Personalize Your Marketing to Improve Customer Retention

Personalization Marketing is Emerging as the New Normal in Marketing

A survey by Pan Communications shows that 49% of U.S. marketers are interested in personalization marketing, because it helps drive engagement and conversions by tailoring the offer to the specific and personal needs of users. In fact, the survey reveals that personalization marketing plays a larger role in the success of marketing strategies than other marketing trends such as video streaming, geolocation marketing and virtual reality.

It isn't just marketers that prefer personalization. Customers want personalized content as well. A survey from Instapage found that 74% of customers feel frustrated when the website that they are shopping with doesn't display personalized content.

The global network of Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council executives say that the number one reason for using personalized content is to achieve a high user response and engagement rate. It is indisputable that offering the customer what they are really looking for or want will ensure success. However, in order to do so, we must have a segmented and refined database. We must also consider the variety of ways to use personalization with both online and offline channels.

Although most advice on personalization marketing focuses on digital marketing strategies, you can also use it with traditional marketing channels as well. Direct mail marketing can be personalized. You can use personalized envelopes and make a point of referencing the individual by name. You can keep multiple lists of categories of people based on various interests. This allows you to address the recipient by name and acknowledge specific interests that they have expressed in the past.

Personalization works. However, it is not easy. Personalization marketing is a task that requires specific technologies, which makes it a challenge. Not surprisingly, the lack of technologies is the main reason that most marketers do not personalize their content. Moreover, the adoption of these technologies and the adaptation of databases is a costly task that very few companies can afford.

What is it about personalization marketing that makes it so effective?

The first thing that happens when personalized content reaches a user is that their level of satisfaction increases, which in itself puts them in a much more receptive position and contributes to loyalty. This results in an increase in conversion rates and sales, as well as in brand awareness. This is true for both online and offline personalization marketing.

Let's keep in mind that, when the product is the object of personalized content, the potential customer perceives the product with the added value of being offered exactly what they demand. Additionally, this makes the user feel valued, even unique, which increases the chances of conversion and of establishing lasting links with the brand. A growing number of retailers are investing in it for these reasons.

E-mail marketing is a perfect channel to start offering personalized content to different users. Programmatic buying or RTB also enables marketers to share personalized content with users in real-time across various digital media channels. To get the most out of it, it is highly recommended to rely on Cross Channel Marketing, which integrates all available channels in a way that makes it possible to send each user a specific message, through the most appropriate channel and at the time they require it.

However, it is important to avoid going too far with personalization, especially with ads, because that can scare away users. They may feel that their privacy has been violated in the face of all that a brand knows about him. For this reason, it is important to personalize content in a subtle way. Another problem faced by personalization marketing is that many poor attempts have been made in recent years, which has led to user fatigue, for example, as the user was shown time after time the advertisement for a washing machine after having already purchased it.

This notwithstanding, nearly half of those surveyed by CMO Council believe that personalized content increases interactions and makes them more relevant, and that it is a way to increase response and engagement rates, thus increasing conversion.

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