The American Marketing Association’s confidence index has gone up and suggests budgets may do likewise in the near future, but decision makers seem to be losing faith in their ability to communicate with customers.

The 2017 Marketers’ Confidence Index, which polled 304 marketers in the U.S. in December, was up six points overall, buoyed by more participants’ expectations that their budgets will increase over the next six months. Thirty-six per cent of respondents expect such a boost, up by 8 percentage points from mid-2016.

However, the report also notes that 30% are “concerned that their organization is not investing in the right customers.” That’s a decline of 13 percentage points from January 2016.

When asked whether their marketing staff understand the ROI of their marketing plans, respondents reported another notable drop from last year – 38% said they were not confident in their staff, a drop of 11 percentage points.