Personalisation key to building relationships

Joe Bloggs doesn’t exist. We’re all individuals and we like being treated as such – like when we go to our local cafe where the barista remembers our name and knows how we take our coffee.

Personalised marketing aims to take this experience online.

Why personalise? Well, because…

Information is fired at us from every direction, most of it irrelevant. Personalisation allows you to say the right thing and show that you really do get your audience.

HubSpot¹ studied 3,000 call-to-actions from their database and found those that were tailored to the user had a 42% higher view-to-submission rate than generic ones. What you say dictates what happens next.

According to Bain & Co², increasing retention rates by 5% can lift profits by 25% to 95% and according to Econsultancy’s research³, personalised post-purchase programmes topped the list of factors driving repeat custom. What’s more, longtime customers can become brand ambassadors.

Most superficial personalisation lacks thought – a first name in an email just isn’t enough. In a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit⁴, 63% of consumers claim to be indifferent to it. 33% of them actually mark it as one of their main annoyances. You also risk losing those that don’t fit a certain demographic.

But you don’t want to be inconsiderate either: someone fresh out of a relationship may not want dating apps popping up straightaway. Being too intrusive can alienate some.

The key to finding the balance is analysing and segmenting a wealth of data, looking at everything from their demographic to browsing habits.

How can you make it work on social media?

Finesse your strategy by understanding your audience's behaviour on social media. This might mean that you approach each platform with a different strategy.

Narrow down who sees what. Facebook lets target specific audiences with your updates so that you can show different creative to various social groups or speak to international customers in their language. The same message will probably not work for a really wide audience.

Pretty much all social platforms let you target audience through paid ads. Experiment and tailor your content to appeal to your audience’s psychographics.

So they’ve been to your website, but didn’t convert. Pick your platform and retarget your website visitors on social media - give those potential customers a reason to come back. You’d be surprised at how effective this can be.

When does your customer shop? When do they read the news? Not only does the message have to go to the right person, it needs to be sent at the right time, too – regardless of where they are.

Photo by Mydhili Bayyapunedi.