Personalised content

Hey… you… yes you. We’ve been waiting for you. If you’ve watched the series “You”, you know Joe’s fascination with finding his one true love and goes as far as stalking them to find out everything about them. Much like Joe, businesses gather information and data on their customers to adjust their personalization efforts. However,  too personal, the customer feels creeped out but if too generalized, the customer feels one of many. Don’t be like Joe. We’re going to dive into the mistakes businesses make that give the customer the ick and how to avoid being called out for stalking.. just kidding but businesses need to be mindful of the information they store and what they do with it. Let’s dive into how businesses can be less like Joe and more like a friendly reminder.

If you’ve ever received a personalized gift for your birthday, you know that feeling.

It makes you feel special and seen, making you feel warm inside. 

Well, that’s what companies have been trying to do with their products and services making their customers feel heard along the buyer’s journey. 

When personalization is done right, customers engage with the business and show loyalty towards that brand. They’re happy to tell people about you over a cup of coffee or recommend using your products online. The dream outcome for a business. 

The problem is companies often still see customers as a demographic rather than a real person who has interests, beliefs, pain points, wishes, dreams. 

While understanding the demographics of a person like their age and location is beneficial for companies to target their desired audience, this gives a very surface level understanding of who their audience is. 

How can you personalize the content your audience receives if you don’t even know what they want? 

Automation has helped businesses speed up their processes and workflow but if there’s limited data or worse, wrong data about a segment of your audience, your audience will have no problem leaving a one star review. 

The last thing you want is your businesses reputation damaged because you didn’t do enough research into your customer. 

You need to know your audience like the back of your hand. 

Ever wondered what that looks like? 

Let’s dive into…..

Meet Daisy. 

Daisy is 27 years old, living in Barcelona, and is a digital marketing freelancer.

Daisy is a typical Apple customer who buys products online because of its quick delivery and discounted prices if she buys a bundle.

Daisy goes for a walk at one “o” clock every day to get some fresh air. 

Sitting in front of the computer for long periods of time hurts her eyes. 

She goes for these walks to feel re-inspired because her concentration levels normally fall in the afternoon. 

Daisy loves listening to Mel Robbin’s podcast to get her creative juices flowing again. 

Daisy puts her earbuds in, presses play but wait, there’s something wrong. 

Nothing is coming out of one of the earbuds. 

Daisy hates when this happens because she likes to block out the noise around her and focus on the podcast.

Frustrated about her earbuds not working, she quickly opens up her phone and types “apple store close to me”.

Daisy is a regular customer at apple who buys online but she doesn’t want to wait a few days to get her new earbuds. 

She notices there’s an apple store about ten minutes away from her. 

Daisy checks to make sure they do in-store pick up. 

The relief she feels when she sees they do.

She clicks into the apple website, logs in, and goes to her previous orders.

As she’s about to repurchase her last pair, Apple sends her a discounted code to thank her for being a loyal customer. 

Directly after purchasing, she receives a thank you email with her order number for pick-up. 

The earbuds are in the store so she grabs her jacket and takes off on the walk.

Arriving at the store, she heads inside to give her order number to the manager. 

After five minutes, Daisy gets her earphones and is excited that she can finally listen to Mel Robbin’s podcast on the way home. 

She’s super happy with her experience that she leaves a review on the Apple website, thanking them for their quick delivery and great customer service. 

Personalisation should be discreet and blend seamlessly into their buying journey. 

Daisy moved down the funnel quickly, from becoming aware of her problem, going directly to conversion because of previous positive experiences with Apple that addressed her needs and desires.

Messaging, targeting and timing matter.

Personalization isn’t a completely new concept. 

Remember that fancy hotel you went to for your anniversary, the hotel manager upgrading you to a suite with balloons and chocolate congratulating you. 

The restaurant singing “happy birthday” for your 50th birthday. 

Your local shop knowing your first AND last name, asking “how’s the family?”. 

The only difference is personalization upgraded to the digital world. 

Let’s take a look back at where it all began…

The year was 2011 and you just received an email that had YOUR name in the email. This email is personalized for YOU! 

In comparison to how everything is personalized now, this seems small but to have an email with your name was major. 

Amazon saw an opportunity and in 2012, they took the first step in personalizing product recommendations, creating a benchmark for other businesses. 

This algorithm had the ability to recommend products to the customer, based on what they were looking for.

Seeing the increase of engagement and the value personalisation had, businesses wanted to do the same for it’s customers. 

In 2018, personalization spread and websites were adapting to customers needs, ensuring the products were shown based on previous purchases. 

If you bought a train ticket to Barcelona, it’s no surprise tourist attractions or hotels in Barcelona would show up, preparing you for your trip. 

Understanding the customer’s journey and thinking “what does the customer need”, NOT “what should we show them”. You wouldn’t show an ad for a trip to Madrid after they’ve bought a train ticket to Barcelona. 

It’s 2024, where are we now?

We now live in the age of “hyper-personalization”, merging behavioural and real-time data to understand how a customer shops, how they browse and so forth to match products or services to their needs and interests.

But are customers happy about businesses collecting and analyzing data? 

A business that understands personalization understands the customer and gives them the experience of being seen and heard, which results in them becoming returning customers. 

Think of a business that gave you that experience. 

They understood EXACTLY what you needed at the right time and overall, it was a positive experience. 

Amazon excels in personalization because customers are happy to share their data in exchange for product recommendations that align with their interests and needs. 

There’s a reason why customers are influenced by influencers and content creators, we trust recommended products that come from real people. 

TikTok took this idea and added TikTok shop to the platform which saw an increase in sales and brand growth. We trust word of mouth and referrals. 

Businesses, be AWARE! 

Word-of-mouth is powerful so if a customer has a bad experience because of your personalisation strategy, be prepared to receive backlash. 

Other businesses that understand personalization are Netflix, sending out content recommendations based on what you watch, having you doom-watching (like doom-scrolling) episode after episode. 

Think of Spotify, especially at Christmas Time. The famous Spotify Wrapped is all over everyone’s stories, showing off what artist or album they listened to the most throughout the year.

Businesses that understand their target audience reap the rewards. 

Look, we’ve all been there. Sent the wrong message to a friend. Booked the wrong train. Took the wrong turn. 

Human error. 

But for businesses, it’s crucial to be careful with customers’ data and how you plan to use it. 

If you’re cutting corners on your personalization strategy to save time, expect errors that will cost you more than an unsubscribe. 

Let’s dive into the top three errors we see businesses make and how to avoid your business getting a bad reputation….

1. The Infamous Email Error

You have a large campaign where you need to send out emails to your target audience. 

Instead of manually entering everyone’s name, you enter an automation – hi <firstname>, we want to tell you..

But what happens if a person didn’t sign up with their first name?

That person receives the email the same way you sent it – hi <firstname>. 

Oops. 

Always make sure you have a fallback phrase that relates to the email content. 

This makes the customer feel involved and part of a bigger community.

Popular clothing brands will use a fallback phrase like fashionista, travel brands might use adventurer. 

This phrase is still personalized to the audience, avoiding the loss of a subscriber. 

2. When content hits too close to home…

Sending irrelevant content can put your customer off but sending too relevant content will trigger a bad response from your customers. 

Campaigns related to health, mortality, or family need to be carefully thought out, ensuring the correct data is up-to-date. 

If you don’t have the correct data to deliver to your target audience accurately, scrap personalized campaigns. 

You want to add value to your customers through your content, not confuse, upset or anger them. 

Giving the customer the option to opt-out of certain occasions such as mothers day and fathers day is a way to show your customers that you value them, creating a stronger relationship. 

3. Research Past and Present World Events 

Real world events like natural disasters, political issues or terrorist attacks are also something businesses need to be aware of. 

Automation allows a business to send out campaigns to a large amount of people in a short amount of time but be aware of the variables you enter. 

Like the email error, always make sure different variations of variables are tried and tested before sending out.  

An example would be adidas personalization error where they sent out a targeted message congratulating Boston Marathon Runners for surviving the marathon. 

Big mistake.

People on social media were quick to remind adidas about the real survivors of the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing. 

This stresses the importance of researching past and present events and to try out different wording with variables to make sure the campaign goes smoothly.

You can create temporary filters that target insensitive language related to a specific event before the campaign to ensure the correct wording is used. 

We can’t control natural disasters or other such events but we can control our wording so be mindful. 

We know the importance of personalization but getting it right seems to still be an issue for businesses. Using out-of-date data and miscommunication between teams leads to customers receiving the wrong messages. Every business needs a strong personalization marketing strategy so that the customers feel like the message was just for them. 

At GoViral, we ensure our client’s have an up-to-date CRM and a personalization strategy, turning their target audience into customers. If your personalization marketing strategy is causing more friction than sales, get in touch and GoViral can help create a seamless experience for your customers every step of the way. 

Contact GoViral Digital today to learn how our expertise in inbound marketing can develop an effective personalization strategy that speaks directly to your customers every step of the way!