Did you know that 74% of customers get frustrated with irrelevant content when they visit websites? Add to that the 1,700 banner ads an average person is bombarded with each month, annoying pop-ups and floods of spam emails, and you end up with customers who are completely uninterested in any form of advertising.
In an online environment like this, you must constantly seek ways to improve customer experience, and marketing personalization is one of them. When you offer them customized content, they feel like their needs and interests are valued and are more likely to want to do business with you.
Let’s go into detail on why personalization is essential and how to integrate it into your marketing strategy.
Collecting Valuable Data
When you embark on a personalization journey, you’ll find that most of these tactics require tracking the habits and behavior of your existing and potential customers. This provides you with valuable data that a traditional marketing campaign may not give you.
Knowing what your customers do and what they want is the best way to provide them with a highly-personalized experience that will cater to their specific needs.
A comprehensive customer database is the foundation of every personalization strategy. Once you have your numbers down, you can use them to improve every aspect of your marketing campaign and make it more personalized.
Retargeting and Remarketing
Internet users are known to have a short attention span of only 8 seconds. With multiple opened tabs and constantly divided attention, it’s easy to get distracted and forget about the purchase they were just about to make.
But this doesn’t mean that all is lost. You still have a chance to convert them into customers and personalization is exactly what you need.
You can use an email automation platform and set up a trigger-based email sequence that will set off every time someone abandons their shopping cart. This can be just a simple reminder about their unfinished purchase or you can even offer them a special discount in order to win them over.
Source: Rawpixel.com
Making Better Suggestions
Another way to use automated email sequences is to make better suggestions. Personalized suggestions are a great way to make your customers feel like your marketing campaign is tailor-made just for them.
As mentioned before, collecting user behavior data is essential if you want to personalize your marketing. That means that you’ll have to keep track of what your customers previously bought, but also what they browsed for.
Based on that information, you can offer them items that are related to the ones they were previously interested in. For example, if they’ve recently bought a tent from you, offer them other camping gear that might be useful if someone is planning to go camping.
Sending Personalized Emails
You’ve probably realized by now that emails are an essential tool when it comes to marketing personalization. But how exactly can you make them feel more customized?
Start with your subject lines. An effective subject line is what usually makes a difference between opened and unopened email. A small detail such as mentioning a person’s name or brand name can work wonders.
Addressing a person by their (or their brand) name is even more essential in the email opening. Starting your emails with “Hi there” is simply not gonna do it. According to statistics, 75% of customers are more likely to buy from a retailer that addresses them by name and 52% of customers say they’ll find somewhere else to go if the email is not personalized.
Show the Human Side of Your Business
Personalization is not only important to make your audience feel special and treated like humans and not just numbers, but also to help them see the human side of your brand.
Here are some of the ways you can humanize your brand:
- Show behind the scenes – Your audience is probably curious to see the nuts and bolts behind your business, so show them how it all works behind the scenes.
- Introduce your staff – it will certainly help put a face behind your brand.
- Don’t be afraid to be informal – Use emojis, memes, and gifs to be more relatable.
- Interact with your social media followers – Liking, commenting and retweeting will show your audience that you listen and that you care.
- Don’t hide your failures – Your audience will find it easier to relate and connect with you if they see that you sometimes make mistakes. Nobody’s perfect!
By doing so, you will create stronger relationships with your audience, increase engagement and build long-lasting bonds with your customers.
Final Thoughts
From personalized emails that will generate leads, to purchase reminders and killer suggestions that will boost your sales, marketing personalization is essential for improving every stage of your sales process.
Just be careful. Being too personal or seeming like you know too much can be a little creepy. Today’s consumers are quite protective of their privacy so make sure to find the right balance and treat their personal data with respect.
Have you already tried personalizing your marketing strategy? Let us know in the comments!
Featured image credit: Rawpixel.com
