Much has been written about the power of personalization. In a modern world where online and in-person interactions seem less personal than ever, consumers want to know they are more than just a number—they want to feel that companies they consider patronizing understand their needs and want to help. Although corporations and marketers acknowledge this need for personalization, implementation is the problem.
Challenges include trying to deal with the increased number of omnichannel marketing opportunities, an inability to sort through vast amounts of available data to pinpoint an individual strategy, and the internal resources required to implement and carry through such a massive marketing proposition. To solve these challenges, here are four tips for using data to boost an online personalization strategy:
1. Recognize data’s importance: An online personalization strategy requires a constant stream of useful and verifiable data to be effective. It is impossible to personalize without the big data on prospects. A data-driven strategy allows marketers to aggregate customer data for easy segmentation, analysis, and action. Automate the process of collecting, organizing, and analyzing data to hone in on the most relevant metrics and quickly yield actionable results.
2. Personalize the approach across channels: Consumers don’t use just one media outlet. Personalization must rely on an omnichannel marketing approach that includes multiple devices, personalized landing pages, social media, personalized communications, and even traditional channels, like direct mail. A multi-pronged approach that delivers the same message achieves a more powerful impression and increases buying motivation.
3. Keep it simple: A data driven personalization strategy can be doomed to failure if it is too complex to routinely follow and implement. Once most strategies are designed at a corporate level, they are usually assigned to staff members who are tasked with their daily execution. If this proves to be too difficult or requires the constant involvement of the IT department, the strategy can fail. Those actually implementing the strategy need to have a single interface that allows them to basically “drag and drop,” so they can use the data to easily automate omnichannel marketing personalization workflows.
4. Automate as much as possible: Consumers act quickly and corporations need to keep one step ahead of them in order to garner their business. Put an outbound marketing automation program in place so that the business of reaching out to potential customers does not get lost in the everyday business of running the company.
Finally, build a personalization perspective across the company. Silos cannot be allowed to exist where marketing, sales, social media, and other divisions each gather data and act in their own best interests. The only person that matters is that individual prospect or customer, and all efforts should be directed at creating scalable, data-driven, humanized, one-to-one messaging that brings that individual into the corporate fold.
Experiture offers an all-in-one customer engagement marketing platform that helps both B2C and B2B marketers develop personalization programs that generate more leads and interact more effectively with target audiences, without needing ongoing help from the IT department. This platform can easily be integrated with current outbound marketing efforts to generate more leads, convert more leads into opportunities, and close more sales. Visit the Experiture website and Facebook page or call 888-950-0700 today to learn more about using personalization to market to humans.