How do you personalize brand touchpoints with data and technology?

In my experience, defining customer segments is a pivotal starting point for effective marketing strategies. By analyzing data from CRM, surveys, and social media, businesses can identify key characteristics and needs of their customer base. For instance, a retail company may segment customers based on demographics, location, and purchase history to tailor personalized promotions and product recommendations. Utilizing advanced technology like AI allows for dynamic segments that adapt in real-time, ensuring continuous relevance and better understanding of customer behavior. Ultimately, segmenting customers empowers businesses to deliver targeted messaging and offerings, enhancing overall customer satisfaction and driving business growth.

While the traditional way of creating Cohorts of customers based on *Frequency* (how often customer buys from you), *Value* (how much customer buys per visit) and *Recency* (How long back was customer acquired & when last did he purchase?) is a fairly good way of starting to bucket your customers to customise curated messages for them, there are multiple other ways of creating cohorts. Some examples where a new cohort can be made: 1. From which part of marketing funnel did the customer make the purchase 2. Did the person browse for long before purchase or was it quick? 3. Is the purchase for self or someone else? 4. Is the person looking for discounts & coupons?

I usually find myself starting with research; I take a very good look at the each of the existing touchpoints; noting where data and technology can be leveraged. I study the notes, identifying what could be missing or reorganized. I believe consideration is important when applying branding and personalizing data and technology. The person at the other end sees it from their point of view; we also have to look at it that way.

It's all about understanding who our customers are, their needs, desires, and habits. This can be achieved through various data sources we have on hand like our CRM, analytics, and customer feedback through surveys or social media. For instance, we can group our customers based on their age, location, or buying habits. We could even segment them by their interests or the challenges they face that our product could address. By using AI or machine learning, we can further enhance our segmentation strategy, creating dynamic groups that adapt with evolving customer behaviors and feedback. In short, it's about making our brand as relevant and personalized as possible to each customer group.

Detailed research which is not only collecting enough data about your customers but taking time to analyse and interpret carefully is key! Till the above understanding is not clear, the marcom strategy process cannot begin.

Mapping the customer journey is like tracing a path through their interactions with a brand. It unveils the sequence of touchpoints, emotions, and decisions customers experience. This insightful process empowers businesses to enhance engagement, identify pain points, and optimize the overall experience. By understanding each step, companies can tailor their strategies to meet customer needs effectively, fostering loyalty and success.

From the same brand, a platform like Shopify helped us map the journey from acquisition to retention Funnel is not only for acquisition it is important for retention as well

In B2B marketing, it is crucial to understand the customer journey and the steps that potential buyers need to take in order to be able to buy from you. All the data you can gather is of course valuable in mapping out the customer journey, but nothing beats going straight to the source – the existing customers and prospects who did not become paying customers. By talking to the people behind the data is the only way to understand the variables that the customers go through in their own organisation while trying to find the right product/service for their needs. This will also help plan messaging that really appeals to the buyers.

One thing I have found very helpful is making a 24 hour clock of your customer to gauge and analyse carefully what they do from morning to night, what media they consume and what are their habits. This done in detail can help us put a good marketing plan in place.

Maps have been guiding people since the early times of civilisation, so it makes common sense to have them as the main ways to understand the customer journey and what journey you need to take to support them. While technology has undoubtedly made this a more straightforward process, the basics have stayed the same from wanting to know what the customer feels, thinks, knows and then does along that journey.

By leveraging data and technology, we can track our customers' interactions across different channels and touchpoints. For example, tools like Google Analytics, heatmaps, and user testing can give us invaluable insights into how our customers navigate our website, what kind of content resonates with them, and what actions lead them to purchase. Also, using communication tools such as email marketing, chatbots, or SMS can provide more personalized interactions, helping guide our customers smoothly through their journey. So, by mapping out the customer journey, we ensure we're there for our customers every step of the way, making their experience with our brand as seamless and enjoyable as possible.

Personalisation is not putting the name of user in the product/ brand, but finding our larger cohort of similar set of audience reacting to similar kind/ type of communication or benefit Price sensitive Feature hunter Brand hoarder Just for some thought starters

Personalisation means different things to different people. It helps to discuss amongst team members their perception of personalisation. For some, it's a completely tailored experience, while for others its about select curation. Knowing this will help refine your collective lens of analysing your audience and journey.

While implementing personalized strategies, keep these key points in mind: 1. User Privacy: Respect user privacy and comply with data protection regulations. Obtain explicit consent before using their data for personalization. 2. Data Security: Safeguard user data with robust security measures to prevent unauthorized access or breaches. 3. Transparency: Be transparent about the data you collect and how it will be used to personalize their experience. 4. Relevance: Ensure that personalized content, recommendations, and offers are relevant and add value to the user. Personalisation should feel welcoming and not intimidating or scary to users. #RespectBoundaries

Communication play the most important role in implementing personalisation- be it language, be it geography type, be it certain type of user set

Personalised strategies may be the big thing for brands, but I think there more and more consumers are being aware of privacy intrusion and most of them start mentally questioning the brands unauthorised access to their private data. So a fine balance is needed going forward or data and tech that could work in favour could act as adversary.

Close monitoring the audience impact is what willl help you develop the right strategy for the given cohort of audience else you will loose a lot without learning anything

Personalisation is honestly the creme de la creme in marketing - there's always more that can be done. Yes, put me in a segment because I purchased thrice from you in 3 months, but what did I purchase? What's the next thing I might need after that? There's just so much storytelling that can develop from improving personalisation.

Don’t look at complex AI solutions until you managed to maximize personalization without it. Most companies underrate what they can achieve without AI and overate what they can achieve with it. Here’s an example from E-commerce. 9 out of 10 stores use generic non-personalized newsletters with a very dummy data logic: they try to sell products that you purchased before. This could work in the case of eg. food (like beer), but it wouldn’t in the case of eg. electronics (like a fridge). Still companies use this very simple algorythm and hope for the best. Personalization strategy is hard, so don’t play the short game, it won’t work.

Personalizing brand touchpoints with data and technology involves leveraging customer information to tailor interactions and experiences. By collecting and analyzing data from various sources like website behavior, purchase history, and preferences, companies can gain insights into individual customer needs. Advanced technologies, such as AI and machine learning, help interpret this data to deliver personalized content, recommendations, and offers through targeted emails, personalized website experiences, customized advertisements, and more. This personalized approach enhances customer engagement, loyalty, and overall satisfaction, creating a seamless and relevant brand experience across multiple touchpoints.

With customer segments identified, brands can create personalized content that speaks directly to each segment's needs and interests. This content can include personalized product recommendations, tailored email campaigns, dynamic website content or customised contents. Personalised content should be relevant, timely, and delivered through the most appropriate channels for each customer segment.By personalizing brand touch points with data and technology, companies can create meaningful interactions with their customers. This approach allows brands to deliver relevant experiences that resonate with individual preferences, ultimately building stronger relationships and driving business growth.

Understand your company's tech capabilities and project timelines to ensure the solution works well. Many times, a brand experience or touchpoint can be completed in different ways. Technology is a tool amongst many tools, where execution is key. Consider the existing tech stack and comfort level of your company to see what would work in the short, mid and long term. Pilots can be a great way to test more ambitious technology solutions. If a more manual way can get an MVP test started around an experience, the better.