What is personalized marketing and why use it?

Are you surprised when you get an e-mail addressed to you specifically? Such practice is not uncommon anymore today. Our inboxes are full of personalized messages and research has shown that using a personal name in the title of the e-mail increases opening the e-mail by 20% . Why? The main culprit is personalized marketing and its growing power.

Although there are a lot of definitions and explanations, simply put – personalized marketing is a strategy that organizations use to adjust offers, messages and products to suit individuals, i.e., potential buyers through analysis of collected data and digital technologies. That process consists of studying individual characteristics, demographic features, interests, habits, and users’ behavior.

There is various data that support personalized marketing. Even 80% of users state that they will more likely buy something if a brand provides personalized service. Also, half of the marketing people state that personalization is their highest priority. It’s a fact that it creates satisfied buyers and by doing so, higher earnings and ROI.

There are different methods that personalized marketing is based on. Firstly, it is important to determine who your users are. Simply knowing that your audience is based on people that show interest in travel and are between 25 and 45 years of age is just not enough anymore. Assessing how a user will behave and react to a certain offer or a product is the key to success. That means that it’s important to collect, store and analyze data.

The most common way that organizations do it is through a good CRM, i.e., customer relationship management (managing client relationships). Website visits, live chat, social media, mail, and other channels are analyzed through the CRM system to create the best visitor database.

Dynamic adverts are another crucial method. Namely, Facebook dynamic ads enable tracking users’ behavior through Facebook pixel, finding the product the user was interested in and was viewing it but didn’t buy it. And finally, targeting users with the same products in a great offer or as a reminder to finalize the purchase.

Certain data can be pulled from Google analytics, especially data regarding interests on certain products or topics. By using them, certain logical conclusions can be reached also on shopping habits. Recently, Google dynamic ads that send relevant offers based on users’ searches have appeared. There are many ways, but regardless of the channel you are using to pull out and analyze data, personalized marketing always includes planning, targeting, and tracking.

Still, although data you have about users is of key importance, don’t ever forget about the legislative but also common human decency. Aggressively encroaching on privacy and imposing isn’t a good solution for optimizing business.

Think of the feeling you have when you enter a store and the shop assistant knows your name? Many of us are willing to go to the same café bar just because the waiter is great, always says hello and even asks about the well-being of your children by name. The story is simple; since a young age, our name is something that identifies us and something that makes us recognizable. A name, related to our identity, makes us an individual. As people, we value the feeling of importance in this great big world. It is also important to us that we are heard, that our aspirations are recognized, and that we feel accepted and understood. That is exactly where personalized marketing comes in and addresses each individual according to their needs.

Remember the Coca-Cola campaign with bottles that have names on them? You’ve probably looked for a bottle with your name on it. That is a perfect example of the aforementioned.

Surely, just addressing somebody by their name is not everything. In a marketing sense, data analysis of the audience and quality, useful and personalized content creates a feeling of trusting the brand that then gets a human, friendly note. Relationships improve, engagement occurs, satisfaction grows, which creates trusty and loyal buyers that will always want to return.

Marketing can’t exist without technology. It’s a positive thing that digital solutions are constantly being perfected. One of the most popular ones of this age is a chatbot. It is currently being used by more than a billion people in the world. Because of a great number of users, but also the possibility of integrating chatbot to various platforms like Facebook messenger or Viber that are accessed by many thousands of people daily, it’s no wonder that chatbot has become one of the most interesting tools in marketing.

Numerous chatbot functionalities enable personalization on almost all levels. The best thing is that the process of getting to know the audience happens completely naturally – through a dialogue between the user and the bot. Chatbot has the possibility of storing data and analyzing and giving a detailed report in the moment you need it. Due to recognizing and segmenting the audience, it is possible to send different push notifications with personalized messages through a chatbot, precisely suited to users’ needs.

The usefulness of this digital tool can also be expanded. Surveys via chatbot don’t take up time, money or require too much engagement. Also, they are very efficient for client recognition. Furthermore, people react more positively when answering questions in a simulated dialogue as opposed to a four-page paper with YES/NO answers in front of them.

Various business services have found benefits of this type of digitalization. All of them have one goal, which is increasing user satisfaction through personalized service. Regardless of if it’s an e-commerce chatbot or the one that receives orders and predicts what the buyer would like based on the user’s steps, the result is always positive.

Although predictions differ, we believe that personalized marketing is an area that will upgrade itself in the future. Research has shown that 72% of people will open a mail ONLY if it’s personalized, so how can it be ignored? Familiarity, the feeling of humanity and a friendly approach of a brand is what is being encouraged and what clearly works. An even stronger personalization, chatbots and understanding between the user and the brands is a logical succession. Do you agree?