Personalization Traps. How To Avoid Them?

Companies that want to delight their customers and offer the best possible experience should take to heart the words of Jeff Bezos, who argues that if you want 20 million customers, that means you want 20 million stores. What is this phenomenon based on? The modern consumer is conscious, and therefore demanding. He expects to be treated as an individual and wants to buy products tailored to his needs, as well as receive information in his preferred channels and at a time that fits his lifestyle. Simply adding a name in an email header is not enough to talk about personalization and a customer-centric approach.

In order to be closer to customers and be able to reach them with a personalized message, access to data is essential. Analyzing user behavior is at the heart of any personalization strategy. After all, it is on their basis that we are able to identify levers for sales growth. Personalization assumes that we are able to precisely select a specific audience. Or divide customers into attractive segments to which we will target a differentiated marketing message.

Personalization carries enormous potential for increasing both sales volume and customer satisfaction. However, in order to take advantage of all its benefits, it is important to avoid the typical traps that are easy to fall into.

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Promotions – Yes, but…

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One of the main pain points for many companies is deciding which products to promote. Some companies choose the assortment to promote too often based on their own priorities, instead of focusing on the real needs and growth levers of their customers. Wanting to get rid of backlogged products, they try with a beautiful, theoretically fitting creation and an attractive offer to convince customers to buy products that do not suit them at all. At the end of the day, it turns out that the budget has been wasted and the product continues to languish on the shelf because it wasn’t a good enough fit for the customer.

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Another noticeable problem is cooperation with suppliers, which unfortunately is not always based on accountability. Suppliers expect that the discount on the purchase of products offered from their side will actually go to consumers, and not to the seller, who will thus increase the margin on the product for himself. In addition, it is worth ensuring that the most attractive offers are limited to the customer. This will prevent one person from buying up most of the assortment at a promotional price, who could later sell the products for a financial benefit to himself.

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Overlooked Impact on Other Business Processes

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A successful personalization process is not only about selecting the right product and communicating the promotion to the customer through their preferred channel, but ensuring its availability. This requires an overhaul of logistics processes and supply chains. The company needs to be able to deliver on the promise made to its customer. When he shows up at the store, the assortment will be waiting for him. What if the customer receives a tailored advertisement for the product he is interested in, but, due to a lack of merchandise, is unable to buy it? Probably somewhat frustrated, he will lose confidence in the brand and look for products from competitors. To avoid this kind of situation, marketers should work with the logistics and delivery department to optimize processes and minimize the risk of product availability problems. Monitoring inventory, forecasting demand, effective inventory management and working with reliable logistics companies are key to preventing product unavailability.

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When product availability problems occur due to logistical issues, it is important to act quickly and effectively, such as informing customers of any delays, offering alternative products or rewards, and providing appropriate compensation under the loyalty program.

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When “All Hands on Deck” Is Not Enough

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Realizing the vision of high alignment also requires a reliable and interconnected infrastructure. It’s worth making sure that the technology used can handle data collection, segmentation and automation. However, when technology fails, even getting your entire team on board may not be enough. Why? Because it often turns out that the same promotion needs to be replicated in several places. In such a situation, handling, configuring and delivering the offers consumes most of the marketer’s time. In addition, systems that do not communicate with each other generate further problems. To date, some companies use checkout systems that, for example, do not connect to the mobile app – thus not seeing the promotions that the customer has access to and preventing them from redeeming them.

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Integration of systems not only improves and speeds up work within the organization, but also enables faster response to the actions of competitors.

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A Shopping Path Without Dead Ends

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Speaking of personalization, you can’t forget about the whole creative part related to developing the right content and guiding the customer through an individual purchase path. In this situation, a separate tailored creative must be prepared for each micro-segment. This can mean an infinite number of mailing variants, each of which should have an intuitive journey designed to suit one’s preferences. In this case, you need to take care of both the visual and contextual aspects. So that when the customer goes from the email to the store’s website, he or she goes to the place where there is the greatest chance of closing the deal. Marketers often miss the fact that personalization doesn’t end with the “pay” button, much less the “go to website” button in an email message.

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Engage Customers with Loyalty Drive Enterprise

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The solution we offer our clients is Loyalty Drive Enterprise, a no-code model tool that allows the marketer to create, configure and deliver personalized offers on a massive scale. With Loyalty Drive Enterprise, updating a loyalty program is incredibly easy. Content and offers are added intuitively, without the need for developer support. This allows “non-technical” users, including marketers and project managers, to customize loyalty programs and test solutions with customized but intuitive features. Promotion parameter selection is fully manageable by the manager. The manager gets a visualization of the probability distribution of interest in a given assortment, making it much easier to decide which part of the base to target with the offer. As a result, this enables a more strategic allocation of time and resources and maximizes the chances of closing more deals. As a result, the company can respond more quickly and boldly to competitive actions.

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Personalization – How To Do It Right?

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Personalization is a complex process that requires the involvement of the entire organization and all departments – from marketing to sales to distribution centers and suppliers. Only by combining a broad spectrum of data and multiple communication channels can it be done efficiently and effectively. Customized offers – whether personalized rewards, communications or interactions – have become a stake in today’s fierce battle for customer attention. Brands that can effectively personalize their offerings will strengthen their position, while those that shy away from doing so risk being left behind or falling out of the game altogether.

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