Over recent years, there has been a lot of research about the value of a strong customer experience personalized messaging, and how consumers are willing to share their information in exchange for a more personalized brand interaction. However, new research suggests this may not be so accurate – at least in terms of people willing to give up their information for a better experience.
As an example, 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.
While these changes may be slight and based on one research study, it does point to a growing tendency for consumers to be more skeptical when it comes to sharing their personal information. Much of this may be in light of the heightened privacy environment and consumer concerns in just how their data is being used.
In recent research by Mautic and Ascend2, the importance of a personalized customer experience cannot be underestimated. Over two-thirds (67%) of enterprise marketers said that the primary objective of their personalization strategy was to provide a better customer experience. In addition, 41% of marketers said the primary objective was to increase conversion rates and 38% said it was to drive visitor engagement.
Some of the most critical challenges to achieving a successful data-driven personalization strategy included improving quality of the data used (46%), improving customer experience (46%) and increasing conversion rates (39%).
Types of Data Marketers are Using to Support Personalization Efforts
In order to personalize the customer experience, marketers need data in order to know their customers and prospects, which channels they prefer, what motivates them, what they are intending to purchase next and so on.
According to 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%.
Third Party and Purchase Intent Data
Data is key to truly knowing your consumer base. Porch Group Media offers a blend of data resources to fill in the gaps such as demographics, email, telephone, auto data, life event data, behavioral data and more.
Porch Group Media also offers Porch Group Media Signals, a purchase intent data product providing visibility into a consumer’s online search behavior and mobile location intelligence. For example, we provide insight into if a consumer visited a dealer lot within the past 24-48 hours or if the person’s online browsing behavior including auto repair or dealers near me. Based on this type of insight in conjunction with other types of fist party and demographical insights, truly customized offers can be triggered.
In the following example, imagine if the purchase journey looked something like this and the types of personalized messaging that could be offered along the way.
When Brands Do (and Don’t) Deliver Personalized Experiences
- 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience (Temkin Group)
- 73% of buyers point to customer experience as an important factor in purchasing decisions (Temkin Group)
- 65% of buyers find a positive experience with a brand to be more influential than great advertising (Temkin Group)
- According to RedPoint, the percent of customers who get frustrated when a brand:
- Sends me an offer for something I just bought (34%)
- Sends me offers that aren’t relevant to me (33%)
- Does not recognize me as an existing customer (31%)
Budget for Data-Personalization
To achieve these goals, brands are willing to invest more in data-driven strategies. The vast majority of enterprise marketing professionals are increasing their time, resources and expenses against these efforts. Nearly one-third (31%) are reporting that their total budget will increase significantly.
Data-driven personalization allows brands to focus on their customer’s needs and intent. Not all customers have the same goals and needs, which can be challenging for marketers broadcasting the same message. Instead, data-driven personalization identifies customer needs and provides highly personalized solutions for them.
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