In a world where economies of scale has led to a massive increase in profit for businesses, and also general consumer satisfaction, why would any business want to invest in the inconvenience and potential financial implications associated with personalisation?
To answer this question, we need to understand how much of an impact personalisation can have. First, what is personalisation? Simply put, it is tailored marketing based on collected data.
The goal of marketing is to understand the psyche of consumers. Understanding consumer behaviour is what helps marketers formulate strategies to sell products or services that can be packaged as a need (or a want) to the consumer.
One essential thing that needs to be taken into account when a marketer considers personalisation is that the consumers they are studying are people first.
What all people inherently need is to be seen, heard, and understood. If this is true for people, surely the same is true for consumers, and it is upon this basis that the power of personalisation makes itself known.
75% of consumers are more likely to buy after receiving personalised recommendations.
When implementing a personalised marketing strategy, you need to ask yourself whether your consumer will feel like a target of convenience or intentionality. The goal is to connect with your consumer. And as difficult as it may be (given that you are working for a profit) you need to tell yourself that revenue is simply the byproduct of your connection with your consumer. As is the case in any relationship, when you approach your consumer, it is important that they feel like you went out of your way to understand what their pain points are and where their actual needs lay. Your awareness of these factors serve to create a more satisfying customer experience, which in turn creates trust and reinforces the connection you wish to cultivate. This will lead to your consumer coming to you when they have a need, because they know you know them well enough to advise them appropriately.
Personalised marketing comes at a cost – and the strategy you develop that will determine whether the endeavour is a success or a failure for your business, and your consumer.
A final word on the intentionality and convenience of connecting with consumers: they know the difference between a real connection and a faux. With automation on the rise, it does make sense to utilise it – but this is only viable at the beginning. As the connection between you and your consumer grows deeper roots, manual personalisation efforts will sustain that connection.
Impersonal shopping experiences frustrate nearly 75% of consumers. This leads our conversation into the next point: the art of avoiding frustration.
In the current age of information, consumers know a lot – and they certainly know the power they hold in their wallets. When you know the power you hold, you become aware of the authority you have and this ultimately raises your standards – and this is true for consumers as well.
It is safe to say that where consumer standards aren’t met, frustration festers. When it comes to personalisation, if an impersonal experience leads to consumer frustration, how much more of a positive impact can a streamlined and personalised experience have? The consumer loyalty that is derived from personalisation is a perk that businesses should take into account because high brand loyalty leads to committed clients – and that’s a great thing in the marketing universe!
Although most consumers know their information is being collected for the purposes of personalised offerings, they don’t necessarily want to know about it – I mean, it is a little creepy. Because it can be invasive, it is essential to get consumer consent and to perfect the balancing act between harassing your consumer and knowing them well enough to anticipate and meet their needs. One leads to frustration and the other builds trust and loyalty.
In a nutshell, it is your duty as a marketing professional to show that your brand is trustworthy and to use personalisation to build a powerful army of loyal consumers by simply knowing who they are.
As a consumer, which would you prefer?
41% of consumers find receiving personalised texts from brands when they walk by a store to be creepy.
All business relationships begin as a transaction. But ask yourself: which is more beneficial for your business: a long-term relationship or a one-night stand?
Any good businessperson knows that investing in something high risk can bring a high reward – usually over a longer time period. Surely that’s what personalisation entails, isn’t it? It’s a huge investment of resources which makes it high risk.
There is one thing about personalisation that makes the risk more palatable; and that is the connection and trust you’ve already built by considering the previous two points of personalisation. This ‘one thing’ is commitment. Consumers who feel they have a connection with you and consumers who know they can trust you will inherently be committed to you – this is how the human psyche works, after all.
Within the safety of a long-term relationship, you must continue to be intentional and build trust with your marketing efforts – however you can now subtly bring profit into the equation because that’s the take to your give. All relationships have this element of give-and-take. Only now, you can do so with your consumer’s consent instead of looking like a parasite.
65% of a company’s business comes from repeat customers.
Personalisation is powerful and extensively effective in theory; but economies of scale will always be a factor, and people are not all the same.
So, is personalisation actually powerful? We’ll leave that decision in your capable hands.
References:
Grieve P. Personalised customer service: what it is and how to provide it. Zendesk Blog. [Online]. 2024. Available at:
https://www.zendesk.co.uk/blog/start-providing-personalized-customer-service/. Lawton G. Why is personalization important? TechTarget. [Online]. 2023. Available at: https://www.techtarget.com/searchcustomerexperience/answer/Why-is-personalization-important.
Mailchimp. Personalized Marketing. Intuit Mailchimp Marketing Library. [Online]. 2024. Available at: https://mailchimp.com/marketing-glossary/personalized-marketing/. Moran M. 55+ Top Personalization Statistics For 2024 (+ Facts And Trends). Startup Bonsai. [Online]. 2024. Available at: https://startupbonsai.com/personalization-statistics/.
