Personalized marketing can be defined as a form of marketing that is tailored to the specific needs, wants, and preferences of an individual consumer. It is also sometimes referred to as one-to-one marketing or customized marketing.
Personalized marketing is not a new concept, but it has become more important in recent years due to the rise of digital channels and the explosion of data.
With more ways to reach consumers and more data available on them than ever before, marketers have the opportunity to create highly customized and targeted messages that are much more likely to resonate with each individual.
Here is everything you need to know about personalized marketing, including how to do it and why it’s so effective.
What is Personalized Marketing?
As we mentioned before, personalized marketing is a form of marketing that is tailored to the specific needs, wants, and preferences of an individual consumer. It takes into account who the customer is, what they’re interested in, and what they’ve bought from you in the past in order to create a unique and customized experience for them.
Personalized marketing can be used at various touchpoints throughout the customer journey, from initial awareness all the way through to purchase and beyond. And, it can be delivered through a variety of channels, both online and offline.
Most importantly, personalized marketing is not a one-time campaign or isolated initiative. In order to be truly effective, it needs to be woven into the fabric of your marketing strategy and used consistently across all channels and touchpoints.
Benefits of personalized marketing
There are many benefits of personalized marketing, both for businesses and for consumers. Some of the key benefits of personalized marketing include the following.
Increased engagement
Personalized messages are more likely to capture attention and engage customers than generic messages. When customers feel like a business is speaking directly to them, they are more likely to pay attention and respond.
This is important not only for initial engagement but also for ongoing engagement and retention. Customers who feel like they are valued and understood by a business are more likely to stick around for the long term.
Improved conversions
Personalization can also lead to improved conversions, both in terms of online sales and offline sales. In fact, 70% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase from a website that offers personalized recommendations.
That is because personalized messages are more relevant and therefore more likely to result in a sale. If you can show customers that you understand their needs and offer products or services that are tailored to them, they are much more likely to buy from you.
Higher customer lifetime value
Personalized marketing can also lead to higher customer lifetime value. Customers who have a positive experience with personalized marketing are more likely to continue doing business with a company, resulting in increased sales and revenue over time.
In addition, they are also more likely to recommend a company to friends and family, which can lead to even more sales and revenue.
Improved ROI
Because personalized marketing leads to increased engagement, conversions, and customer lifetime value, it also tends to have a higher ROI than other marketing strategies. In fact, personalized emails deliver 6x higher transaction rates.
ROI is important for any business, but it is especially important for small businesses that have limited marketing budgets.
How to do Personalized Marketing
Start by defining your goals. Before you start personalizing your marketing, it is important to take a step back and define your goals. What do you want to achieve with personalized marketing? Are you looking to increase online sales? Drive more foot traffic to your brick-and-mortar store? Improve customer loyalty and retention?
Once you have a clear understanding of your goals, you can start creating a personalized marketing strategy that will help you achieve them.
The next step is to collect data on your customers. In order to deliver truly personalized messages, you need to have data on your customers. That data can come from a variety of sources, both online and offline.
Some of the data you may want to collect includes the following.
- Online behaviour: What do customers do when they visit your website? What pages do they look at? What products do they add to their cart?
- Engagement with previous marketing campaigns: Did customers open your last email campaign? What did they click on? How many times have they visited your website in the past month?
- Purchase history: What products have customers purchased in the past? When was their last purchase? How much do they typically spend per transaction?
- Customer service interactions: Have customers contacted customer service in the past? If so, what were their issues and how were they resolved?
This is just a small sample of the data you may want to collect. The specific data you collect will depend on your goals and your customers.
Once you have collected that data, you need to start segmenting your customers. Segmentation is a key part of personalized marketing. It allows you to group together customers with similar characteristics so you can deliver more targeted messages.
There are a number of different ways you can segment your customers.
- Location: Are your customers located in the same city, state, or country? Or are they spread out all over the world?
- Age: What is the average age of your customer base?
- Gender: What is the gender split of your customer base?
- Income: What is the average income of your customers?
- Interests: What are your customers’ interests and hobbies?
Once you have segmented your customers, you can start creating personalized marketing messages. That could mean creating different versions of your website for different customer segments or sending out targeted email campaigns.
For example, if your business is located in Sydney, you may want to create a version of your website for customers in Sydney that includes information on local events and attractions.
Or, if you sell women’s clothing, you may want to send out an email campaign with personalized recommendations based on previous purchases. In the first case, professional SEO in Sydney can help you target local customers.
You may also want to consider using retargeting ads. Retargeting ads are a type of advertising that allows you to show ads to people who have already visited your website. This is a great way to deliver highly personalized messages because you already know what products or services they are interested in.
Best practices for personalized marketing
Now that you know what personalized marketing is and how to get started, let’s take a look at some best practices for doing it effectively.
Use data wisely
One of the keys to effective personalized marketing is using data wisely. You need to gather the right data and use it to create targeted messages that will resonate with your customers.
However, it’s also important to respect your customers’ privacy and only collect the data that you absolutely need. Be sure to follow all relevant laws and regulations when it comes to data collection and use.
Respect customer privacy
As we mentioned above, it’s important to respect your customers’ privacy when you’re collecting data for personalized marketing. Be sure to only collect the data that you need and always give customers the option to opt out of data collection.
Keep it relevant
When you’re creating personalized messages, it’s important to make sure that they are relevant to your customers. Don’t try to force a message that doesn’t make sense – it will only serve to annoy your customers and damage your relationship with them.
Conclusion
Personalized marketing is a powerful tool that can help businesses improve their relationships with customers and boost their bottom line. By following the tips above, you can get started with personalized marketing and see some great results for your business.
