Personalization – you’re doing it wrong.
There are only a handful of trends or innovations in the world of loyalty marketing that can cause as much global stir as personalization does. And even though most companies have a pretty common understanding of what it is – an act of tailoring an experience or communication to your clients’ needs and preferences, that is – many of them still have troubles with implementing it correctly. The big question is: why?
Presumably, the biggest reason for that is – personalization is hard; especially, when you have thousands of clients in your database. For real, how are you supposed to address each and every one of them while also paying attention to what they buy, watch, read (or whom they follow on Instagram)? Exactly.
And so, hundreds of companies decide to lower the bar and opt for sending their clients “personalized” messages, which usually include a Hi-[name]-type greeting, and some bits of information regarding their activity (“Is it summer already? You’ve bought 10 bottles of anti-sweat lotion this month!”) – the rest remains the same for all.
But is that personalization, really? To say it’s selective would be an overstatement. Anyone can notice that those are but cosmetics changes made to help create an impression that a given message is personalized. Some people fall for that, sure, but most clients – the ones that have seen hundreds of newsletters and special-offer signs in their lives – can tell it’s not real personalization (and so would you if you were in their shoes). That’s because the e-mails and notifications they receive don’t correspond with their needs and personal interests.
Does that mean that personalization, as it is discussed and promoted by today’s marketers, is impossible to pull off? Nothing could be further from the truth. Think about it – do you actually believe that, with all the technology available to us, we cannot provide each customer with content they can relate to?
We can, but it requires the right IT tools and… data. This is where modern loyalty management platforms enter the conversation.
How well do you know your customers?
Let’s start with the obvious – if you have a loyalty program, you are sitting on a gold mine right now. Why? Because you’re literally drowning in data concerning your customers. Not only can it tell you what, when, and how they usually buy, but it can also reveal what their hobbies, passions, interests, needs, and preferences are; how they perceive the world around them.
Of course, with the amount of data we’re dealing with here, it is impossible for a human mind to process all of that information and produce findings that could help you improve your communication with your customers. For that, you must use an artificial one.
In other words, what you need in this scenario is a modern AI-powered loyalty management system that can analyze insane amounts of customer data, identifying trends, interests, needs, and dreams within your clients’ shopping and loyalty program behavior in the process. Not only will a loyalty marketing platform (like the one that Comarch provides, for example) allow you to learn what your customers’ preferences are, but it will also help you craft the right message and send it over the right communication channel at the right time and place.
How? Well, have you heard about customer segmentation? If you have, then you must know that AI-driven loyalty marketing platforms are now being designed to help you divide clients from your database into groups based not only on demographics but also on their hobbies and preferences. What it means is that the system can suggest creating specific messages for dedicated groups of individuals who feel the same way about particular products and how they want to be approached by a given brand. Because of its power, the system can identify thousands of such customer groups (or clusters, as we tend to call them) and help you automate your communication processes to make sure no client is left unsatisfied. Now, that’s an innovation.
The important thing is that with AI, you can stop trying to create meaningful content and actually start creating it. Establishing strong customer relationships no longer feels like a job based on a gut feeling. Instead, you know exactly what you’re supposed to do – be genuine.