- 8 min. read
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Macy StormSenior Content Creator
- Macy is a marketing writer with over five years of experience creating content for dozens of industries including food and beverage, home services, and education. She also specializes in creating SEO and PPC content. Her work has been featured by Search Engine Journal, HubSpot, Entrepreneur, Clutch, and more. In her free time, Macy enjoys trying new crafts and reading comic books.
Did you know that 77% of people choose, recommend, and pay more for brands that provide personalized experiences? When people interact with your business, they want a customized experience, tailored to their needs. But how can you personalize your marketing plan to pack the greatest punch? In this post, we’ll explore how you can use data to personalize your marketing and improve customer experience and engagement.
What is personalized marketing?
Personalized marketing leverages demographic and behavioral data to provide individualized messages and product offerings. Each member of your audience has different wants and needs — and personalized marketing allows you to create unique experiences for each customer.
Have you ever bought something online and received an email a few days later with suggested similar products you might like? If so, you’ve experience personalized marketing. This is just one of the many ways to personalize a customer’s experience.
How do companies use personalized marketing today?
Despite its importance, many companies struggle to implement personalized marketing plans.
In fact, only 5% of firms think they do personalization extensively. And less than 10% of retailers think they are highly effective at using personalization. Email marketing is one of the best methods for creating personalized campaigns that drive results.
However, 70% of brands fail to use personalized emails despite the fact that they generate six times higher transaction rates. Since many companies fail to personalize their marketing, you have an incredible opportunity to stand out and reach more customers by personalizing your strategy.
Why is personalized marketing important?
Personalized marketing offers a number of benefits for your business:
1. Improves customer experience
Have you ever received an email or marketing content promoting products you have no interest in buying? You probably deleted the message or unsubscribed. If so, you’re part of the 74% of customers who are frustrated when they receive marketing content that is irrelevant to their interests.
If you want people to buy, you need to tailor your marketing messages to their needs and interests. An estimated 79% of consumers take advantage of brand promotions only if they are tailored to previous interactions with the brand. When you go the extra mile and personalize your marketing, you will improve customers’ experience with your company and encourage them to buy. It’s a win-win situation.
2. Increases conversions
Speaking of encouraging purchases, personalized marketing boosts your conversion rates. Not convinced? Take a look at these stats:
- 15% of businesses increase revenue by matching customer behavior to products
- 77% of people choose, recommend, or pay more for brands that provide a personalized experience
- 78% of U.S. Internet users said personalized marketing content increases purchase intent
The proof is in the pudding — or in this case, the proof is in the personalization. Tailoring your communication and products to customers’ needs and interests boosts sales and ultimately revenue for your business.
3. Boosts positive perception of your business
Personalized marketing makes customers feel valued, and it influences their opinion of your brand. Statistics show just how much personalized marketing influences perception of your business.
- 63% of consumers think more positively about a brand that gives them content that is valuable, interesting, or relevant to them.
- 87% said personally relevant content positively influences how they feel about a brand
- Individual customers are 40% more willing to buy from suppliers who tailored content to their specific needs
Personalized marketing is a great way to let customers know you care, and you’re willing to go the extra mile to meet their needs.
What happens without personalized marketing?
Companies that don’t use personalized marketing experience consequences that negatively impact their campaigns.
- Loss of interest– 29% of people are less likely to purchase from companies that send generic mass production emails
- Unsubscribing– 54% of people unsubscribe if email campaigns aren’t personalized
- Annoyance– 63% of people are annoyed by old-fashioned generic email strategies
- Deleting emails– 68% of people automatically delete emails with irrelevant marketing content
Lack of personalization leaves lasting impacts. Without personalized marketing, you risk losing subscribers, losing conversions, and annoying your audience.
Using data for personalized marketing
Okay, you get it — personalization is important. But how can you collect data to personalize your marketing?
- 54% target customers based on pages views
- 56% target customers based on demographics
- 60% target customers based on location
For example, if someone views a page on your ecommerce site, you can deduce that they are interested in that particular product or service. Using this information, you can follow up with personalized emails that contain more information about that particular product. If collecting and interpreting data seems like a challenge, don’t worry.
Your audience is actually willing to share data in exchange for a better experience. In fact, 58% of people are comfortable sharing their shopping interests and behaviors for a more personalized experience. Tools like Google Analytics allow you to leverage demographic and behavioral data to create personalized marketing campaigns that resonate with customers.
Examples of successful personalized marketing
Though many companies struggle to use personalized marketing, a number of brands have successfully implemented personalized campaigns.
- 7% of Coca-Cola’s young adult consumption came from their “Share a Coke” campaign
- 35% of Amazon’s sales are directly related to personalized product suggestions based on previous buying behavior
- 50% of Spartan Race’s website traffic comes from targeted emails that are personalized based on location
- 75% of Netflix viewer activity is driven by their recommendation algorithm
Each of these companies found creative ways to use personalized marketing and tailor campaigns to individual customers. Coca-Cola and Spartan Race used demographic information to personalize their marketing campaigns, while Amazon and Netflix personalize their campaigns based on behavior. If you need inspiration, feel free to click the links above to learn more about how these companies improved conversions by using data to personalize their marketing.
5 tips for personalizing your marketing
Want to get started with personalized marketing?
Check out these tips!
1. Create real-time interaction
Retailers who use real-time personalization increase ROI 6X. Real-time personalization allows you to automatically deliver tailored content to visitors. As an example, you could send your audience content based on their location.
If they are located in a certain city, you can send them information about sales or company events you’re hosting near them.
2. Create personalized CTAs
Personalized CTAs have a huge impact on your audience. They have a 42% higher view-to-submission rate than generic CTAs that apply to all users. This is another instance where you could use your audience’s location.
You could use a CTA like “Shop now from your [Location] store!” or “Check out these deals in [Location]!”
3. Personalize home page promotions
Personalizing your home page promotions can have a big impact on your conversion rates. In fact, personalized home page promotions influenced 85% of people to buy.
You can use a person’s location, interests, and past behavior to personalize your home page to their needs.
Need some inspo? Check out these website personalization examples!
With programs like MarketingCloudFX, it’s easy to personalize site content.
You can create custom pages that allow you to tailor your site to each visitor.
4. Personalize shopping cart recommendations
Adding personalized shopping cart recommendations is a great way to encourage purchases. When people are already purchasing products from your business, it’s an opportunity to add to the cart. A whopping 92% of people say shopping cart recommendations entice them to purchase.
If you bought a t-shirt from a clothing retailer, they may recommend other shirts that are the same style. In some cases, some retailers offer suggestions for pants, shoes, and accessories to create an outfit. It’s a great way to encourage people to add more to their shopping carts.
5. Personalize email subject lines
Emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened by consumers. Personalizing email subject lines is a simple way to encourage subscribers to open your emails and learn more about your products. For example, you can add a subscriber’s first name to the subject line and tailor the content to a product they are most likely interested in purchasing.
Start using personalized marketing today
Personalized marketing is a powerful strategy for improving customer experience and driving conversions for your business.
Do you use personalized marketing? Let us know in the comments what personalization strategies you use. We’d love to hear your suggestions!
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Macy is a marketing writer with over five years of experience creating content for dozens of industries including food and beverage, home services, and education. She also specializes in creating SEO and PPC content. Her work has been featured by Search Engine Journal, HubSpot, Entrepreneur, Clutch, and more. In her free time, Macy enjoys trying new crafts and reading comic books.
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Plan Your Marketing BudgetTable of Contents
- What is Personalized Marketing?
- How Do Companies Use Personalized Marketing Today?
- Why is Personalized Marketing Important?
- What Happens Without Personalized Marketing?
- Using Data for Personalized Marketing
- Examples of Successful Personalized Marketing
- 5 Tips for Personalizing Your Marketing
- Start Using Personalized Marketing Today
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