Will 2023 be the year of personalization? Consumers expect it. For the past two years, shoppers have craved the personal touch: In 2021, McKinsey noted that 71% of customers expect businesses to offer personalization.
In 2022, a Salesforce survey found that 73% of people expected brands to understand their needs and expectations. So this year looks like one where customization can no longer be seen as a “nice to have.”
The problem, of course, is how to be more personalized. Many companies have already begun to delve into this new vision of service. They greet shoppers by name on landing pages, rely on CRM and other tools to use historical data to send personalized recommendations, and offer real-time personalized discounts to help shoppers convert abandoned cart item purchases into actual purchases.
These are all great ideas. The only problem is that they have become widespread. They no longer move the needle on customer experience. Instead, they are standard, expected, and forgettable. That doesn’t mean you can afford to put them aside.
Also Read: What is Data Sanitization
It just means that you should come up with other ways to personalize personalization throughout your interactions with the consumer.
If you’re scratching your head about how to beat the personalization of 2022 in 2023, try implementing the following strategies:
Seek full engagement on social media
An easy way to add a personal touch is through social media business pages. The use of social networks continues to grow. In 2022, there were about 266 million monthly active users (or MUAs) on Facebook, 1 billion on Instagram, and 755 million on TikTok. Not all of these active users will be included in your target audience, but many of them will.
Make engaging with your social followers one of your goals this year. People spend a lot of time on social media. It’s where many of them “live,” so it makes sense to be a place to push personalization.
A quick way to increase your company’s personal touch on social media is to customize your retargeted ads. Quizzes can also offer a customization opportunity. Just set up an engaging quiz and let people share their results.
It’s a fun way to build brand awareness and bond with consumers. Of course, there is nothing wrong with being very personal and responding to all comments. Depending on your team size and the feedback you get, this could be a viable option.
Leverage AI to go beyond basic demographics
Most companies rely on customer demographic information to bolster personalization efforts. The only problem with this tactic is that demographics can only tell part of the story. It’s impossible to get many contexts about individual users (such as their lifestyles, personal preferences, and motivations) simply by knowing their age, gender, or location. Although demographic data is beneficial, it can cause some significant errors.
You can take advantage of AI’s insightful and predictive capabilities to discover real-time user insights. This technique allows you to stay in sync with the fast pace of changes in consumer behaviour. AI can be particularly beneficial with the upcoming limits on third-party cookie access because it can be your own data source, allowing you to maintain customer awareness and connection.
To develop your organization’s strategy, look for other companies that have gone beyond demographics. Netflix, for example, constantly adjusts its artificial intelligence algorithm to help improve personalized content recommendations.
Digging deeper than superficial information makes all the sense in the world if you want to show customers that you know them well.
Keep your data pristine
The better your data, the better your personalization efforts, even though you probably have a lot of unstructured or hard-to-use (or impossible-to-use) data. A recent Great Expectations survey revealed that 77% of data professionals have data quality issues, and 91% say this is wreaking havoc on their business performance.
You can’t customize anything with corrupted or questionable data. So, do your best to find ways to clean up your data quickly and routinely. For example, you may need to invest in a more centralized data system, mainly if the personalization data you rely on is scattered across multiple locations. Having a repository of truthful data makes it easier to know if the information available is ready to use.
Another way to control your data is to automate as many data processes as possible. Reducing manual data manipulation decreases the possibility of human error. And you’ll feel more secure with all your personalization efforts if you can trust the reliability and health of your data.
Choose non-technical customization
It’s the digital age, but only some touchpoints need to be digital. Consumers react with delight and positivity when they receive personalization in decidedly non-technological ways. (Yes, you can use technology to keep track of everything. Just make it separate from the actual custom exchange.)
Consider writing handwritten thank-you notes to customers after they’ve called for support or emailed your team, for example. Or send an additional personalized gift to shoppers who make a specific number of purchases. These interactions are not technical, but they can differentiate your customer’s experience from your competitors’ experiences.
A groundbreaking Deloitte snapshot taken just before the pandemic showed that people were starving for connection. By including non-digital experiences in your personalization with customers, you are showing them that you see them as valuable human beings first. That’s convincing and attractive, which makes them more apt to return their loyalty to you.
Giving a personal touch to all consumer interactions takes a bit of time. However, it is worth your energy. You’ll have more robust connections between your brand and the buyer, helping you further outperform your competitors.
