Uniting Customer Data and Content to Deliver Personalisation at Scale

Let's talk about personalization at scale, and the impacts on the financial services industry.?

It should come as a surprise to no one that the pandemic has driven a shift to digital channels, which sparked a whole new set of customer behaviours.?

It is estimated that during 2021, 35% of customers began using a financial product from a brand they have not used before. This sort of trend has a direct impact on customer loyalty, especially in a highly penetrated banking market with an increasing number of fintech competitors. While this can be seen as a risk, it is also a tremendous opportunity for companies capable of understanding what customers want and to deliver the right content, at the right time on any channel.

If you are still not convinced, here are some numbers that might help:?

• The 48% of marketers that have implemented personalisation on their website and apps achieve double digit lift in revenue.?
• 80% of consumers would be more likely to do business with a company that offered personalised experiences.?
• Omnichannel customers make up 7% of customers but account for 27% of total sales.?
• Online customers that engaged with a recommended product had a 70% higher conversion rate during that session, which turned to 55% upon return sessions.?

Personalisation vs Personalisation at Scale?

While we are all familiar with the concept of personalisation being the ability to deliver the right experience to the right customer in the right context, through the right channels. Personalisation at Scale is being able to do the same, but for every customer, in every channel, in real time.?

What is needed to deliver personalisation at scale??

Many companies have focussed their efforts on personalisation, but at limited scale, such as Next Best Offer, where a customer returning to a website would be offered products based on previous interactions. While this sort of personalisation has its own merits, it doesn’t necessarily drive enough customer value, as context is not always considered, such as the financial health of said customer. In order to evolve, companies must start shifting their focus on providing customers with their Next Best Experience. This can lead to higher value-added interactions, increase on loyalty, and allows the customer to see the company not only as a services / product provider, but as an entity that can provide solutions to problems customers are currently facing. In order to achieve it, there is a need to focus on aggregating more customer data, across several channels, in order to deliver tailored content in line with customer needs.?

?Pillar of Personalisation at Scale?

• Simplify Data Management and Activation, creating a unified customer profile with future-proof data foundation.?
• Enterprise Content Management and Collaboration to efficiently produce, reuse, and deliver content to any channel.?
• Omnichannel Journeys bringing data and content together to deliver personalised content, offers and messages across any channel.?

Challenges with Personalising at Scale?

• Data Management and Activation?
• Extracting meaningful insights from larges amount of data?
• Data siloes, formats and privacy concerns?
• Regulations that dictate what data can/can’t be used complicates the personalisation??
• Enterprise Content Management and Collaboration?
• Large, complex, matrixed structures, siloed by product and channel?
• Content is inefficient, with limited reusability?
• Content need multiple approvers/reviewers slowing down the process?
• Omni-Channel Journeys?
• Siloes by Business Units and Channel Owners create competing interests with limited interest to collaborate?
• Customer touchpoints are usually managed by different systems that require bespoke IT integrations limit real-time response and coordination.?

Key actions to Personalise at Scale?

• Data Management and Activation?
• Integrate all relevant data into profiles?
• Understand customers in context?
• Enable non-technical users to analyse??
• Enterprise Content Management and Collaboration?
• Create content that can be reused?
• Focus on creating headless experiences in order to scale to any channel?
• Enable efficient Collaboration?
• Omni-Channel Journeys?
• Use intelligence and rules-based decisioning?
• Manage journey across inbound and outbound?
• Continually analyse and optimise customer experience?

Having the Right Tools for the Challenge?

Adopting Personalisation at Scale will challenge companies in many ways: data siloes must be avoided, people of different business units must start cooperating and sharing information, not to mention the technological elements.

On this latter element, Adobe technology is a market leader that provides a framework that supports a highly orchestrated customer journey. This includes Adobe Experience Manager, Adobe Audience Manager, Adobe Target, Adobe Sensei, and Adobe Analytics.??

Takeaways?

• Start small and focus on areas with existing strength: set realistic expectations and go for quick wins. It's important to showcase the value of what is being delivered.?
• Collaborate or progress will be halted: foment an environment of data democracy, where different areas of the company can share information. Create content and considering how others can reuse it.?
• Focus on the Customer: continue to question yourself on how the customer will benefit from something you are delivering. Are the customers needs being taken into account??

This article was written by Peter Hemesath following the Adobe Summit 2022, and session on “Enhancing Personalization in Financial Services” by Kieran Smith.?

To discuss any of the challenges you are facing, or topics mentioned above that might apply to you or your organisation, please get in touch with us.