The power of personalization is incredible, and it all comes from the way the human mind is programmed to function in a social context.
Personalization is one of the most important forces currently shaping (online) customer interaction. We all appreciate when someone remembers our name, our personal preferences, or shows what appears to be genuine interest in getting to know us (better).
The majority of customer service professionals undergo rigorous training – before mastering the art of giving pure authentic service – and making you, as a client feel special. This highly effective marketing technique is now used within the online world.
Personalization Strategy
By choosing a strategy that puts the user in the center, companies pursuit their (online) conversion goals in a friendlier manner, while also stimulating engagement with their clients. An increasing number of websites, stores, and platforms invest time and resources to make it all more customer oriented.
Simply said, their designs and functionalities are flexible enough to offer more choices to the online user, and make your shopping experience more personal.
A primary form of personalization lies in the cookies left behind after an online shopping session.
The small files can store information regarding preferred language and go as far as restoring a shopping cart to its earlier content and adding a favorite list.
The ability to customize, once the user is persuaded to sign up for an account and then link this up to social media or other platforms – will provide extra (free) information. (including personal)
Soon enough the system will address you, as a potential customer by your first name, and suggest products and services based on algorithms that have quantify everything from browsing habits to Facebook likes.
Personalization does not always happen in plain sight.
Sometimes the triggers of consumer habits lie deeply entrenched in the mysterious way our human minds function.
For example, it has been proven that changing something as simple as the styling of a webpage can have profound effects on conversion rates.
Almost anything on a website that affects a visitor’s behavior can be tested with the A/B method.
The size of the headlines, color of the header, call to action popup, and even the way the social media buttons look – are just a few of the elements that can become tesing variables.
The way A/B testing works is simple. Expose equal parts of the audience to the different templates and acquire enough data to be able to perform analytics. Although counterintuitive, it turns out that even something as insignificant as extra pixels on a banner’s width can have profound positive effects.
The next step in providing the ultimate bespoke user experience – is tailoring the way the ads are displayed on the side of the webpage to match current shopping interest.
Online advertisers exploit relaxed laws regarding private data collection and assemble impressive databases, which are mainly based on your browsing history. Ads can be annoying, especially when they follow you around the web – even when you have made that purchase or are no longer interested!
Remarketing is a very clever technique to reconnect with users that did not make an immediate purchase – (all based on research studies) showing users are more likely to bounce back to the items they saw earlier… if a slight hint is given to them. Personalization even exists for those people deciding to opt out and then through different marketing funnels, the company turns them into (new) buyers anyway. But some web browsers do have settings incorporated that prevent remarketing from taking place.
The power of personalization has proven itself over the years and it has gained more & more share in the marketing and digital world.
Almost all business owners now agree that (online) personalization advances customer relationships faster than any other marketing technique, all due to simple interface testing and private data acquisition. As for you (the user), personalization has indeed made buying decisions easier and more pleasant, but at a cost – invisible to most!
Personalization keeps customers inside a loop of personal preferences that gets thicker and better defined every day.
Artificial Intelligence now also has the ability to learn what we like and gives us exactly what we want to see and machine-learning personalization is currently on the rise. A third of all marketers questioned in one survey – mentioned that they are adopting, such an approach in the near future.
Expand your knowledge on the power of personalization and on what it can do for you and your goals. (or learn how you can protect yourself (a tiny bit) from it)
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