Consumers Expect Personalized Experiences: Is Your Brand Delivering?

Personalization has completely changed marketing strategies and today’s consumers are increasingly looking for personalized experiences in many of their brand interactions.

Delivering the types of personalized experiences consumers crave requires a fine balance of using both data and technology to understand consumers and communicate with messaging they are most apt to respond to.

However, not using personalization strategies effectively can leave your brand falling short of showing customers you care, or on the other side, coming off as a “creepy marketer” by knowing too much.

So, what types of personalization are consumers looking for, and how effective are personalization techniques?

The Power of Personalization

You may have seen the statistics, but the power of personalization never fails to impress.  Check out this array of statistics from various research studies across the web:

• 71% of consumers feel frustrated when a shopping experience is impersonal. – Segment
• 70% of millennials are frustrated with brands sending irrelevant emails. – SmarterHQ
• 74% of customers feel frustrated when website content is not personalized. – Instapage
• 47% of consumers check Amazon if the brand they’re shopping with doesn’t provide product suggestions that are relevant. – SmarterHQ
• 36% of consumers say retailers need to do more to offer personalized experiences. – Retail TouchPoints
• 91% of consumers say they are more likely to shop with brands that provide offers and recommendations that are relevant to them. – Accenture
• 80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase from a brand that provides personalized experiences. – Epsilon
• 90% of U.S. consumers find marketing personalization very or somewhat appealing. – Statista
• 72% of consumers say they only engage with personalized messaging. – SmarterHQ
• 80% of frequent shoppers only shop with brands that personalize the experience. – SmarterHQ
• 56% of online shoppers are more likely to return to a website that recommends products. – Invesp
• 63% of consumers will stop buying from brands that use poor personalization tactics. – Smart Insights
• 66% of consumers say encountering content that isn’t personalized would stop them from making a purchase. – CMO by Adobe
• 42% of consumers are annoyed when content isn’t personalized. – CMO by Adobe
• More than 50% of consumers are willing to share information on products they like in order to get personalized discounts. – Retail TouchPoints
• 83% of consumers are willing to share their data to create a more a personalized experience. – Accenture

In recent research from Innovid, 40% of consumers have made a purchase in 2020 as a direct result of a personalized ad. Respondents said they were more likely to click on a number of ad types if they were personalized:

• 41% are more likely to click on personalized ads for events that interest them
• 38% will click o personalized ads for products they’ve shown interest in
• 34% will click on ads for new products or services they may like

Additionally, 32% of consumers like personalized ads, but 3 in 10 like brands more when they personalize ads. A further 43% of respondents agree that it’s important that ads are personalized.

Consumers also appreciate context in their personalized ads. Approximately 4 in 10 (39%) like ads that speak to the context of the moment such as the website they’re on.

A further 3 in 10 (31%) appreciate ads that use their demographics for personalization and 29% want to see behavioral ads that understand their online activity and preferences.

Consumers are most receptive to personalized ads in retail.

Channels consumers prefer to see personalization in include:

• 18% – Social ads
• 17% – Video
• 17% – TV
• 13% – Banner ads

When it comes to sharing personal information, 23% of consumers stated they are more willing to share their information with brands than they were 1-2 years ago. In fact, consumers are most willing to share their personal information to receive ads that are more relevant based on:

What can brands do to make consumers feel more comfortable sharing their data? 35% of consumers stated they would like to dictate data collection preferences and 12% want brands to share their official data collection policy.

In a recent survey by the Advertising Research Foundation, 93% of respondents said they would be willing to share their gender with a website, but that dropped to 90% if it meant the data was used to create a personalized experience.

Approximately 91% said they would share their race or ethnicity, but that dropped to 86% for a personalized experience.

Types of Data Marketers are Using to Support Personalization Efforts

In research by Ascend, over half (55%) of marketing influencers say that website activity is the most important type of marketing data utilized for personalization efforts.

Transaction activity is also at the top of the list of important types of data to 47% of those marketers surveyed.

In another recent study by Monetate conducted across the retail, travel and hospitality, and insurance industries, the types of data used by marketers for their personalization strategies were similar, with digital sources being the top formats used to support personalization efforts.

All three industries surveyed report similar usage of email activity and website behavioral data. Purchase history was also very important, with retailers leading at 94%.