Let’s talk about personalisation

We all like to think we’re special, don’t we? 

As consumers, we generally respond positively when businesses know intuitively what we are looking to buy (think Amazon, Spotify – even Coca Cola with its ‘name’ bottles) and tailor our searches accordingly.

It’s called personalisation.

The challenge facing marketers in the 2020’s is to adapt marketing and content strategies to address this need, developing websites, products or experiences in a way consumers see as personal to them.  It is after all quite a task, as research has suggested more than 90% of traffic to a company website never become a customer. But as they say, where there is a challenge there are opportunities…

That’s where personalisation tools – micro-marketing if you like – help to play a key role. Identifying individual customers in an incredibly precise manner and serving them a ‘solution’.

Facebook inevitably is making a lot of the headway, using Messenger for example to allow businesses to target people.

Of course, personalisation does not come without risks to the consumer: it relies on us to share data with others in return for a more personalised experience. And despite concerns about data protection, privacy and general security, we (tend) to accept these risks.

Developing a personalised strategy for your business ultimately takes time and effort, building up a database, preparing campaigns and deciding upon a focused content strategy.

However, the benefits are enormous and long-lasting: e.g. being able to offer special promotions bespoke to a customer base, marketing products and services to a specific region, or tailoring products to clients with bespoke requirements.

Personalisation is not a quick win: but if you consider the huge benefits from converting just a small proportion of that 90% of visitors to your site who never come back again, it is ultimately worth it.