What Does it Mean to Personalize?
The practice of personalization in digital marketing occurs when companies tailor their advertising to fit individual consumers, creating content that reflects the unique preferences of the people being addressed. This not only encourages positive buying experiences, but also demonstrates companies’ adeptness at understanding what customers truly want and need. Marketers are able to put together information about buyers’ needs through analyses of demographics, using data derived from consumers’ previous actions, including their browsing behaviors and purchasing histories. First-part, or declared, data, which consists of input directly reported to companies by their customers, can be especially useful. These days, it is possible for companies to personalize their marketing endeavors from the first touchpoint, through every subsequent step of the consumer journey.
The concept of personalized marketing dates back much further than the current digital era to a time when sales clerks were careful to address their clientele by name, offering them products that were likely to please them, based on a history of personal interactions. Although the practice of personalization has evolved dramatically since then, the primary marketing objective remains the same: to communicate the best message at precisely the right moment and using the most relevant means of delivery. As content marketer, Lorna Keane, observes, “Today we’re seeing more and more brands providing distinct web and mobile experiences for each of their customers. This is happening a lot in the ecommerce space, where content and offerings display differently depending who’s on the receiving end. Some consumers might not even realize how many websites are purposefully displaying more of what they’re interested in.” (https://blog.gwi.com).
Netflix: Personalizing for Success
Approaching advertising campaigns from the buyer’s point-of-view has long been a particularly successful marketing strategy, and continues to yield dramatic positive results in the digital marketplace. Digital marketer, Ruhi Van Andel, reminisces about earlier days of recorded entertainment, looking back to “a time when the video store guy knew our name, and possibly even our snack of choice as we’d rent Ghostbusters for the 4th time. That’s what we called personalization before everything went digital. It’s the same reason why brands today personalize their promotional emails and address the recipient by their first name.” (https://www.serachenginepeople.com). Of course, it can go a great deal further than that. Companies today are able to offer their customers suggestions that are specifically targeted to their interests.
Returning to the area of at-home entertainment, Netflix is a case in point; it continues to expand and develop its long-standing practice of using specific algorithms to provide recommendations to its viewers. As a spokesperson for the company is quoted as saying, “This is yet another way Netflix differs from traditional media offerings: we don’t have one product but over 100 million different products with one for each of our members with personalized recommendations and personalized visuals.” (https://www.fastcompany.com).
(Netflix film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch giving an option to “Destroy Computer” or “Hit Desk”)
Several years ago, Netflix upped its game by releasing the “Bandersnatch” episode in its Black Mirror series. At different times throughout the episode viewers were given choices about the progression of the story, including whether or not one of the main characters should jump off a balcony to his death. The decisions that viewers made, and the time it took for them to make them, gave Netflix an unprecedented amount of knowledge about their subscribers, affording valuable insights about their preferences, which also included in-story choices regarding specific brands. This innovative technique enabled Netflix to, in effect, market its viewers while presenting them with a personalized entertainment experience.
The Power of Personalization
Statistics about the benefits of personalization in digital marketing speak for themselves. A reported 89% of ecommerce businesses have invested in personalization practices. This only stands to reason in light of the 44% of consumers who become repeat buyers of a brand after experiencing personalization during the purchasing process. Not only that, but a whopping 80% of consumers express the high probability of buying from companies that offer a personalized experience. This also has translated into an increased sense of customer loyalty, and as much as a 50% decrease in customer acquisition related expenses. (https://spectrum.io). It has gotten to a point where people are beginning to demand personalization, and are willing to switch to a company’s rival in order to get it. Not only can personalization help to retain repeat customers and grab the attention of prospective ones, it has also proven to be something that people are willing to pay more in order to consistently receive.
Personalization humanizes a brand, allowing consumers to feel they are involved in an actual relationship with it. This can be consciously enhanced when companies engage in practices such as sending thank-you and birthday messages. Across the board, expressing empathy is an effective marketing strategy. More and more, consumers are being bombarded by all manner of digital advertising, through every medium and on every platform they visit. Marketing influencer, Sharanya Manola has declared it “safe to say that the time has come to be awesome and become a brand that’s empathetic to its customers’ needs. You’ve already seen how some of your peers are raising the bar. Plus, you’re already in the know about which strings to pull to magically surprise whoever drops by on your website. So you better get going!” (https://www.abtasty.com).
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