How Personalization Will Win More Customers

Nobody wants to feel like they are one of many – a number in the system or an undervalued and faceless customer – and this is where personalization comes in. Digital technologies open up many options when it comes to how marketing is undertaken, and those not using personalization are falling short of the standard they should be achieving for their clients.

Research carried out by McKinsey has shown that personalization can lead to five to eight times the return on investment (ROI) than is paid out in marketing spend. What’s more, sales can be lifted by over ten per cent, making personalization an area that businesses cannot afford to bypass.

Personalization is core to customer experience

With so many messages coming at us all the time in the digital world, it’s hard to get yours to stand out. Audiences have become so adept at filtering out the ones that aren’t relevant to them that you can lose their interest within seconds and then your opportunity has disappeared. It takes a bespoke offering to cut through all the noise.

Data allows companies to put personalization into practice in a way that has never been possible before. And everyone’s doing it, so if your business isn’t, then you’re likely to fall behind your competition. If you manage to attract a client and don’t personalize their experience, then you’re unlikely to retain them.

Step away from mass email marketing

If mass email marketing is still your go-to technique, it’s time to make a change. These days, such campaigns hardly receive the hoped-for response and a personalized strategy is required instead. Bespoke loyalty schemes, incentives that put the customer at the forefront and campaigns that are truly engaging will be much more effective and more likely to achieve the desired results.

Add the human touch

Trust exists more readily between people than it does between businesses, making it something worth tapping into. This can be done through industry stakeholders, the use of chatbots and exploring alternative types of advertising. Authenticity and the quality of engagement should be prioritized.

Create landing pages based on customer needs

When you leverage data, you can build a better picture of your customers and understand what they need. Once you’ve established your buyer personas, you can create content that is specifically tailored to them. Landing pages that address their needs and provide solutions to their problems will be far more effective than generic copy based on perceived challenges.

Data can be collected in a number of different ways, such as using customer relationship management (CRM) processes or cookies. The latter has a number of shortcomings, such as the ability for cookies to be blocked, but they do have their benefits when trying to establish key facts about your customers. A dynamic approach that does not rely on one source of data will help you to draw a more rounded picture.

Utilize ad and click information

Ads can also provide an important insight into visitors and new tools are always emerging to enable this. A Google Ads Click Identifier was recently launched by the search giant, allowing companies to find out more about the businesses clicking on their adverts. With company names, key employee contact information and the other pages they’ve viewed in the past 12 months all being provided, it’s easier to turn visitors into leads.

Cross sell and upsell relevant products

If you know more about your audience, then you can better target them in terms of the products you highlight. Personalized upselling of relevant items is much more likely to result in increased sales and can leave customers with a better experience as they find what they need more quickly. It’s a win-win situation.

Scaling up personalization

Now that most businesses are equipped with the tools to achieve personalization, it is up to marketing departments to ensure that their processes enable them to fulfil their potential. This means using data to determine where the value is; having methods in place to respond quickly to customer signals; empower employees to make the necessary changes; and create an environment for efficient working.