Personalising The Customer Journey Can Be Highly Effective

As well as referring to individually supplying or labelling products, like these excellent examples here, personalisation can also mean the use of data to specifically target campaigns. It is practiced in one to one marketing and is implemented by segmenting and mining consumer data and using that information to generate better responses. It enables firms to create advertising and promotions that should better engage their audience and can either be done using company owned data, or as part of a promotion with a third party.

For example, Tesco has long been an advocate of personalised campaigns, focussing their ‘Clubcard’ scheme to encourage purchase of new or related items to those already bought; they also elect to include money-off or added-value promotions for items you have purchased previously, in order to help guarantee repeat purchase. Potentially a slightly creepy insight, none-the-less, this mining of their own data has over time increased loyalty and sales; it is also arguably liked by their customers because they feel valued and rewarded. A fine line however…

Facebook has recently had problems with its targeting….

Despite setting profiles to private, Facebook still captures and to an extent shares private data with its advertisers; many are arguing this is a breach of privacy, given that advertisers can still access their profile and target their campaigns according to your information and activity. Although personal adverts can be a good thing for the viewer and the advertiser, the fact that fully private profiles can still be viewed by advertisers is being seen as a step too far.

This form of targeting has been able to develop because of interactive platforms like Facebook; it’s never been easier for businesses to track a consumer’s tastes, preferences and lifestyle characteristics so that they know how to better appeal to them. Companies can either use digital tracking software, database marketing techniques or website cookies to gather the information; it is worth noting that to an extent, the effectiveness of Cookies has been reduced since a change in the law last year (link).

Looking to other examples:

Topshop.com visitors are shown a ‘why not try’ section when looking at an item; it offers consumers additional products that they think they’ll like based on what they are already viewing. As you can see from the following print screen, after selecting the grey Coke t-shirt, similar items have appeared to the right. This in essence is making the shopping experience easier and more profitable, grabbing the user’s attention by showing other items that they may be interested in. It can encourage multiple purchases and the system also saves previously viewed products which can potentially save the user time, if they are returning. 

Amazon uses a different approach; if the user has viewed a product on the site, the product is remembered. When the user navigates away from the page the previously viewed item comes up in a banner along the side showing discounts; this is targeting the user from what they have previously looked at and tempting them with money off the product. Instead of it being integrated into the shopping experience it acts as a straight forward advert.

This is supported by their email campaigns which automates sales emails based on previously viewed and purchased items; a great way of encouraging purchase, sometimes the regularity / accuracy of these emails can seem rather creepy!

So is it successful?

As Econsultancy’s research shows, 74% of marketers know that personalisation increases customer engagement. 60% of customers online prefer it if an online store remembers their contact details and purchase information. 

“Tailored content that matches consumer browsing behaviour provides a more personalised and engaging brand experience. Our own research shows that those who engage with dynamic interactive display ads return to a site and convert to a sale 44 per cent faster than those who click through. By using personalisation and dynamic ads to influence consumer browsing behaviour, brands are more likely to lead browsers to a purchase. Static ads no longer cut it; with so much content on the web, it takes a unique experience of the product or even a timely offer to make a brand stand out.” Rakhee Jogia, director of client services, Rakuten MediaForge UK.

These figures show that personalisation is certainly developing and increasing amongst brands as they see how important it is. E-commerce sites are creating a tailor made experience for every user making life easier for consumers and engaging them.