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As AI is changing how B2B businesses generate demand and nurture leads, the story of rising CAC without improved sales performance is a notable warning for Vietnamese marketers. The issue is not only spending more on media or adding more channels, but also whether being “known” truly translates into buying confidence.
- Key points:
- CAC is rising across many B2B industries, but that has not led to a corresponding improvement in deal volume, speed, or value.
- MarTech argues that the deeper cause lies in an old assumption: that increasing awareness and providing information will create purchase intent.
- The challenge today is not just greater visibility, but proving value and building trust at every touchpoint.
- For Vietnamese marketers, AI can boost content production and targeting efficiency, but it cannot replace market proof and persuasive messaging.
CAC is rising, but “sales quality” is not changing: a sign of a deeper problem
In the MarTech article, the author raises a question that many B2B go-to-market teams often overlook: if customer acquisition costs keep rising, why are deal volume, closing speed, or contract value not improving accordingly? When the answer stops at “the market is more competitive, there are more channels, and there is more noise,” businesses can easily fall into a loop of increasing budgets to “make up” for declining efficiency.
What stands out is that MarTech does not see this as merely a market problem. The author calls it a “proof problem” — meaning the industry is spending more but has not proven that its current approach is actually delivering better business results. This is an important reminder for B2B marketers: if CAC is rising but the pipeline is not getting healthier, the underlying assumptions of the demand-generation strategy need to be revisited.
Source: MarTech, “Why your CAC keeps rising while deals don’t improve” (martech.org).
The old assumptions about brand awareness are being challenged
According to MarTech, the B2B GTM industry has long relied on a very common belief: if customers are made aware of the brand more often and given enough information, they will develop purchase intent. The problem is that this assumption is increasingly showing its limits. Awareness is necessary, but awareness alone is not enough to build trust; and information, if it only stops at data delivery, may still fail to persuade buyers.
This is especially important in the age of AI, when content can be produced faster, in greater volume, and with more personalization. But if every brand pushes information using the same formula, customers do not necessarily feel more reassured. They may even become more skeptical, because more information does not automatically mean better proof. In B2B, where buying decisions often take time and involve multiple stakeholders, “knowing” is only the starting point.
Source: MarTech, “Why your CAC keeps rising while deals don’t improve” (martech.org).
AI can help optimize inputs, but it cannot create trust on its own
Behind MarTech’s argument is a message that is well worth reflecting on for marketing teams adopting AI: technology can help things move faster, target more accurately, and save resources, but it cannot replace buyer trust. If content, advertising, or automation only amplify the same old message, CAC may still rise because businesses have to pay more to overcome market fatigue.
So the challenge is not to “do more,” but to “prove better.” Businesses need more concrete evidence of effectiveness, relevance, low risk, and real-world value in the customer’s context. In B2B, this often requires coordination between marketing, sales, and customer success to create a consistent chain of proof rather than simply pushing leads into the funnel.
Source: MarTech, “Why your CAC keeps rising while deals don’t improve” (martech.org).
A perspective for the Vietnamese market
For Vietnamese businesses, especially in B2B technology, SaaS, professional services, and manufacturing, the lesson from MarTech is not to measure success only by reach or MQLs. In an increasingly crowded competitive environment, AI can help optimize content, operations, and data analysis, but buying decisions still depend on the level of trust a brand builds in the customer’s eyes.
That means Vietnamese marketers should invest more in three layers: messaging tied to specific business problems, practical usage proof such as case studies or industry-specific demos, and alignment between marketing and sales in how value is explained. When CAC rises, the question is not only “how do we get more traffic,” but “how do we make every interaction create a higher level of trust?”
In the short term, AI can help optimize productivity. But in the long term, sustainable advantage still belongs to brands that know how to turn awareness into trust, and trust into real sales.
Source: Synthesized and interpreted from MarTech, “Why your CAC keeps rising while deals don’t improve” (martech.org).
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This article focuses on CAC tăng trong B2B with a perspective for the Vietnamese market.
