Brands are facing the increasing need to ensure that each piece of content is targeted, relevant and meaningful to each unique visitor. In fact, an Infosys survey showed that 74 percent of customers become frustrated when a website doesn't personalize its content.
For many, this is an uphill journey. What does it mean for content to truly be personalized, and how can brands know they're approaching personalization the best way? With the right mindset, strategies, and execution, brands can make incredible strides in establishing their value and building trust, credibility and engagement.
Right person, right time, right context
Accenture research shows that 75 percent of surveyed consumers would be more likely to buy from a retailer if it recognized them by name, knew their purchase history, and/or provided relevant purchase recommendations.
Brands can use customer data and profile information to deliver personalized content to the right person, at the right time, in the right context. To accomplish this, it's important to leverage diverse and comprehensive sets of information, including audience demographics and behaviors, locations and devices. A modern CMS like Brightspot can capture and consolidate this data, allowing you to segment various audiences and deliver real-time, alternate versions of your content to each user through the most appropriate channels. The more you know about your ideal audience and their browsing and data consumption habits, the better equipped you are to execute this expert content delivery.
Take, for example, a brand that has examined its customer behavior data to discover that one of its audience segments watches videos on their smartphones before bed. With this knowledge, the brand can hone its content delivery plan for this segment based on type of content (video), browsing device (mobile) and time of day (evening). By falling in line with the audience's preferences, the brand skyrockets its chances of being seen, thus building loyalty and inspiring action.
The ubiquity and challenges of personalization
Evidence from various industries and business models shows that personalization is relevant—even critical—to staying competitive. We see it every day in the business-to-consumer and business-to-business sectors.
Brands such as Amazon, Netflix and Pandora are pioneers of the booming “related content" suggestion tool, which tracks buying behavior and browsing history to offer suggestions for other items consumers might wish to buy. Social media and news platforms such as Facebook and CNN use cookies to track browsing history, allowing them to deliver more relevant content to their interests. More visits from the consumer means more data is aggregated, which translates to more personalized content.
While it's clearly a strong strategy, Experian research shows that 94 percent of brands are encountering challenges with perfecting personalization. According to the research:
- 40 percent aren't gaining insights quickly enough
- 39 percent believe they don't have enough data
- 38 percent reported working with inaccurate data
Fortunately, there are tools like Brightspot that can help brands collect and decipher this critical data in real time, offering strategic insights into how to pack the most punch.