In today’s media landscape, we are constantly being bombarded by so much information; from email and TV, to billboards, social media and more. We are constantly being asked to give our attention to many things at once. So it stands to reason that we would naturally tune out of most of it and selectively tune in to what feels helpful or relevant. As a business owner you need to be aware of this ongoing dynamic and ensure that your marketing messages are cutting through the clutter and getting your customer’s attention in the right way. So what is marketing personalization and how can you use it to better connect with your customers?
Marketing personalization
When you reach out to your customers with generic and impersonal content, you are missing out on a huge opportunity to connect and engage with them long term. Alternatively, you can connect with them in a laser-focussed manner where the communication speaks directly to their personal preferences and interests, and helps the engagement feel personal, relatable and memorable. Personalized marketing such as this involves aspects like customized adverts, email campaigns, tailored content and targeted product recommendations.
What are the advantages of personalized marketing?
Nowadays, personalized marketing is not just a ‘nice to have’. In fact, customers are expecting it. A recent Deloitte study discovered that 36% of customers prefer buying personalized products, and 48% said they would be willing to wait longer to receive it if the experience warranted it. Meaning that the benefits of personalized marketing campaigns are significant: They convert customers, encourage feedback, nurture leads, retain customers and increase revenue. All good reasons to get on board with this thinking.
What is the best way to use marketing personalization?
It can be very hard to know where to start with this. So this is where automation and data analytics comes in. Your customer data is the most valuable tool you have in your arsenal because it holds the key to building personalized campaigns. As an example, your email marketing campaign can use automatically generated data to build a relevant feed for a target market. This would have been previously gathered by analyzing your customer’s location, demographic, purchase and reading history in order to recommend similar products or useful services.
Segmented email marketing
Research proves that personalized emails have 29% higher opening rates and 41% higher click-through rates in comparison to non-personalized bulk mailers. So this means that this type of email marketing should be high on your priority list. You probably have more information that you realise stored in your CRM or email marketing backend. This is in the form of tags, labels, categories and custom fields. Mine this data and then use it to customize your future communication, turning it into material that your customers are keen to read. If you don’t already have this information then it is time to start gathering it. You can collect this in lots of ways like surveys, sign-up forms, quizzes, and building user profiles. For B2B businesses, segment your customers according to location, the size of industry and revenue for example. Once this information has been gathered you can then automate your email marketing tools and begin to build custom campaigns for each of these markets.
Target your offers and discounts
Research shows that customers are very responsive to tailored discounts and offers. So consider offering personalised discounts and similar offers to customers who have already expressed interest in certain areas. By re-engaging with customers who are already in your pipeline you can speak to their direct wishes and try to entice them to buy again. There are also great tools out there like Campaign Monitor which combines a segmented email campaign with a targeted discount offer. This is then sent to VIP customers with a special discount on a new line, and simultaneously sends another offer to different customers.
Web Page personalization
Webpages are also able to tailor the experience of users depending on their prior visits. For example they can show a different page to first-time visitors and a “welcome back” message to those who are returning. They can also send reminders to customers who have abandoned their cart to entice them to keep shopping. Speak to your web provider to see how to utilize these tools to your advantage.
The bottom line
The days of blanket marketing are behind us. With tech, digital tools and data at our fingertips marketing can now be intelligently segmented. Resulting in a messaging that is relevant and interesting for customers. This will provide a more enjoyable and fulfilling experience for your target market and can make all the difference to your bottom line.
