In order to remain competitive in an environment as heavily saturated and populated as the marketing field, a brand needs to be able cut through the noise and stand out to their consumers. Personalising content is an effective way to do this.
So, what is content personalisation or personalised marketing?
Personalised marketing uses data to identify patterns in consumer behaviour, such patterns are then used to inform the creation of future content making it specific to a certain target group or individual. This data can be anything from shopping preferences, browsing habits or purchase history, all of which can be used to customise a consumer's journey from start to finish.
Here are some generic ways in which companies are personalising their marketing efforts right now:
Personalised Email Marketing: Emails which contain a personalised subject line or contain details such as the recipient's name.
Targeted Advertising: Data is used to establish what type of advertisements and in what quality are best suited to a certain target group or individual.
Personalised Product Recommendations: After analysing browsing habits and/or purchase history, a brand will recommend similar products to those that have been seen or searched for before.
What are the advantages of personalised marketing?
Ultimately, personalisation of any experience on and offline makes that experience a memorable one and thus incentivises us to revisit that particular site, shop or page as we know we will get what we came for.
From a professional perspective, improving customer experience drives brand loyalty and improves customer retention, in turn boosting the ever sought-after ROI (return on investment).
What are the disadvantages of personalised marketing?
One of the biggest issues surrounding personalised marketing is the access to and use of customer data and the ethical challenges surrounding its collection. The integration of technologies such as AI have not only levelled up the personalised marketing game but have also exacerbated issues surrounding the topic. With this in mind, it is important to strike a healthy balance when collecting data from your consumers. On one hand, be transparent about the data you're collecting indirectly and what it is being used for and on the other, let consumers come to you with their information instead of harassing them into it with too many targeted ads or consumer surveys, for example.
If you would like to find out how you can begin to personalise your marketing efforts get in touch with us today!
