Personalizing your marketing strategy has become a necessity because customers are no longer okay with one-size-fits-all communications. With the ongoing digital transformation, brands have the power to collect massive amounts of data and create in-depth customer profiles for each individual user. Customers know that.
Personalization is no longer optional. Customers won’t be pleasantly surprised to find their name in a subject line, they expect it plus so much more. Now it’s becoming critical for brands to be able to capture detailed information—the right information—about customers in order to fuel their personalization efforts.
Forbes compiled some hard-hitting stats regarding personalization:
- 91% of consumers say they are more likely to shop with brands that provide offers and recommendations that are relevant to them.
- 42% of consumers are annoyed when content isn’t personalized.
- 90% of consumers are willing to share personal behavioral data with companies for a cheaper and easier experience.
Personalizing your marketing strategy isn’t as easy as flipping a switch. It requires the right combination of data and tools to achieve a custom experience for every consumer.
The Personalization for Dummies Checklist
While there’s no big red “personalize” button you can push to suddenly create individualized customer experiences, there is a personalization checklist. Here’s the beginning to get you started:
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Data Unification
Data unification is about centralizing the vast amounts of customer data from your different marketing tools. In the last 10 years, data has gone from nice-to-have information to a driving force of almost everything we do. For B2C marketers, centralizing data in one space allows for an easier path to reaching consumers in a timely, personalized, meaningful way.
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User Segmentation
With access to customer data comes insight into customer behaviors, motivations, demographics, and preferences. But all this data is moot if you aren’t identifying what makes each customer’s experience with you unique. Be picky with your data.
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Lifecycle Mapping
Knowing where customers are in their buying journeys, or even just in their relationships with your brand is a way to personalize the content they receive. Remember that customers take their own paths through your life cycle, so be prepared to meet them where they are—no matter the device, channel, or stage in the journey.
And this is just half of it—download the full personalization checklist below! Feel free to print, bookmark, or forward to keep these personalization pillars at the forefront of your next campaign.
Don’t forget to check out the full Personalization for Dummies ebook for even more actionable next steps.
