Shafqat Islam, Chief Marketing Officer, Optimizely
Personalisation as a digital marketing technique has been around a long time, but are brands really doing enough to make interactions feel unique to each customer? Not quite… According to Optimizely’s latest research study, only a third (33%) of consumers felt that their digital experiences (DX) are “truly personal.” Brands seriously need to step up their game and make their online interactions more memorable to ensure they are delivering personal—not just targeted—experiences for their customers. Here are three reasons why:
Personalise, don’t target
Consumers don’t just want to feel seen by brands, they want to be truly understood. But many marketers and brands are still missing the mark by distributing only ‘targeted’ content.
Targeted marketing is about reaching customers with appropriate information based on generalisations, but truly personal marketing goes deeper. It focuses on customers’ needs as individuals and how they actually interact with your content, not just their anticipated behaviour according to their gender, age or similar demographic data.
For the overwhelming majority of today’s consumers, personalised experiences are based on their broad inclusion in a data segment, not a thorough analysis of whether they’ve liked, shared or commented on content they’ve been sent. Our data suggests that 70% of consumers are frustrated that the targeted promotions they receive don’t actually relate directly to their personal interests. To make things worse, just over half (51%) go as far as to say that the targeted content they receive is often ‘boring’ or just plain unhelpful. If you continue to deliver content that’s missing the mark, consumers will start to tune you out.
Out-personalise your competition
For marketers, a personalisation mis-step can be hugely damaging. Get the personalisation game wrong, and you could see your customers churn quickly to one of your rivals, with very little warning.
A lack of personalisation adoption isn’t causing the disconnect between brands and consumers – our report shows that almost three quarters (73%) of brands have been investing in the creation of personalised content for three or more years. In fact, it’s been over ten years since personalisation became a staple of digital marketing. Many best practices have now reached a state of maturity, and we’ve definitely reached a saturation point in the market.
As with any successful marketing tool, the sheen can quickly wear off if everybody is employing the same tactics. Indeed, in the Optimizely research, 74% of marketers say it’s hard to stand out when every competitor uses personalisation.
To truly stand out, brands must elevate their approach to creating and delivering personalised experiences. This is the only way to pull ahead of competitors and make it clear to consumers that in a market full of options, their brand is the better choice. When a consumer is choosing between brand A and brand B, feeling understood, and personally catered to will make all the difference
Saturation point for personalisation
Simply tailoring messages based on demographic assumptions is no longer enough to cut through the noise. So, in this crowded market, what’s the solution? Experimentation.
In times of economic uncertainty, it can be all too easy to stick to using the tools already in your stack and avoid ‘experimenting’ with new ones. But in reality, this cautious approach will only hold brands back from creating a deep connection with consumers.
Experimentation provides a key to stepping beyond simple personalisation and creating the ‘truly personal’ experiences that audiences are craving. By experimenting, marketers can try new approaches, evaluate what’s working, and adjust what’s not much faster than if they didn’t use experimentation.
By eliminating guesswork, brands gain a better understanding of their customers and can engage with them in a way that feels more unique. In a market where every purchase matters, treating customers as an individual, not just one of many, will provide an invaluable competitive edge.