Decoding Personalization: How To Adopt A Personalization Strategy Through A Series Of Small Steps

By Genelle Kunst, dotdigital

Retailers are told daily that they need to adopt a more personalized approach to their communications as one of the best routes to differentiation in a competitive market, but there is a lack of information on what they need to do to achieve it.

It is therefore worth clarifying what the word personalization means because it has been taken hostage by different parties to serve their own purposes. Broadly speaking, personalization means talking to customers using information that is known about them, enabling the retailer to provide better service. For some, it is about personalizing the actual products on sale, so that, for example, as the manufacturers of athletic shoes have done, the shoe comes in colors, sizes, and markings unique to each customer.

But even this outlier for personalization depends on information about the customer and their willingness to participate in the communications. According to our recent report on e-commerce trends, U.S. brands and retailers have been doing more than ever before over the last few years to make communications more personal.

The report looked across 100 brands from fashion and sports to homeware and handmade goods and found that 93% of U.S. brands sent out a welcome email upon sign-up, while 90% offered a guest checkout and 93% included alternative payment solutions. The U.S., therefore, lives up to its reputation for delivering a great customer experience and making the journey seamless at every opportunity.

U.S. brands are also leaders in the adoption of live chat (40%) just behind the UK, and overall, the experience beyond the email from brands was better than most others in the study (U.S., UK, EMEA, APAC). However, there was virtually no improvement in their aftersales practices, and this is key – personalization only works if brands are prepared to enable customers to exchange information and give feedback. It is this data that will give insight into the exact preferences of each customer in key areas – preferences around product fit, fulfillment, returns, service, communications, and marketing.

Currently, 70% of brands are still failing to request reviews or feedback after the purchase, leaving customers to use social media to highlight good and bad experiences. The U.S. also had the lowest proportion of brands requesting feedback from unsubscribes. Only 23% of brands asked shoppers why they were choosing to remove themselves from mailing lists.

As a result, because they are not tailoring their experiences to their audience based on feedback and reviews, U.S. brands run the risk of blending in with the competition and not addressing the needs of shoppers that make up their target audiences.

So, what are the steps that retailers can take to improve personalization and customer loyalty in 2021?

Take control of feedback.

Let customers leave feedback directly but also give them easy access to trusted outlets, such as Trustpilot and Feefo, so that retailers can easily identify areas of improvement and where they’re doing well.

Ensure that there is a preference center on the website.

Customers are willing to share personal data if they can see a clear benefit to doing so, and many do want to share their experiences.

Ensure consistency of experience.

Ensure that the experience delivered through one channel is consistent with all other channels, something that gets easier and easier as brands gather more customer data and put it to work.

Send out abandon cart emails.

Only 43% of the brands in the survey did so and it is essential for two reasons. First, it may be the first direct communication the brand has had with the potential customer, and secondly, it will cut the cost of reacquisition through remarketing further down the line.

Recognize customers.

This is hard to do unless the retailers hold personalized information about the customer. This goes beyond welcome or welcome back emails to sending out editorial content so the customer can see they are being valued and helped.

Reward their loyalty.

80% of the brands in the survey had no loyalty program but this is key to converting one-time buyers into lifelong customers. Membership is less about giving away margin, and more about enabling customers to feel a part of the brand and appreciated for their involvement.

Use more channels.

With 100% adoption of email, other channels still have much lower adoption and SMS is among the lowest. SMS is the communication of choice among consumers and is both immediate and conversational. Used more widely during the pandemic, it is increasingly becoming the first line of communication for consumers and retailers should embrace it.

Decoding Personalization

Personalization can sometimes seem like a complicated endeavor, however, it’s truly a series of small but important steps that are easy to adopt.