Have you ever stepped inside a business hoping to buy from them, only to discover you’re just another transaction the staff had to take care of? I think we all have had that experience. I have this experience nearly every time I walk into a big-box store or corporate owned location. I’m just a number, a transaction, and worse, a walking dollar sign as I navigate the aisles and shelves. There’s no personalization. As a consumer I’m sure you’ll agree that this type of experience is less than ideal. How can you avoid this cold, soul-less, walking dollar sign approach to your business?
In this post, I’ll cover personalization in marketing and your business. I’ll talk about what it is, how you can incorporate it into your business, what to avoid, and some examples of how I see companies do this well, and how companies have really messed up in their execution of being more personalized in their marketing.
What is personalization?
If I headed to the dictionary and looked up “personalization” it would tell me that: personalization is the act of making something personal or unique to the individual. Further, you can also say that personalization is the act of marking the property of a particular person. In a very simple illustration, imagine if you were to buy a briefcase, but you wanted the seller to add your monogram to the side. That stock briefcase is no longer stock. It’s a one-of-a-kind item, through the application of a brand or embossing of your initials. You could do this with any item, practically. That’s an easy example. If that’s all you need to know, you’re welcome. But, let’s dive a little deeper.
Personalization can also come into play when crafting experiences or selling to customers. For instance, you can train your staff to ask for and use the customer’s name while talking to them to keep them engaged in the conversation or presentation. During their time serving the customer, they might also be trained to ask about the customer’s likes and dislikes in terms of products so then your team member can present them options that they might like. Those are some examples of what personalization is in an offline, face-to-face environment.
While this forms the basis of personalization, many companies have very sophisticated ways of personalizing the customer experience. Amazon is probably the best known for this. They use lots of data collected to make assumptions about what you want to see and show those products to you in hopes that you’ll buy or add it to your list for future purchase. You can do this with more than just products. You can also do this with content, as one business in Cincinnati has done, Cerkl. Their email marketing platform serves up things you may want to see in your newsletter. I think we have a pretty good idea on what personalization is.
How Does Personalization Benefit me and my customers?
There are quite a few benefits that both a business and a customer can enjoy.
According to an article published by MailChimp, an email service provider, they say that personalization has the following benefits:
- A more satisfying customer experience. It shows that the businesses is working to understand the customer needs, leads to trust, and a deeper relationship.
- Increased loyalty. If you personalize your experience, then you can increase the loyalty customers have for your brand. 40% of customers may likely become repeat consumers if businesses would offer a personalized shopping experience.
- Better return on marketing. McKinsey and Company say that personalized marketing can increase sales by 10% if you personalize your marketing.
According to the Millennium Agency, a B2B marketing firm, CEO Linda Fanaras adds to the already mentioned benefits. She says that by using personalization your brand will have an enhanced brand perception.
When a brand consistently delivers personalized experiences, it is perceived as more customer-centric and forward-thinking. This positive perception can enhance brand reputation and attract new customers through word-of-mouth referrals.
Linda Fanaras, CEO of Millennium Agency
With all these benefits that your customer and business can enjoy, why wouldn’t you shift your marketing and your business to be more personalized for your customers? To me, and hopefully you, this is a no brainer.
How to get started personalizing your marketing
To me, personalization can occur on-line and off-line too. For offline business, you’ll need to train your staff to ask questions of their customers to get to know their preferences and habits, to a certain degree. Don’t get creepy obviously. Hopefully, your staff might just naturally pick up on patterns and get to know your customers over a period of time.
For on-line personalization the effort is much more involved. For online personalization the game is all about data and what you can gather from your customer based on their actions online and more. The data you need to collect includes:
- Demographics (age, gender, location, zip code, etc.)
- Browsing behavior – what websites are they browsing? How long are they browsing? What products are most people looking at if you sell online?
- Purchase History – what are people buying the most of, when do they buy?
- Social media interactions – Likes Comments Shares, etc.
Now that you understand the kinds of data you’ll need to collect what might you need to deploy like software, hardware, and other things?
It would be good to first start with a customer relationship management (CRM) software tool. A good one will manage your customers’ data, capture interactions with your customer, and more. After that you could use a tool to analyze your data and segment your data. Google Analytics, Piwik Pro, and other tools can analyze your website. You could even use a trusty Excel spreadsheet to analyze all your data if you are really into Excel.
Other tools and tech you might like to employ could be:
- Variable Data Printers – to print custom messages on individual mail pieces in a large batch
- PURLs – personal URLs – you can send custom links to individuals or segments to increase personalization
- A/B Testing software – with a/b software you can test two different elements to see which performs better. It’s a way for you to gather more data and optimize.
Be careful of the pitfalls of personalization.
Over time you’ll begin to get a lot more data, insights, and you’ll be providing lots more value because you’ve intentionally built a connection between your business and customers. But, don’t let that get to your head. As Uncle Ben said, with great power there comes great responsibility. The advice that Peter Parker received is the same that marketers should heed also.
One such example comes from a story twelve years ago, covered by The New York Times, when Target had assigned a customer ID to customers tied to credit cards, email addresses, etc, and could predict when customers would become pregnant. To most retailers, pregnancy is a pivotal moment for a customer when people’s loyalty is up for grabs. For Target, their goal was to use this to their advantage, but their work backfired.
In the NYT article Duhigg shares a story about how a father walked into a Target outside minneapolis with coupons sent to his daughter. Target, through their pregnancy predictor, had sent the daughter coupons for baby clothes, cribs, and other items you’d need after the birth of a child. “she’s still in high school!” exclaimed the father.
The key is to be a little clandestine. You don’t want to be creepy about it. It actually turns consumers off when they get the sense that you know too much. In your personalization, you’ll want to be subtle, if not imperceptible.
Conclusion
In conclusion, you’ve learned about the power of personalization in marketing. You’ve learned what it is, the benefits you have as a business, and the benefits you give your customers. You have an idea of what you need to do in your business to start if you haven’t already. Finally, you have a cautionary tale on the pitfalls of personalization.
What about you? How do you personalize your marketing? What steps are you currently taking? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Endnotes
What Is Personalized Marketing? | Mailchimp
What is personalization? | McKinsey
The Power Of Personalization In Marketing | by Taylor Wilson | Medium
How Companies Learn Your Secrets – The New York Times
