Across every single industry and company size measured, marketers report adopting Google Ads automation faster than they trust it to actually improve performance. A survey of 707 marketers broken down by company size and industry found this gap holds true universally, though its size varies considerably. Small business automotive sales and service shows one of the widest trust gaps, while several enterprise segments show a narrower, though still present, divide.

Essential Statistics

• Small business automotive sales and service shows adoption at 4.5 against confidence at 2.5, a 2.0-point gap, one of the widest measured.
• Small business restaurants and food service shows one of the narrowest gaps, with adoption at 3.0 and confidence at 2.8.
• Enterprise omnichannel retail shows adoption at 4.5 against confidence at 3.6, a 0.9-point gap.
• Enterprise B2B professional services shows one of the narrowest enterprise gaps, with adoption at 3.5 and confidence at 3.1.
• Every single segment across all three company sizes and sixteen industries shows adoption scoring higher than confidence, with no exceptions.

Key Takeaways

• The universal nature of this gap, present in every single segment measured, suggests a trust deficit in automation performance that isn’t limited to any one industry or company size.
• Small business segments showing some of the widest gaps suggests smaller companies may be adopting automation out of necessity or platform default rather than conviction.
• Enterprise segments generally showing narrower gaps suggests larger companies may have more resources to validate automation’s actual performance, even if a gap still remains.
• Restaurants and food service showing a comparatively narrow gap across company sizes suggests this category may have found automation settings that align more closely with actual results.
• This pattern suggests marketers are adopting automation faster than they’re building the measurement systems needed to actually trust it.

Actionable Insights

• Benchmark your own industry and company size segment against this data to see whether your trust gap is wider or narrower than typical, and use that as a starting point for a conversation about what’s driving the gap.
• If your segment shows a wide gap, like automotive or home services, invest specifically in performance validation and reporting before expanding automation further.
• Don’t assume high adoption means high confidence. This data shows the two are disconnected in every single segment measured, so adoption numbers alone aren’t a useful trust indicator.
• Look to lower-gap segments like restaurants and food service or certain B2B categories for potential best practices in building confidence alongside adoption.
• Treat closing your own trust gap as a measurable goal, tracking confidence scores internally over time rather than assuming adoption alone will eventually translate into trust.

‘Every single industry in this data adopted automation faster than they trust it. That gap isn’t going to close itself. Somebody has to build the proof.’ – Neil Patel