal in transforming the analytics team, growing it into a robust and skilled group. With 20+ years’ experience spanning academia and multiple verticals, Dan has seen a thing or two—making him a perfect person to predict what might happen next in the space.
Dan’s prediction: “Not necessarily marketing specific, but unsurprisingly, we’ll see further proliferation of AI assistance. Everyone is jumping on the bandwagon because we all want to learn how we can use agents to assist workflows and get faster insights in the marketing world, both of which represent massive potential. You want to know how your spend is doing on a campaign or on a channel, so yes, that’s only going to get faster.
But I predict we will soon hit a point, maybe in 2026, where people apply the brakes a bit when they realize that this thing is goldust if 1) you truly understand the tech and the data that underlies it, and 2) your data is actually in a good place. A lot of companies can say their data is in a good place, but there are even more that aren’t necessarily in that shape. So I think we’re going to get to the point where people say, ‘This is amazing!’ but then realize they need to slow down to speed up, and it turns into a QA factory. It could risk being, ‘Whoa, hang on. This doesn’t look quite right. We just pumped a lot of money where we shouldn’t have.’ Governance will be key!”
Austin Costello, HSE Home Shopping Europe GmbH
is a Customer Intelligence Team Lead at , a leading player in European live commerce, bridging traditional TV shopping with modern digital and social commerce. Austin’s job is to empower marketing and product teams to understand their digital touchpoints to build better experiences.
Austin’s prediction: “No brainer. We’ll see increased prevalence of LLMs, and they’ll become even more important. Right now, it’s still a black box. Everyone’s still trying to figure out how people use them, how you can market through them, and I believe we will see more and more traffic coming from LLMs or people doing research through LLMs and then naturally using direct traffic.”
Peter O’Neill, Decathalon and MeasureCamp
is a bit of a legend in the digital analytics space. He’s currently the Director of Digital Analytics at but has been a leading voice in the field for over 20 years. In 2012, he founded , a free-to-attend unconference, different from any other digital analytics conference, where digital analytics leaders share their ideas, learn, and have fun.
Peter’s prediction: “Obviously it’s all about AI right now, but I think by the end of the year, hopefully, we’ll realize that nothing’s actually changed. Marketing is back to trying to understand new customers: where they are, what they’re interested in, where they’re shopping, how much they can afford. And that’s all it’s ever been. The rest is just tools and different ways to communicate with people, different places to buy, etc. But the guy sitting on the side of the road with products on the rug 2,000 years ago—that’s never changed.”
Embrace the future of marketing analytics with Amplitude
Predictions are just that—predictions. So while nothing is guaranteed, coming from this group of analytics veterans, these are predictions I’d put money on. And no matter what 2026 holds, Amplitude will be right there with you in the marketing trenches, .