Despite personalization being lauded as a best practice principle for years, many brands still struggle with the implementation. Recent research conducted by McKinsey revealed that just 40 percent of personalized messages actually feel personal to the recipient. This isn’t surprising as personalization is complex, and businesses are complex. Most importantly, brands are just at the starting gates of personalization.
However, any savvy marketer will agree that, in the age of the hyper-connected consumer, delivering a personalized experience is the key to bridging the gap that is growing between a customer’s expectations and the customer experience reality that brands can deliver.
With that in mind, many businesses have successfully set up the basic hygiene factors and dynamic profiling for personalization. In addition, they have been able to run a few campaigns. The challenge is now getting fully up and running and successfully maintaining personalization.
The latest Maxymiser Customer User Forum tackled this very subject of how to achieve personalization in 2018. Kate Loren, Consulting Services Manager, and Steven Coulomb, Consulting Services Manager, Oracle opened with this question, “Given we are all customers, why do marketers find personalization so hard?”
What we learned? As marketers, we think in segments and channels and want customers to generate revenue. As customers, we don’t care about segments and just want an easy and relevant experience.
What it all boils down to is emotion and connection. In fact, a quote from American poet Maya Angelou sums it up well; "I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
As customers continue to grow in digital maturity, the customer experience gap will get wider So, it is imperative to focus on how to achieve personalization now. And it is all about the ability to align people, data, and processes.
During the forum we heard from industry experts and speakers on how they have implemented personalization and aligned people, data, and processes. And here are some of the key lessons and out takes.
Abby Francis, Online Marketing Manager, Carphone Warehouse Online Solutions
Terry Rydzynski, Head of Optimisation (CRO), Camelot
Abdul Hamid Ebrahim, Associate Director, Transformation Services, Oracle
The forum ended with the question, “What are you most excited about over the next 12 months when it comes to personalization?” The answer really focused in on unlocking data and linking it together so you can truly see that personalization is making a tangible difference to the bottom line. To do that, success in a new era of personalization requires marketers’ to plan, structure, and align around the customer.
There is nothing more important than creating exceptional customer experience to help rebuild trust and build a strong brand reputation. Download Customer Experience Simplified: Deliver The Experience Your Customers Want to learn how to craft an outstanding experience for your customers.