The Future of Personalization — and How to Get Ready for It?

The age of one-size-fits-all marketing is long gone. Customers are no longer impressed by marketing gimmicks; they can see right through a brand’s bulk-produced campaign (Simply addressing the customer by their name is not going to make the cut). As technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Data Analytics step into the scene, there’s no excuse for brands to rely on mere guesses instead of hard facts. This is where the need and importance of personalization come in. The use of marketing personalization or lack of it can make or break a brand’s relationship with its customers because it is an indicator of its care quotient in the customer’s books. Let’s find out all about it.

What is Personalization, and Where Does it Currently Stand?

Let’s understand the marketing concept of personalization with the help of an analogy — Suppose you have a twin, and besides a common birthday, you also share a common friend. Now, your birthday arrives, and that friend gifts you and your sister/brother the same gift wrapped in an identical wrapping paper and a gift tag with the exact words written across it (only the names are different).

Despite being carbon copies of each other in terms of looks, you still won’t possess similar personalities and will likely get disappointed when receiving such a birthday present. You might even consider your friend insensitive to your personal likes and interests.

Well, so you see — simply using the customer’s name in a promotional email or telecall will not guarantee marketing success. What brands need is to know the unique pain points of each (potential) customer and address them. This proves to the customer that the brand is aware and sensitive to their personal requirements. The same goes for the experience a user receives on browsing through products on a brand’s website.

To personalize messages and user experience effectively, brands collect vital customer information in the form of website surveys, purchase history, online behavior, and more. Based on the info so collected, loyal customer discounts are given, complimentary and similar products are recommended, etc. If you’ve used Amazon or Netflix’s services, you are familiar with what a personalized user experience looks like.

The COVID 19 impact

Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, communicating with customers on a one-on-one level is not an option but an imperative for incremental growth. Real-time market data such as website traffic, online search trends, etc., are being employed to determine which lucrative markets to focus on and which customers to target.

With the flurry of marketing campaigns ushered by businesses taking to digital platforms combined with the pandemic gloom, communication is key. Brands that take an empathetic marketing approach, as opposed to an incessant one, keeping their customers at the front and centre, are gaining traction.

Both B2B and B2C businesses are heavily investing in technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics to predict and create more tailored customer experiences. This is helping to establish the basis for stronger brand-customer digital relationships.

What the Future of Personalization Holds:

• Extensive use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve customer experiences

AI of the future will not be restricted to cleaning and making sense of existing customer data. Along with segmenting customers based on their common features, AI may also be able to do the marketing for you through Natural Language Processing (NLP). It will become essential to hire trained, skilled professionals (or outsource them) who can interpret and train the AI program effectively. Additionally, training in-house employees on how to use AI systems may become crucial.

• Transitioning to virtual spaces through Augmented Reality (AR) and GPS

Although websites exist today, trying and testing products virtually may become possible through AR in the future. Integration of AR systems with AI to tailor experiences to customer preferences may become normal.

Combining GPS data with AI persona tools will make it possible to target potential customers with effective marketing locally, especially if the business is in the vicinity. This may drastically improve conversion rates post-marketing.

• Developing cohesive customer journeys

Products that work well together, syncing data, and working smartly for a superior customer experience may not be too far into the future. The Apple Watch, Macbook, and iPhone are great examples of an ecosystem that does this already. Companies that can think creatively to craft cohesive experiences and market these effectively will be important. This may involve people working across teams and products.

• Focus on privacy and zero party data

Protection of personal data came into the spotlight with the GDPR data compliance in place, and it is not going away anytime soon. Businesses may shift from first-party data collection via website interactions to zero-party data collection. Zero-party data is collected to provide tangible value to the customer with their consent. The development of such systems requires effective marketing to convince the customer to share their data with the business.

Personalization is becoming pervasive. The future may go a step beyond — into hyper-personalization, which is still in its infancy stages. However, the key to business success now and in the future is to act now. Investing business resources in personalization is one of the best investments brands can make today to deliver consistent value to customers in the future.