Who Is Personalization For?
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Personalization can be useful to just about everyone at the broadest level-?retailers, Institutes of higher education, pharmaceutical companies, non-profits…the list goes on. Those operating in the business-to-consumer (B2C) space, especially eCommerce brands, have already been using a level of personalization for years to help increase sales by showing us “more products like the one you just purchased.”
Likewise, many business-to-business (B2B) brands invest in personalization to achieve their own goals, whether that means?generating more leads?or?recruiting better talent. Even nonprofits have exhibited the ability to use tailored content, calls to action, imagery, and more to drive greater online donations.
Other goals you might have, all of which add value to the digital brand experience, could include:
Still not convinced it’s the right move? Let’s look at a few scenarios where personalization adds context to help better inform a user’s decision, thus helping the following companies add value to their digital brand experience:
1. Amazon
Amazon is the classic example of an eCommerce brand that utilizes personalization to serve up specific content for each user. I recently purchased books about ethnography and an OAR album and here they are suggesting other, relevant products that relate to those I already bought, increasing the likelihood that I will make another purchase.
2. Hulu
Similarly, Hulu uses past actions to recommend additional content that are similar to what I have already viewed. By watching a show or series I give them insights into the kind of content I'm interested in and Hulu utilizes the data by breaking down the show into a variety of categories from as broad as overarching theme and genera and as specific as female lead or minority cast. Hulu breaks down the various aspects of the show and gives you recommendations that fall into some of the same baskets.
For example, since I’ve watched Modern Family, Hulu is not only targeting me with other new-age sitcoms but specifically, ones that also include minority characters, are family-focused, incorporate a large cast, etc.
This all makes personalization sound like a silver bullet for the digital marketer of 2016… and it can be just as effective as it sounds. However, the reality is personalization takes a variety of forms, and most of them require significant capital to effectively implement. While personalization can almost certainly help you, your decision will ultimately come down to considering?whether the investment is worth it.
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WHEN IS PERSONALIZATION WORTH IT?
The considerations regarding an investment (and ROI) in personalization?at the business and project levels?are threefold: cost, complexity, and continual governance.
1. Cost
Consider the size of your site’s traffic and the revenue it generates for your business. The technology and resources needed to roll out a comprehensive personalization program can add up, so at least a cursory overview of costs, benefits, and potential ROI is an important exercise for any brand to conduct before rolling ahead with personalization.
2. Complexity
In addition to resources, consider your team’s capabilities: Is this the right time, and do you have the right human and knowledge capital to tackle a project like this?
Personalization technology is like a new thread that must be intricately woven into the content management system of its host site, and timing is also a factor at play here. To use a homebuilding metaphor, a key opportunity to implement an addition like this can be when you are already doing renovations on your site, especially if you have an agency partner who can help complement your internal capabilities and resources.
3. Continual Governance
Ultimately, getting a personalization program off the ground is half the battle. Whether internally or with an agency partner, the time and resources involved in ongoing maintenance, testing, and optimization can be substantial– be sure to consider these costs when calculating your projected ROI.
If you need a mental model to start from, think of it as a digital advertising campaign: Launch some creative, and then A/B test headlines, copy, images, etc.to tweak the message to each audience for maximum effectiveness, and throw out what doesn’t work along the way.
Time to Make the Call
At this point, the tradeoffs and considerations around whether to invest (and to what extent) in personalization should be clear enough to help you make a well-informed decision. As we’ve seen, it’s a tool that just about any business, in any industry, with a significant digital presence can leverage– as long as the proper capital and capabilities are available to take full advantage of implementing it. Successful personalization requires a marathon mindset, and it will similarly pay dividends in the long term if you can properly manage it.
Still have questions about whether personalization is right for you??Get in touch?today and one of our strategists can help you weigh the costs & benefits to determine your best path forward.