Creating a personal experience can be the difference between attracting a visitor and attracting a customer. Modern customers want personalization, with recommendations created just for them based on previous purchase history. For instance, an IT Director doesn’t want marketing messages about financial tips for their company when they are really interested in IT security and the latest IT trends. But how does personalization impact the customer experience? Let’s take a look.
Personalization and the Customer Experience
Personalization is the process of tailoring marketing messages, strategies, and experiences to individual customers or segments of customers based on their specific characteristics, preferences, behaviors, and needs. On the other hand, the customer experience refers to the customer’s interaction with a brand at each touch point. So, what is a personalized customer experience? Ultimately, it’s the process of interacting with customers on a more personal level based on what you know about them. Any business can accomplish personalization using their own data. For instance, if you know your customer recently viewed a product page, you can send them an email reminding them to come back to your website and finalize their purchase.
A more personalized customer experience has been proven to increase conversion rates and boost brand loyalty, so it’s no surprise that it can impact every aspect of your business and its success.
The customer experience relies on the ability to effectively communicate with customers throughout the buyer’s journey. Finding ways to make their experiences more personalized based on what you know about them can help regular customers become loyal customers. Here are just a few ways personalization in the customer experience can help you grow your business.
Personalizing communications and the shopping experience can greatly improve the customer experience. For instance, companies may create their own virtual worlds with AR and VR to transform the way we shop. If you’ve ever been on a website and had the option to connect your smartphone to see a product in real time, you’ve already experienced this. For instance, companies that sell glasses allow you to connect your mobile device to show a filter of glasses over your face so you can try them on before you buy.
This level of personalization takes the product out of the screen and places it in your home to help customers visualize how it’s used, which can improve the decision-making process and reduce the time it takes for website visitors to become paying customers.
How to Personalize the Customer Experience
The customer experience exists whether you realize it or not. Your business communicates with customers throughout their buying journey. For instance, the customer has an experience with your brand when they see your ads and promotional materials. Then they have another experience with your business when they land on your website, purchase your products, and hear from your business after purchasing your products or services.
Each of these touch points gives you an opportunity to communicate the benefit and value of your brand, but you need technology to do it. Here are a few ways to personalize the customer experience:
Customer Segmentation
Customer segmentation is the process of categorizing customers into various groups – or segments – based on common traits or characteristics. How you segment your target audience will primarily depend on the audience itself and your business.
For instance, if you’re an IT Company, you can segment customers based on the type of services you have. Meanwhile, if you sell customer relationship management software, you might segment customers based on their industries.
A few basic segmentation techniques include categorizing customers based on the following:
- Demographics
- Geographic location
- Purchasing behavior
- Stage of the customer journey
Personalize Omnichannel Experiences
Omnichannel refers to the various touch points customers have with your business, including online and offline. Customers use multiple channels to interact with your business.
Personalizing the omnichannel experience requires you to use digital and non-digital methods for communicating with customers and can impact how your customers’ shop. It starts with the integration of customer data from different sources, such as CRM systems, marketing automation platforms, and sales databases. This data consolidation provides a holistic view of the customer, including their interactions, preferences, purchase history, and needs.
So how can you always deliver a personalized customer experience? It requires organization behind the scenes. For instance, a customer might research a product online, initiate contact through a live chat, receive follow-up emails, and ultimately make a purchase via a sales representative. Omnichannel ensures that your company’s messaging and branding remain consistent across various touchpoints. This consistency helps reinforce the company’s value proposition, build trust, and maintain a unified brand image.
Automating the Experience
Automating every part of the customer experience possible can streamline a customer’s journey. Customers want the best service, and they want it fast. You can improve the pre- and post-purchase experience by providing them with easy access to customer service by adding a chat function to your website and using chatbots alongside live customer service agents. Remember, there are some things a chatbot can’t do, so you’ll need to give them the option to talk to a live agent.
Let Customers Choose
Letting customers decide the type and level of personalization they want ensures you’re meeting their needs and expectations. Letting customers choose how they interact with your brand can help you create a better overall experience.
Send Personalized Communications
If you’re like most businesses, you invest in email or SMS marketing that allows you to send marketing messages directly to consumers. Personalized emails and texts perform better with higher open and click-through rates.
After segmenting your email list, you can create automated emails and texts that send based on customer behavior. For instance, if a customer adds an item to their cart but doesn’t check out, you can send them a reminder a few days later. You can also look at previous purchase history and send them emails with product recommendations.
Developing a Personalized Customer Experience
A personalized customer experience can transform your marketing and sales processes. However, you can’t personalize customer touch points without the right technology. Invest in the right marketing and business tools that enable personalization, segmentation, and automation.
Author Biography
Ashley Nielsen earned a B.S. degree in Business Administration Marketing at Point Loma Nazarene University. She is a freelance writer who loves to share knowledge about general business, marketing, lifestyle, wellness, and financial tips. During her free time, she enjoys being outside, staying active, reading a book, or diving deep into her favorite music.
