Personalizing customer experience: art and science of creating a personalized digital marketing campaign

By Jamie K. (Digital Strategy Planning Manager, Cheil Singapore RHQ)

In today’s world where a constant barrage of marketing messages vie for people’s attention, consumers would not just benefit from personalized shopping experiences but expect them. Accordingly, brands that successfully personalize the experiences have a shot at unlocking opportunities for significant revenue growth.

Digital platforms provide the perfect launchpad for personalization due to the wealth of customer data that facilitate evidence-based decisions. Operationalizing a digital campaign with varied journey experiences built in is no easy feat however, requiring a deep understanding of the target customer segments and seamless orchestration of personalized marketing communication across channels.?

Here we share a couple of battle-tested tips that can help you design winning personalized digital campaigns.??

Identify the campaign-worthy customer segments

Personalization goals may vary based on your business goals and objectives. Among the many customer segments within your customer base however, there will be a distinct one or couple where an exceptional performance aligns best with your goals. Such strategic focus streamlines the campaign design. Be it cart abandoners or competitors’ fans, identify the ‘campaign-worthy’ customer segments and hone in on them.??

Say through a high-level data exploration, you found a customer segment that purchased an old product model but hasn’t returned to purchase a new product, while the product nears the end of its lifecycle. These segments may present a high potential return on investment, as they already have an affinity with the brand based on their past purchase behavior.?

Dissect the customers - who are they and why do they engage/visit? (or don’t)

The heart of personalization lies in understanding the target customer segments and dissecting reliable data on their characteristics and behaviors. Here a combination of analytics solutions can be leveraged to segment the customers? based on e.g. demographics, psychographics, behavioral patterns.?

Analyze the data to grasp the mindset of the respective customer segments and what may be driving their interactions or disengagement with the platform. Ask the questions - why would the customers who just purchased the product visit a particular section of the FAQ page? Why would a customer group using a specific device visit the website but hardly purchase the products??

The science of data analysis meets with art hereon, which has a defining role when envisioning the mindset of the customers and crafting eye-catching and ear-catching messages to entice them.?

Imagine you have identified a target customer segment and determined their age group, gender, interest (e.g. gleaned from Facebook AI) and their highly visited pages (e.g. obtained through internal analytics platforms). You can start brainstorming the product features to bring to light when communicating with the audience across channels and type of solutions most suitable for drawing them into the product or engaging with them. The creatives then take center stage to compose the most compelling contents for delivery.?

Tackle the touchpoints - data-driven strategy meets creative communication?

Digital consumer journeys nowadays involve a multitude of touchpoints across various channels. To identify the key channels and paths that matter the most, it is important to map them out comprehensively. Common channels to tackle would include email, paid ads, website/app, push notifications, SMS. A holistic contact strategy thereafter should outline the following key components:

• Target customer segments: Aligned with your strategic business goals?
• Channels: Optimal channels of contact for each customer segment, including the technology and tools to leverage and ad type and placement
• Timing and frequency: Ideal times and frequency to contact each customer segment by channel, including retargeting plans as necessary
• Summary of ad/communication messages: Based on each customer segment’s mindset and pain point?
• Customer journey visualization: Each customer segment’s path outlined with marketing touchpoints?

Data aids each step of the planning process while a coherent communication strategy serves as a bedrock for endeavors of creative marketing.??

To design and execute winning personalized campaigns, Cheil’s digital marketing teams work closely with creative teams, convening at the intersection of art and science.?

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Want more tips and tricks? Let us know and we can get the conversation started.?