Personalized marketing is a strategy that companies use to deliver relevant and individualized messages to customers. The benefits of personalization in marketing are starting to become more obvious the more companies use it.For example, 79 percent of consumers say they are only likely to engage with an offer if it has been personalized to reflect previous interactions the consumer has had with the brand. And it seems that personalized customer service positively influences business outcomes, too.
So, what are the benefits of personalization in marketing?
Personalization increases conversions
With personalization in marketing, there is a signification increase in conversions and sales. According to some research, segmented, targeted, and personalized emails generate 58 percent of all revenue.Econsultancy cites the example of travel agency Co-operative Travel: “Co-operative Travel saw a 95 percent increase in visitors and a 217 percent increase in their revenues once they started implementing personalization on their website”. They declared themselves a specialist of last-minute holidays started offering relevant deals to customers who were identified as ‘last-minute deciders’.
Personalization improves customer retention
Econsultancy’s research showed post-purchase loyalty programs which contained personalization marketing techniques were the reason behind acquiring more repeat customers.This is largely due to the targeted segmentation of customers. Episerver has designed their complete personalization platform based on three attributes: customer’s behavioral data, machine learning and content and product optimization. This means that the company knows what customers want over time and can better provide them the right offerings.
Personalization increases engagement
It's not just about money. Many of your future customers are still in the awareness or research phase, and they need the right encouragement to one day buy from you. One of the biggest benefits of personalization in marketing is that it allows you to nurture customer relationships, and have a steady stream of leads into the future.
Why is personalization important in marketing?
We can all understand the benefits of personalization when it comes to overall business benefits. But personalization also helps marketers improve the specific marketing outcomes, such as:
- Creating targeted content. Targeted content helps increase a number of marketing KPIS, like website traffic, email open rates, click rates, and more.
- Making content dynamic: You may have heard of Amazon’s recommendation engine. That's the best example of dynamic content. Instead of spending time to figure out what individual customers want, tools can generate messaging and offers automatically.
- Cultivating brand: Personalization marketing can support marketers in their efforts to build a strong brand, one that provides customers with a sense of belonging and keeps their interest high.
How do you reap the benefits of personalization in marketing?
The first thing you need to carry out personalized marketing successfully is to have specific data collection and analysis processes. This data may come from your CRM, Google analytics, market research, or other data sources. It's important to be transparent about the data you collect, but consumers would gladly provide the data you need as long as you put them to use in personalization in marketing.
Having the right technology is critical
Your current marketing strategy should be able to handle the data processes. The right technology can automate or streamline data collection and analyze datasets that humans would struggle with. And, it can also help you personalize your marketing communications without an extreme use of resources.For example, here are some examples of tech that can support your marketing personalization efforts:
Live chat and video chat
Think of pop-up windows or emails that request feedback or information. What if these had an actual human behind? Or a personal touch? That's what tools like live chat and video chat do. Teams are able to talk to customers in real time and collect email addresses, contact details or other feedback.
CRM
CRM tools are the most efficient ways to deliver the ‘personal care’ feel to your customers and collect data. These tools do the most of the heavy lifting for your customer care reps. You can upload contacts to the database, configure them manually and send automated emails to prospects at the right times with personalized content or offers.
Kickbox
Kickbox is an email verification tool which lets a user upload email addresses to verify if they are genuine or not. This saves an enormous amount of time and money for all busy marketers when managing over thousands of emails and trying to avoid keeping spam email addresses. Also, the delivery of emails is fully guaranteed making it an ideal solution.
Quickmail
Quickmail is a simpler and more affordable way to send personalized cold emails. It lets the users to open rates, reply to them, and schedule their emails and many more. Also, it lets users to track clicks on links and integrate with other services.
Rebrandly
Rebrandly URL Shortener is a great tool to personalize the links that are created and shared online. By using branded links instead of generic ones, users have the ability to turn every link into a promotion for their brand. Branded links can also increase click-through rates by up to 39 percent.
There's no personalization without communication
Every business is trying to integrate the essence of ‘personal touch’ while communicating with customers. That's why some pieces of effective tech are built to allow teams to better interact with custoners (such as Acquire's live chat and co-browsing features). But, no matter the tech or strategy you're using, make sure you add your own personality and approach when communicating with customers, and ask them to give some of their own, too. That's the ultimate way to get value from the benefits of personalization in marketing.