CMO Council recently reported, 54% of all consumers in the United States and Canada would consider ending their loyalty relationships if the company does not pamper them with tailor-made, relevant content and offers.
Providing personalized and customized service has always been a time-tested way to retain customers. Mom and pop stores did it successfully in their heyday, and big retailers are now slowly but surely realizing the wisdom of such an approach. With big data bringing all possible information to the marketer’s fingertips, it becomes possible for marketers also to embrace personalization and customization and take it to the next level to create customers for life.
Marketers can, for example, customize and personalize marketing efforts by targeting prospects with unique web content suited to their preference, or by positioning the product based on the prospect’s perceived likes and preferences. The marketer may, for instance, position a product on the benefits it provides to a customer known to seek value in their purchases. The same marketer may position the same product on aspects such as free shipping, a lifetime guarantee, easy returns and other frills to a prospect who primarily seeks a good experience over other considerations. For a customer obsessed with price, the marketer may reach out with pertinent sale information or “value for money” the product offers.
According to a recent Infosys survey, 78 percent of consumers are more likely to purchase from a retailer again if that retailer provided them with offers targeted to their interests, wants, or needs.
Personalizing the engagement with a prospective customer can also require analytics much deeper and complex than an understanding of the buyer’s behavioral traits and demographic characteristics. In many cases, marketers may have to guide the prospect [and later, customer] through their journey with the brand, to help them better understand the benefits of the products or services they are interested in and even the company itself to build a relationship.
The core of a personalized or customized approach is taking a customer-centric attitude, which means finding out on a proactive basis what the customer wants or needs at each of the different stages of the marketing lifecycle, and positioning products or services on such lines.
Click here to learn more about customer lifecycle marketing and how you can begin creating customers for life.
