Total Economic Impact
Cost Savings And Business Benefits Enabled By Zeta Marketing Platform
A FORRESTER TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT STUDY COMMISSIONED BY Zeta Global, October 2025
Total Economic Impact
A FORRESTER TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT STUDY COMMISSIONED BY Zeta Global, October 2025
Marketing teams face growing demands to deliver personalized, data-driven experiences across channels, but fragmented data and legacy tools can limit visibility and agility to deliver unified customer journeys. Zeta Marketing Platform can enable organizations to deepen customer insights, enhance campaign performance, and streamline execution through a full-service, data-driven approach. Zeta leverages artificial intelligence to streamline customer acquisition, growth, and retention. Organizations across industries seeking to modernize their marketing technology stacks and scale acquisition through personalized customer experiences should consider Zeta’s full-service solution.
Zeta Global commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study and examine the potential return on investment (ROI) enterprises may realize by deploying Zeta Marketing Platform.1 The purpose of this study is to provide readers with a framework to evaluate the potential financial impact of Zeta Marketing Platform on their organizations.
To better understand the benefits, costs, and risks associated with this investment, Forrester interviewed four decision-makers with experience using Zeta Marketing Platform. For the purposes of this study, Forrester aggregated the experiences of the interviewees and combined the results into a single composite organization, which is a global organization with revenue of $15 billion per year.
Interviewees said that prior to using Zeta Marketing Platform, their organizations relied on fragmented data and legacy tools that lacked integration and scalability. Data was often inconsistent or duplicated across platforms, limiting visibility into customer behavior and making it difficult to execute personalized campaigns. Prior solutions yielded limited success, leaving them with siloed marketing efforts and low return on ad spend. These limitations led to difficulties understanding customer behavior, ineffective targeting, and manual campaign processes.
After investing in Zeta Marketing Platform, the interviewees consolidated their marketing technology stack and added new acquisition channels beyond brand-owned touchpoints. Key results from the investment include performance lift in return on ad spend and conversion rates, automated and personalized email campaigns, and new audience reach.
Quantified benefits. Three-year, risk-adjusted present value (PV) quantified benefits for the composite organization include:
Increased return on ad spend to 6x. The composite organization reports a 3x improvement in return on ad spend after adopting Zeta, with performance rising from 2x to 6x or higher. The composite reports the ability to target high-intent audiences using enriched customer data and real-time behavioral signals across channels.
Reduced time spent on campaigns and email journey creation by 50%. Teams within the composite reduce campaign setup and email journey creation time by half using Zeta’s dashboards, AI-powered automation, and natural language query tools. What previously took the composite hours now takes minutes, freeing up resources for strategic work and accelerating speed to market.
Avoided legacy system costs by consolidated tech stack. By consolidating multiple legacy platforms into Zeta’s unified platform, the composite avoids significant annual costs. Savings include overages, licensing fees, and support contracts, recovering $1.5M+ annually through decommissioning.
Unquantified benefits. Benefits that provide value for the composite organization but are not quantified for this study include:
Improved customer experience. Zeta enables unified customer profiles and real-time data access, enabling the composite organization to deliver personalized, targeted communications and service across channels.
Deeper strategic insights. The composite organization makes faster, data-driven decisions using Zeta’s identity graph to reveal customer behaviors and market opportunities.
Increased confidence in regulatory compliance. Zeta Marketing Platform provides the composite with built-in compliance knowledge and data privacy to support secure data handling and compliance with industry regulations.
Costs. Three-year, risk-adjusted PV costs for the composite organization include:
Implementation fees. The composite organization incurs an implementation fee to set up the platform.
License and platform fees. Zeta Marketing Platform has annual license fees to use the solution and access Zeta white-glove service.
The financial analysis that is based on the interviews found that a composite organization experiences benefits of $28.7M over three years versus costs of $7.3M, adding up to a net present value (NPV) of $21.4M and an ROI of 295%.
Return on investment (ROI)
Benefits PV
Net present value (NPV)
Payback
| Role | Industry | Region | Revenue | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vice President of Performance Marketing | Food Products | North America | $200M+ | 6K+ |
| Head of Direct Channel Marketing | Financial Services | North America | $4.3B+ | 6K+ |
| Director of Digital Marketing and Operations | Travel | Global | $57B | 100K+ |
| IT Director of Marketing Platforms | Retail | North America | $14B+ | 50K+ |
Prior to implementing Zeta Marketing Platform, organizations’ omnichannel marketing was constrained by outdated, inefficient technology stacks.
Interviewees noted how their organizations struggled with common challenges, including:
Disjointed data sources created fragmented customer views. Multiple systems provided conflicting insights, making it difficult to unify customer records and understand behavior across channels. Teams lacked a single source of truth for customer identity.
Limited customer insights restricted segmentation and personalization. Organizations relied on assumptions and limited data to define customer traits. Without a complete set of enriched data, they struggled to identify high-value segments or tailor messaging effectively.
Ineffective targeting led to poor campaign performance. Legacy CRM data used for audience modeling was outdated, poor quality, or irrelevant, resulting in low engagement and inefficient media spend. Prospecting efforts lacked precision and reach. Batch-and-blast email strategies failed to resonate with recipients, contributing to high unsubscribe rates and low click-through performance.
Manual campaign processes slowed execution and increased resource strain. Email journeys and segmentation required manual exports, uploads, and coordination across systems. Campaign setup often took days or weeks, tying up resources and limiting campaign agility and scalability.
Limited campaign effectiveness resulted in low return on ad spend (ROAS). Programmatic campaigns delivered minimal returns, yielding up to 2x ROAS. Media investments failed to generate meaningful growth or justify spend.
Siloed omnichannel efforts fragmented the customer journey. Marketing channels operated independently, preventing a cohesive experience. Organizations lacked the infrastructure to orchestrate unified journeys across email, media, and web.
Outdated homegrown systems increased complexity and cost. Internal technology stacks were inefficient and difficult to scale. Legacy platforms lacked real-time capabilities and required extensive development to maintain integrations.
External data hygiene vendors introduced costly errors and added latency. Poor-quality data feeds from third-party vendors led to corrupted customer records and identity mismatches. These issues disrupted operations and required significant remediation.
The interviewees searched for a solution that could:
• Gain true customer insights from fragmented data sources.
• Replace legacy ESP with a platform offering customer data platform (CDP) + email service provider (ESP) + demand-side platform (DSP).
• Improve targeting accuracy and segmentation.
• Automate and personalize email journeys.
• Increase return on ad spend and conversion rates.
• Support strategic growth with data-driven decisions for new locations and customer segments.
• Build new acquisition channels beyond brand-owned data.
• Improve customer data identity and hygiene.
Based on the interviews, Forrester constructed a TEI framework, a composite company, and an ROI analysis that illustrates the areas financially affected. The composite organization is representative of the interviewees’ organizations, and it is used to present the aggregate financial analysis in the next section. The composite organization has the following characteristics:
Description of composite. The global organization is a multi-sector enterprise with $15B in annual revenue and 40,000 employees.
$15B annual revenue
40,000 employees
10% of total marketing spend on Zeta
| Ref. | Benefit | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atr | Increased return on ad spend | $7,600,000 | $7,600,000 | $7,600,000 | $22,800,000 | $18,900,075 |
| Btr | Campaign savings due to marketing team efficiency | $712,500 | $712,500 | $712,500 | $2,137,500 | $1,771,882 |
| Ctr | Cost savings from consolidated tech stack | $3,230,000 | $3,230,000 | $3,230,000 | $9,690,000 | $8,032,532 |
| Total benefits (risk-adjusted) | $11,542,500 | $11,542,500 | $11,542,500 | $34,627,500 | $28,704,489 |
Evidence and data. Interviewees reported stronger performance across paid media channels after adopting Zeta and noted that return on ad spend increased from approximately 2x to 6-7x.
Interviewees attributed performance gains to Zeta’s enriched data, identity graph, and segmentation capabilities. Interviewees reported that Zeta enabled more precise targeting and reduced wasted spend.
According to interviewees, Zeta’s ability to target high-intent audiences was a key driver for the performance result. High-intent audiences included individuals who had previously purchased from related brands or searched for relevant products.
Interviewees confirmed that improvements in return on ad spend were achieved without increasing media spend and stated that Zeta’s platform delivered greater efficiency and impact for the same budget.
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
The composite organization has a $2M annual ad spend.
Risks. Increased return on ad spend may vary based on:
The organization’s annual ad spend.
The return on ad spend prior to Zeta using legacy tools.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 5%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $18.9M.
ROAS with Zeta
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | Annual ad spend | Composite | $2,000,000 | $2,000,000 | $2,000,000 | |
| A2 | Return on ad spend prior to Zeta | Interviews | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| A3 | Annual return prior to Zeta | A1*A2 | $4,000,000 | $4,000,000 | $4,000,000 | |
| A4 | Return on ad spend with Zeta | Interviews | 6 | 6 | 6 | |
| A5 | Annual return with Zeta | A1*A4 | 12,000,000 | 12,000,000 | 12,000,000 | |
| At | Increased return on ad spend | A5-A3 | $8,000,000 | $8,000,000 | $8,000,000 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓5% | |||||
| Atr | Increased return on ad spend (risk-adjusted) | $7,600,000 | $7,600,000 | $7,600,000 | ||
| Three-year total: $22,800,000 | Three-year present value: $18,900,075 | |||||
Evidence and data. Interviewees achieved significant cost savings and operational efficiency by streamlining campaign execution through Zeta’s full-service model and automation capabilities. Interviewees attributed performance gains to Zeta’s enriched data, identity graph, and segmentation capabilities. Interviewees reported that Zeta enabled more precise targeting and reduced wasted spend.
Prior to Zeta, interviewees stated that campaign setup was manual, time-consuming, and required multiple internal resources. With Zeta, interviewees reported that teams reduced time spent managing campaigns, reallocated staff to strategic work, and avoided the need for additional headcount.
According to interviewees, campaign setup times reduced from weeks down to hours, enabling faster activation and reducing bottlenecks. Interviewees estimated a minimum 50% savings in campaign turnaround time.
Marketing teams saved over 5 hours per analysis task using Zeta’s AI-powered reporting tools. Creating campaign performance reports previously required manual data exports, cleaning and merging data, and building pivot tables to analyze metrics.
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
The composite organization creates 750 new campaigns annually.
The fully burdened hourly rate for a marketing professional is $50.
Risks. Campaign savings due to marketing team efficiency may vary based on:
The amount of time spent creating campaigns using legacy tools prior to Zeta.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 5%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $1.8M.
Reduction in time spent creating campaigns
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B1 | Number of new campaigns created annually | Composite | 750 | 750 | 750 | |
| B2 | Hours spent creating each campaign prior to Zeta | Interviews | 40 | 40 | 40 | |
| B3 | Time saved creating each campaign with Zeta | Interviews | 50% | 50% | 50% | |
| B4 | Subtotal: Hours saved creating net new campaigns annually | B1*B2*B3 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 15,000 | |
| B5 | Fully burdened hourly rate for marketing professional | Assumption | $50 | $50 | $50 | |
| Bt | Campaign savings due to marketing team efficiency | B4*B5 | $750,000 | $750,000 | $750,000 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓5% | |||||
| Btr | Campaign savings due to marketing team efficiency (risk-adjusted) | $712,500 | $712,500 | $712,500 | ||
| Three-year total: $2,137,500 | Three-year present value: $1,771,882 | |||||
Evidence and data. Interviewees described replacing multiple legacy marketing applications and services with Zeta’s unified marketing platform including CRM systems, ESPs, data cleansing vendors, and analytics tools. Additionally, interviewees emphasized that Zeta’s platform allowed them to consolidate fragmented systems into a single environment, reducing internal coordination and vendor management overhead.
Interviewees reported eliminating over $1.5 million in annual costs by decommissioning other point solutions.
Additional savings reported by interviewees came from avoiding overage fees and licensing restrictions incurred under previous ESP contracts.
According to interviewees, cost savings were achieved while expanding strategic capabilities, including real-time customer lookup, omnichannel activation, and improved data governance.
Interviewees also noted that Zeta’s pricing model, based on volume, was more transparent and performance-based than previous vendor contracts.
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
The composite organization saves annual data cleansing vendor costs.
The composite organization saves annual ESP license and overage costs.
Internal support costs are reduced due to simplified workflows and fewer integration points.
Risks. Cost savings from consolidated tech stack may vary based on:
The number and types of existing legacy tools.
Partial-year transitions from legacy tools based on existing contract terms.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $8.0M.
Saved annually replacing legacy platforms
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C1 | Data cleansing vendor cost | Interviews | $300,000 | $300,000 | $300,000 | |
| C2 | ESP licensing and overage costs | Interviews | $3,500,000 | $3,500,000 | $3,500,000 | |
| Ct | Cost savings from consolidated tech stack | C1+C2 | $3,800,000 | $3,800,000 | $3,800,000 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓15% | |||||
| Ctr | Cost savings from consolidated tech stack (risk-adjusted) | $3,230,000 | $3,230,000 | $3,230,000 | ||
| Three-year total: $9,690,000 | Three-year present value: $8,032,532 | |||||
Interviewees mentioned the following additional benefits that their organizations experienced but were not able to quantify:
Improved customer experience. Interviewees said that Zeta helped unify fragmented customer records into a single view for their organizations. Personalized journeys, dynamic content, and AI-driven segmentation helped marketing teams send relevant, timely communications to their customers that reflect their preferences and behaviors. According to interviewees, triggered emails, self-service interactions, and streamlined opt-out syncing contributed to the creating a responsive customer experience.
Unlocking strategic insights. Zeta’s identity graph and data enrichment tools revealed new insights into audience behaviors that interviewees said challenged historical assumptions and lead to refined targeting. Teams gained visibility into customer demographics, purchase patterns, and competitive dynamics, informing media strategy, product development, and expansion planning. Interviewees said they used the AI-powered dashboards and location intelligence to support faster, data-driven decision-making.
Increasing regulatory confidence. Interviewees said they relied on Zeta to support data privacy compliance and secure data handling. Prescreened campaigns, adherence to Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) standards, and proactive collaboration with legal and infosec teams helped organizations mitigate risk and enforce marketing practices that meet strict regulatory requirements. Interviewees reported that they had no compliance incidents since adopting Zeta.
The value of flexibility is unique to each organization. There are multiple scenarios in which a customer might implement Zeta Marketing Platform and later realize additional uses and business opportunities, including:
Scalable execution model. White-glove service and flexible support models allow organizations to scale execution without increasing internal workload. Smaller teams are able to manage enterprise-scale marketing operations.
Custom development support. Zeta provides flexibility in meeting unique data management needs.
Flexibility would also be quantified when evaluated as part of a specific project (described in more detail in Total Economic Impact Approach).
| Ref. | Cost | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dtr | Implementation fees | $115,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $115,000 | $115,000 |
| Etr | License and platform fees | $0 | $2,875,000 | $2,875,000 | $2,875,000 | $8,625,000 | $7,149,699 |
| Total costs (risk-adjusted) | $115,000 | $2,875,000 | $2,875,000 | $2,875,000 | $8,740,000 | $7,264,699 |
Evidence and data. Interviewees incurred one-time implementation fees for custom solution setup. Pricing may vary. Contact Zeta for additional details.
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
The composite organization incurs a one-time implementation fee for Zeta Marketing Platform setup of $115,000, including Zeta technical resources.
Risks. Implementation costs may vary based on the complexity of the implementation.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this cost upward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $115,000.
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D1 | Zeta technical services | Interview | $25,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| D2 | Zeta implementation fee | Interview | $75,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| D3 | Implementation fees | D1+D2 | $100,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Dt | Risk adjustment | ↑15% | ||||
| Implementation fees (risk-adjusted) | $115,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | ||
| Dtr | Zeta technical services | Interview | $25,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Three-year total: $115,000 | Three-year present value: $115,000 | |||||
Evidence and data. Interviewees reported that the estimated fees for Zeta Marketing Platform included annual license platform fees based on usage. License fees for the composite organization included Zeta white-glove service. Pricing may vary. Contact Zeta for additional details.
Interviewees stated that Zeta white-glove service unlocked the full potential of the platform capabilities and helped them to optimize their results. White-glove service included campaign support, data strategy and identity resolution, compliance, and ongoing optimizations based on changing market conditions.
Interviewees also reported that white-glove service was customizable and modeled based on their specific needs.
Pricing may vary. Contact Zeta for additional details.
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
The composite organization subscribes to Zeta Marketing Platform, including white-glove service.
Risks. License and platform fees incurred by other organizations may vary based on usage and custom requirements.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this cost upward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $7.1M.
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E1 | CRM license and platform fees | Interview | $0 | $2,500,000 | $2,500,000 | $2,500,000 |
| Et | License and platform fees | E1 | $0 | $2,500,000 | $2,500,000 | $2,500,000 |
| Risk adjustment | ↑15% | |||||
| Etr | License and platform fees (risk-adjusted) | $0 | $2,875,000 | $2,875,000 | $2,875,000 | |
| Three-year total: $4,400,000 | Three-year present value: $3,835,537 | |||||
| Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total costs | ($115,000) | ($2,875,000) | ($2,875,000) | ($2,875,000) | ($8,740,000) | ($7,264,699) |
| Total benefits | $0 | $11,542,500 | $11,542,500 | $11,542,500 | $34,627,500 | $28,704,489 |
| Net benefits | ($115,000) | $8,667,500 | $8,667,500 | $8,667,500 | $25,887,500 | $21,439,790 |
| ROI | 295% | |||||
| Payback | <6 months |
The financial results calculated in the Benefits and Costs sections can be used to determine the ROI, NPV, and payback period for the composite organization’s investment. Forrester assumes a yearly discount rate of 10% for this analysis.
These risk-adjusted ROI, NPV, and payback period values are determined by applying risk-adjustment factors to the unadjusted results in each Benefit and Cost section.
The initial investment column contains costs incurred at “time 0” or at the beginning of Year 1 that are not discounted. All other cash flows are discounted using the discount rate at the end of the year. PV calculations are calculated for each total cost and benefit estimate. NPV calculations in the summary tables are the sum of the initial investment and the discounted cash flows in each year. Sums and present value calculations of the Total Benefits, Total Costs, and Cash Flow tables may not exactly add up, as some rounding may occur.
From the information provided in the interviews, Forrester constructed a Total Economic Impact™ framework for those organizations considering an investment in Zeta Marketing Platform.
The objective of the framework is to identify the cost, benefit, flexibility, and risk factors that affect the investment decision. Forrester took a multistep approach to evaluate the impact that Zeta Marketing Platform can have on an organization.
Interviewed Zeta stakeholders and Forrester analysts to gather data relative to Zeta Marketing Platform.
Interviewed four decision-makers at organizations using Zeta Marketing Platform to obtain data about costs, benefits, and risks.
Designed a composite organization based on characteristics of the interviewees’ organizations.
Constructed a financial model representative of the interviews using the TEI methodology and risk-adjusted the financial model based on issues and concerns of the interviewees.
Employed four fundamental elements of TEI in modeling the investment impact: benefits, costs, flexibility, and risks. Given the increasing sophistication of ROI analyses related to IT investments, Forrester’s TEI methodology provides a complete picture of the total economic impact of purchase decisions. Please see Appendix A for additional information on the TEI methodology.
Benefits represent the value the solution delivers to the business. The TEI methodology places equal weight on the measure of benefits and costs, allowing for a full examination of the solution’s effect on the entire organization.
Costs comprise all expenses necessary to deliver the proposed value, or benefits, of the solution. The methodology captures implementation and ongoing costs associated with the solution.
Flexibility represents the strategic value that can be obtained for some future additional investment building on top of the initial investment already made. The ability to capture that benefit has a PV that can be estimated.
Risks measure the uncertainty of benefit and cost estimates given: 1) the likelihood that estimates will meet original projections and 2) the likelihood that estimates will be tracked over time. TEI risk factors are based on “triangular distribution.”
The present or current value of (discounted) cost and benefit estimates given at an interest rate (the discount rate). The PV of costs and benefits feed into the total NPV of cash flows.
The present or current value of (discounted) future net cash flows given an interest rate (the discount rate). A positive project NPV normally indicates that the investment should be made unless other projects have higher NPVs.
A project’s expected return in percentage terms. ROI is calculated by dividing net benefits (benefits less costs) by costs.
The interest rate used in cash flow analysis to take into account the time value of money. Organizations typically use discount rates between 8% and 16%.
The breakeven point for an investment. This is the point in time at which net benefits (benefits minus costs) equal initial investment or cost.
Total Economic Impact is a methodology developed by Forrester Research that enhances a company’s technology decision-making processes and assists solution providers in communicating their value proposition to clients. The TEI methodology helps companies demonstrate, justify, and realize the tangible value of business and technology initiatives to both senior management and other key stakeholders.
1 Total Economic Impact is a methodology developed by Forrester Research that enhances a company’s technology decision-making processes and assists solution providers in communicating their value proposition to clients. The TEI methodology helps companies demonstrate, justify, and realize the tangible value of business and technology initiatives to both senior management and other key stakeholders.
Readers should be aware of the following:
This study is commissioned by Zeta Global and delivered by Forrester Consulting. It is not meant to be used as a competitive analysis.
Forrester makes no assumptions as to the potential ROI that other organizations will receive. Forrester strongly advises that readers use their own estimates within the framework provided in the study to determine the appropriateness of an investment in Zeta Marketing Platform.
Zeta Global reviewed and provided feedback to Forrester, but Forrester maintains editorial control over the study and its findings and does not accept changes to the study that contradict Forrester’s findings or obscure the meaning of the study.
Zeta Global provided the customer names for the interviews but did not participate in the interviews.
Nina Lund
October 2025
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