How To Dial Up Personalization in Marketing

I recently wrote an article for Click Z about the rise in personalized marketing. Nowadays, it’s no longer enough to address your customer by name within an email campaign and hope for the best. Personalization must touch every aspect of your customer outreach and use high levels of empathy to strengthen customer relationships.

At CFA Institute, we understand the critical nature of empathy in elevating our customer relationships. Yes, data plays an important role in guiding our decision-making, but it can’t really foster the genuine connections modern customers demand. Without personalization, we couldn’t possibly engage with the more than 400,000 investment management professionals we serve to create long-lasting relationships and support for our mission.

It’s not surprising that personalization has a direct impact on business growth and customer retention. Research shows that 57% of online buyers are happy to exchange personal data in return for personalized offers or discounts, and 58% say personalized experiences are important when buying from a company.

To do personalization justice, brands need to identify the biggest moments of receptivity for their story.?In other words, how are you able to deliver the right message to the right person at the right time via the right channel? ?To achieve this, you must ensure that these “rights” add up to meaningful engagement that matters to the unique person you’re targeting. But how???

Know customer needs. First, brands need to understand the full spectrum of their target audiences’ needs and desires— inside and out. At every touchpoint throughout the funnel, you need ask yourself, “What does the customer want here? What are they looking for?” Once you can answer those questions, you’ll be able to craft a clear persona that reflects a deep understanding of these needs and then access additional personalized data points like geography, career level, and other factors to customize your messaging.

Remember who they are and what they’ve done, on any channel or device. Finding unique ways to deliver focused key messages that are consistent across mobile, digital, and local channels will help you eliminate siloed communication and deliver a more integrated customer experience. These kinds of insights will help you take personalization in your marketing approaches to the next level.

Anticipate their future needs. If you know your customers’ personal details and behaviors, you have the power to predict what’s coming next. AI-driven technology can make the prediction process even easier. Think of successful marketing personalization like playing chess.; you have to think several moves ahead.

Personalization in marketing can mean the difference between long-term business success and failure. When you keep personalization at the core of your marketing efforts, you’re signaling to your customers that they are your first priority. Otherwise, customers may be tempted to look to a competitor to meet their needs. At that point, all of your hard work in trying to build customer relationships will be for naught.

There are a variety of approaches for making personalization a key part of your marketing strategy. Which are your favorites, and why? Reach out and let me know.

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