Why you must invest in Personalization to amplify business growth!

When I first heard of personalization as a concept, I thought of it as something that could only be done by large, wealthy companies or on a small scale. After all, if I had 100 customers, I'd have to be able to do things 100 different ways.

Enter the Customer Experience mindset - delivering personalization at scale. What CX did was identify Ideal Customer Profiles (ICP) that share similar needs, behaviors, preferences and pain points with a particular focus on those ICPs that offer the best ROI to the organization AND the ICP simultaneously. It changed everything. Now instead of '100' different customers, the business can focus on 3-4 ICPs that offer the optimal ROI for all stakeholders AND could then divest from low-ROI profiles. So, in this edition, we'll discuss the business growth benefits that are realized when our business leans into personalization. #NowThatsCXy

Research from Segment finds that...

"69% of customers want a personalized and consistent customer experience across multiple physical and digital channels."

While this sounds simple, execution is heavily dependent on understanding your customers with granularity so that your marketing, onboarding, internal processes, customer service and post purchase experience anticipates what ICPs will prefer aka Customer Experience Management. The most powerful indicator that what you're doing is working in my opinion is growing Customer Retention, growing Share of Wallet per customer and growing Referrals from existing customers. So, if you're not intentionally managing the factors that affect these outcomes and not tracking progress, realizing the business outcomes you want become difficult and less clear.

According to Twilio in 2021,

"60% of customers report they will become repeat buyers after a personalized purchasing experience."

Don't miss what the customer is saying: I want a personalized and consistent customer experience AND I will become a repeat buyer after a personalized purchasing experience! This means YOUR business MUST personalize the customer experience for existing and future customers to win the game. #NowThatsCXy

So, let's look at some of the business outcomes that Personalization can have on your business that should help you decide if investing in a Personalization Strategy is worth it.

Increased Customer Retention: As we found out from Twilio earlier, customers will become repeat buyers when they feel they've had a personalized purchasing experience. Customer Retention has become the spine of growth strategy in business the last decade or so. And it makes sense: if customers feel that their preferences and needs are anticipated every time they do business with us, we get to keep more customers loyal and benefit beyond their first transaction from repeat purchases. Customers feel relationship vs. transaction - they want that.

Increased Conversion Rates: Accenture research reports that customers are 91% more likely to shop brands that provide relevant offers and recommendations. The opportunity for repeat purchases, upsells and cross-sells from existing customers increases because of personalization. There's a 60-70% chance of upsells/cross-sells with existing customers vs. only ~15% chance for new customers. Segment research also reports that 49% of customers made a purchase they didn't initially intend to buy after a personalized recommendation.

Decreased Customer Frustration online: So much business is now done online and that means the customer's journey on your website also matters. They want consistency across platforms to feel understood and they want reduced effort to get things done. Without personalization, we lose their patience, their purchase and their referrals. Infosys research reports that 74% of customers feel frustrated when web content is not personalized.

Increased Revenues: This one happens on multiple levels and compounds over time. A customer who feels understood and valued is encouraged to stay longer and buy more. As that feeling continues, those customers feel encouraged to repurchase, up-buy and cross buy - order values increase. The coup de gras is that these customers feel compelled to tell their friends as the average loyal customer refers 6-9 additional customers (compounding). This also facilitates an improvement in Brand perception and positive visibility. According to the Boston Consulting Group, brands that create personalized experiences see revenues increase 6-10% annually. #NowThatsCXy

Now a word from our sponsors:

At IAM CX, we believe in Behavioral Science. We believe that a granular understanding of Customer Behavioral Science allows businesses across all industries and sizes to thrive long-term, grow revenue and achieve competitive advantage - Customer Experience Management.

Similarly, we also believe that Behavioral Science can amplify and feed our understanding of Leadership performance and Team performance. It is why we offer solutions in alignment with enhancing Leadership and Team performance. Did you know that science has studied Leadership and Sales Team performance? Did you know that science also offers solutions to reduce the hidden barriers that prevent leaders and teams from performing optimally? Recently we hosted an episode of the IAM CX Podcast on LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube entitled: 'The Science of Sales and Advocacy: The Hidden Barriers to Performance'.

Our guest speaker was behavioral scientist and VP of Field Testing & Research at Behavioral Sciences Research Press, Inc , Trelitha R. Bryant . Ms. Bryant educated us on the gaps, revealed by 40 years of science, that currently exist in most trainings offered globally. Ms. Bryant also revealed how these 'hidden barriers' (aka Science of Call Reluctance) affect productivity and business outcomes when they are identified, addressed and reduced.

Want to learn about the Science of Sales & Advocacy and the 16 tendencies identified by science that affect your leadership or sales performance? Check out the replay of our interview on YouTube here:

The Science of Sale & Advocacy: The Hidden Barriers of Performance with Trelitha Bryant

The average person has 5 Call Reluctance tendencies that prevent them from performing and earning optimally. Want to understand what tendencies (often missed by most trainings and identified by science), that might affect your personal performance or that of your Sales Team? Feel free to use our FREE Sales EKG questionnaire that provides an immediate score and feedback. You can also contact us at IAM CX to get an understanding of how these tendencies affect your business outcomes and how they can be corrected. Take the FREE Sales EKG here: The Call Reluctance Sales EKG from BSRP

Hopefully, after this edition, personalization has greater resonance to you whether you're an entrepreneur, salesperson or business leader. Also, hopefully, you are inspired to learn and employ Customer Experience Management. If you need help with Training, Consulting or the latest Voice of Customer Technology, we got you covered. #NowThatsCXy

That's it for this edition of the Now That's CXy Newsletter. Have a great day and Go WiN!

Always yours in CX,

Roger