By 
Personalisation is the future of successful marketing. Don't get left behind as this trend takes hold.
Personlised marketing is the ultimate form of targeted marketing, creating the right messages, for the right consumers (and hopefully, delivering them at the right time). As well as providing a better experience for consumers, personalisation is good news for marketers too, offering a more targeted way of reaching prospects. The more targeted campaigns are, the more likely prospects are to convert.
Recent studies have shown that more and more consumers are expecting businesses to get personal, to know their name, to know their interests and really give the level of one to one service you would get in person, online. Unsurprisingly, customer engagement has been cited as the top reason for prioritising personalisation!
"94% of senior-level executives believe that delivering personalisation is a critical factor for reaching the right customers going forward" - Experian
This said, consent to marketing is still a very important factor! Nick Evans, Jaywing Marketing Practice Director said: "If executed well, personalisation is great for both the customer and marketer, but done badly it can impose on people's privacy and encourage people to opt out of marketing altogether."
If you're going to get personal, you need to do it right. Here's 5 ways to get started:
1. The basics
There's no point getting really technical until you've got the basics right. First name, last name, job title, age, gender, education level etc. are some of the very basic pieces of information that you may already be collecting. This basic level of personalisation can easily be used to offer more targeted content to your audience!
At the very least, with the basics, you can address each of your emails to the consumer, personally, which will get their attention right at the start.
2. Life events
Moving out to go to university, purchasing a first home, getting engaged or married, becoming a parent, getting a new job are all life events. Think about what your customers might need as they go through these changes in their lives and provide them with related content and offers.
As an example, someone moving out to go to university might be interested in a student's guide to cooking, or the top dorm essentials every new student needs. It's all about being timely and addressing the needs of your consumer.
3. Recent purchases
Understanding the buyer habits of your customers is a great benefit when it comes to cross-selling. You can use the different shopping habits to understand which products are most commonly bought together by your customers, and use these to make suggestions.
Your suggestions could come in the form of a follow-up email after a purchase showing a product that complements what they bought, use display advertising, or even show suggested products on the purchase page of your site.
4. Abandoned carts
If you have an ecommerce business, you can learn a lot about your consumers from what they consider purchasing.
By using abandoned shopping cart information, you can remarket these forgotten items to them via display ads or email campaigns, and you could send them an offer that they just can't turn down! Appealing to your consumers personally with items that they have shown interest in, and giving them an offer is sure to keep them coming back.
5. Device and location
Device is important. Consumers want you to know what device they're using, and they want to see the right form of content for the size of their screen. I know that I am instantly put off by a website if it doesn't resize to my phone - no one has time to be zooming in and out trying to click on little links!
In terms of location, knowing where your website visitors are when they're checking out your site can be an opportunity for you to segment your content by region. Who knows, your display ads could even appear when people are near your location! One stage further is to use iBeacon technology to push notifications and marketing messages to customers' devices when they are nearby.The possibilities are endless.
Ignore personalisation at your peril...
As marketers we need to always keep or fingers on the pulse of latest trends and more importantly, consumer needs. Failing to match the demands of the consumer is how you and your business will be left behind as savvy competitors race ahead.
