How 3 Top Brands are Using Personalization

These days, customers want to feel that they’re being heard and understood by their favorite brands. In fact, 73% of consumers want a more personalized shopping experience. Personalization allows brands to create a unique experience for their customers — in turn, demonstrating that they are being heard, and hopefully contribute to increased sales volume.

And, it is working. According to a study done by Infosys, 86% of consumers are influenced by personalization when making shopping decisions. Consumers are motivated to purchase more when they are made to feel relevant.

Thus, personalization has become increasingly important for brands and their success. Let’s take a look at three brands that are succeeding by bringing personalization into the consumer journey.

Burberry

This 156-year-old brand has pioneered a different kind of personalization for customers. Partnering up with Pinterest, Burberry has given customers a way to build personalized boards with product content provided by Burberry.

The “Cat Lashes” promo initiative offers a personalized experience for customers based on their makeup preferences. Users take a quick questionnaire and get personalized makeup looks and tips through a personalized Pinterest board. Burberry promotes their Cat Lashes Mascara through the Pinterest boards. The personalized boards also offer tips on how to create relevant looks for each customer while also using the Cat Lashes Mascara.

According to an internal study, 42% of consumers have bought products based on promoted pins they saw on Pinterest. Burberry’s “Cat Lashes” initiative is, therefore, capitalizing on Pinterest’s broad consumer base. The personalized boards serve as a promotional hub for the Cat Lashes Mascara, as well as related and relevant Burberry products.

GILT

Gilt.com was listed in Fast Company’s Top 25 Innovative Companies in 2010and ranked first in fashion that year. How did a company, which launched in 2007, garner so much success in just five years? The reason is that the online retailer personalizes sales and promotions for each customer and app user.

The luxury flash sales site has installed a personalized user page online and on the mobile app. This personalization feature is called “Your Personal Sale,” and goes beyond the daily e-mails a shopper receives. The personalized sales, generated by an algorithm, takes into consideration a customer’s entire shopping experience. Based on factors such as purchase history, geographic location, browsing behavior, and personal preferences, “Your Personal Sale” finds fresh items and deals daily. Personalization goes one step further, with Gilt.com also considering size, categories, and brands that customers frequently engage with. Each personalized sale lasts 24 hours, after which a new set of deals and sales are presented. According to CIO Steve Jacobs, personalized sales are “the next phase of the flash sale model.” The company leverages the sense of discovery the app provides, “tailoring [the] shopping experience just for them.”

Gilt.com brings personalization to the online fashion and retail platform and makes a conscious effort to tailor products to its customers. According to  Jacobs, “people are coming back more frequently, and they’re excited to see what’s in their sale tomorrow.” Personalized sales pushed the online retailer to be valued at roughly $1 billion just after five years of launching. Gilt’s personalization strategy has propelled the e-commerce company to enormous success.

Spotify

The online music platform Spotify is the leading music streaming host, despite competitors like iTunes and Google Play.

The introduction of personalized playlists has distinguished Spotify from other streaming sources.

One of these personalized playlist functions is “Discover Weekly.” Discover Weekly is a service which personalizes to each listener’s taste across a variety of genres. A personal playlist of 30 songs is curated and released each Monday based on listening habits. The music streaming service has also launched the “Release Radar” feature. Every Friday, the two-hour playlist is updated with newly released music from artists and bands a listener frequents. In addition, listeners who curate their playlists receive personalized suggestions on their playlists as well. The streaming service learns from personal preferences, songs skipped and replayed, and even looks at micro-genre music preferences to curate the best suggestions for each listener.

Spotify’s lead engineer and algorithm creator Edward Newett says, “we’re trying to show that Spotify understands users better than anyone else.” Within the first 10 months of launching, Discover Weekly saw 5 billion song plays. Senior product owner Matt Ogle says Discover Weekly’s success has “completely changed” the way Spotify interacts with consumers. The great success with user personalization has also increased consumer loyalty. Spotify boasts 40 million paid subscribers, compared to Apple Music’s 20 million paid subscribers.

Personalization is key to a brand’s success and transforms the customer experience. The focus on personalization allows many of these companies to grow as customers engage with brands more and more. With personalization on the rise, it will be interesting to see how industries implement various personalization tactics into their customers’ experiences.

Personalization In Every Industry: Big Box Retail

Big box stores, supercenters, megastores. It doesn’t matter what you call them, the massive size of these retail giants is enough to send people into awe.

Their space isn’t limited to storefronts and warehouses either, which is good since foot traffic is constantly getting lower. To their benefit, the ever expanding digital marketplace has allowed these businesses to grow on another level, leading to new opportunities for marketing and personalization.

McKinsey found that 17% of consumers value the customer experience compared to 24% who care most about the prices. With competition increasing steadily as companies find new ways to increase brand loyalty and strengthen the customer experience, personalization has become more important than ever.

 

Personalization Incorporated

The techniques for personalization in retail chains don’t differ significantly from other markets. Companies will find ways to increase subscriptions, social media activity, and web page interaction in order to raise brand awareness, collect information, and personalize the experience.

There are two trains of thought when it comes to personalization for these retailers. Both are acceptable focuses, but when prices are as low as they can get, the company that offers the better customer experience is the one that can integrate the two.

The first is the use of variables. Businesses will study marketing trends to see which ways they can capitalize. These can include purchase history, shopper behavior, and interests. Businesses can guess at what customers will buy next and tailor advertisements and deals towards that.

The second are the constants. Rather than focusing on the marketing trends, this style focuses on the guaranteed information collected from customers. This is personalization based off name, age, location, and other unchanging facts. They’re simple, but give a different insight into a customer’s potential purchases. This information lets companies highlight deals and events at specific locations that would meet their needs. A sixteen year old girl could get an email about a back to school sale at her local store.

Companies that correctly use the omni-channel personalization strategies are able to pull all of this information from different places and organize them into one cohesive plan.

 

Omni-channel Issues

Big box retailers have a lot of struggles when it comes to personalization. It’s difficult to track the purchases and preferences of individuals who enter the store. There’s no data that can be held. Compared to a mom and pop shop where the staff knows your name, it’s more harder to direct Jerry to the products he always buys.

Because in-store personalization is all but impossible, retailers focus on the digital side of marketing. Unfortunately, attempts at predicting recommended products falls short due to troublesome programming. The Harvard Business Review reports that predictions for products are becoming so absurd that companies are creating more generalized algorithms in order to reach customers.

When a customer purchases a sleeping bag through Amazon, they’re more likely to be recommended another sleeping bag rather than camping accessories. The algorithms can’t take into account that a person generally only purchases one at time.

Also, the data held isn’t used to it’s fullest. If a customer buys large t-shirts every month, he’s still getting recommendations for tank tops and sweatshirts, rather than capitalizing on the purchase he’s going to make. The customer doesn’t get a better experience through the purchase, he gets the same as everyone else.

Lastly, the Harvard Business Review also found that shoppers would appreciate the ability to customize rather than have the business personalize the experience for them. This is largely due to the failed attempts at personalization by big box retailers.

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Their poll showed that 42% of online shoppers claimed to have seen no benefits from site personalization. Nearly all claimed they would prefer to customize the experience themselves than let the business do it for them.

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Against these facts, personalization is still a vital piece to creating a better user experience. The issue is that it needs to be done correctly, especially by businesses that are focused outside of the digital realm. For most of these companies, it means going mobile.

All of these companies have had their own issues but continue to provide better experiences due to personalization. By using omni-channel strategies, they can pull information seamlessly to engage customers. They all use social media and they all have websites that offer accounts. The piece that separates them is how else they get information and how well they can put it into play.

 

Walmart

In 2013, Walmart identified the need for a more personalized shopping experience. It took two years of development, but in 2015, they launched a new app, specifically designed for tablets and phones to surf through Walmart.com.

Bao, Nguyen, a spokesman for Walmart claimed, “During Black Friday we sold about 1,000 tablets a minute.”

Trusting that customers purchasing through them would do so again, Walmart focused on those users to create a personalized shopping experience.

On the application, customers are given recommendations based off their purchase history. They’re given discounts and notifications for deals, as well as advertisements that meet their interests.

Walmart also took the opportunity to integrate their actual stores by sharing local rollback deals and discounts. This benefited Walmart as a whole, but also helped the individuals stores maintain customers.

Walmart is also changing their focus to smaller stores. With Walmart Express, and Neighborhood Market Units, the shopping experience will be tailored more towards the customer’s requirements, personalizing the experience on a more general level.

 

Target

Target was also fast to jump on the mobile track in order to better their customers’ experience. In 2014, they acquired Powered Analytics, a start-up, in order to provide a more personalized manner of shopping.

With the app, customers can search for an items and get instant information on where to find it inside the store. It creates a faster way to shop and reduces the amount of time employees need to assist shoppers.

The app also offers personalized discounts and deals based off the items they’re searching for. This not only gives the customer more options before buying, but it lets Target push stock that isn’t moving as fast.

Target also has the option of customers using a loyalty card. The RedCard offers a 5% discount on all Target purchases and is directly tied to a debit card of the customer’s choosing.

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Customers who use the card are required to sign up on their website, providing their information for access and management of the card. Having them on the site, with the information, allows Target to personalize online shopping. Because purchases are made with the RedCard, they’re tracked through the transactions, giving insights to types of products and rate of activity.

Different from others, however, is the 5% discount that attracts more users of the card. Loyalty programs are offered by nearly every major business today, but very few offer such strong discounts.

Target is using the same tactic as Walmart, aiming at smaller niched stores.

 

Nordstrom

In 2011, Nordstrom purchased HauteLook, a website that centers on flash sales. With it, they were able to develop new techniques of getting people into the store. Customers could buy what they wanted off HauteLook and, should the product not be to their liking, they could return it to Nordstrom stores.

At the stores, the employees, who are all selected based off their ability to nurture relationships, take note of the item. They help the customer with the return and then recommend what items they think might interest them. If the customer shows interest, the employee will walk them directly to the item, giving them a personalized experience they’ll remember.

On the application side of the house, Nordstrom uses Beacon’s location based technology, to promote their products. Customers’ location is tracked, and when they near a store, the application sends recommendations and deals to the user.

Furthermore, the app lets customers shop on their phone and see exactly which products are in local stores, down to the size and color. This grants customers the ability to go into the store, try on the clothes, and potentially buy other items they weren’t planning on. It’s all possible because collection of their location.

The app also sends custom advertisements that are personalized to their interests. More impressive, though, is what they intend to do.

If the stars align, Nordstrom hopes that, through RFID, employees can be transmitted the interests and digital shopping cart of their customers. This would allow them to assist the customer on a truly personal level.

Nordstrom dives further into the application marketing trend with TextStyle. Customers can get recommendations from live representatives or personal shoppers that are sent to their phone. If they like the item, they return the word ‘buy’ and enter a code specific to them. The transaction is processed through their online account with Nordstrom and the product is delivered. This one-on-one personalization is another reason why Nordstrom is one of the market leaders in big box retail.

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J.C. Penney

While J.C. Penney may not be able to live up to Nordstrom’s application personalization, they do add their own fixes.

The apps allow for wedding and baby registrations to link with their online account. Users will receive emails with other recommendations based off the products in the registry and, since they’re not paying for them, are more likely to add them to the list.

Through their location based services, J.C. Penney offers discounts for in-store check ins.  Along with their store finder for over 1,100 locations, they’re offering a way to tailor discounts and recommendation to the customer.

These companies have found some different ways to capitalize on personalization and continue their growth. The usual marketing trends aren’t enough for these corporate giants and they’re forced to continue to develop new methods to gain and keep customers.

These are the companies leading the marketing world and their personalization of your shopping experience is going to continue to become better as they branch deeper into the field.

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5 Insurance Companies Crushing It With Omni-Channel Personalization

 

As omni-channel personalization moves to center stage in the retail markets, insurance companies are forced to join them. The switch is less about staying afloat with the market trends, it’s become essential for remaining as a business.

Some insurance companies do this right, growing their consumer base through targeted advertisements, appeal of their support, and personalized interfaces. Others are still trying to play catch up in the fast paced digital market.

 

The Consumer Journey

The battle starts here. So many fronts have opened, thanks to an online world, that reach consumers at various levels. Social media, advertisements, and search engines all attract potential clients and start them on their journey.

Where many companies fail is guiding them through that trip. While customers view every interaction with a business as a collective path, leading them to their desired end-state, insurance companies continue to see each event as singular. The agent is in a different department than the IT team, so how would that affect the customer?

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The insurance companies that are dominating the market and continue to grow understand how to integrate their different branches into a unified front. They see the IT guy as part of the journey rather than a separate road the consumer can travel.

More so, in a market where empathy can breed success, customers are starting that journey with well defined interests. Life insurance to help their family after a death. Vehicle insurance to get them back on the road after an accident. Whatever type of insurance they’re requesting is important to them. Identifying this and being able to track it through each of these departments can better assist the customer.

McKinsey reports that “more than 80 percent of shoppers now touch a digital channel at least once throughout their shopping journey”. Try to say the IT guy isn’t an important part of that path now.

More than 80 percent means it’s not only important to be segmenting the audience for personalization, it’s become vital. In the same report, McKinsey stated that, “satisfied customers are 80 percent more likely to renew their policies than unsatisfied customers.”

Through the collection of data points, insurance companies can personalize their approach to the individual, building a crucial sense of trust by tending specifically to the customer’s needs.

 

Personalization for Insurance

A study by Accenture found that “78 percent of customers say they would share personal information with their insurers to obtain personalized services.” Over a third also claimed they’d willingly pay more for those services.

Personalization isn’t the way in, it’s the way up.

Accenture accurately breaks down the method for personalized interaction with their “4 R’s of Personalization” .

Recognize, Remember, Reach, Relevance.

All personalization starts with the collection of data and insurance companies are no different. The hard part is turning the data into actionable content.

Insurance companies have the opportunity to easily acquire implicit and explicit data. Offering a free quote can be a window to more information than you can use at once, but it’s openly granted by the customer. Through social media engagement and web behavior, insurance companies can study interactions to further develop a marketing strategy and grow their reach.

What’s unique about the insurance market is the agent’s “face to face” interaction with the customer. Emails can be sent from the business’ distribution list to engage a customer, but an agent is able to follow through. They can collect information from the emails and store it under the individual account so any other agent can quickly treat the customer as though they’ve worked together all along.

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Other techniques involve custom 800 numbers that are specific to a page. When the customer uses that number, insurance companies can identify where the customer found it and tailor the interaction to fit their needs.

 

Personalization for Customer Service

The opportunity to create a more wholesome interaction with the customer is becoming the spear that many companies use to impale themselves. McKinsey saw that the leading insurance companies were the ones delivering better customer experiences and gaining clients who’d grown unhappy with their current provider.

Rapport with the customer grows more important every year as society moves towards a larger digital presence. It’s easier than ever for individuals to find better rates and promotions with other companies, forcing insurance agencies to monitor competition and focus a more direct approach to keeping the customer.

Through personalization, companies can increase brand loyalty and make it harder for other companies to sweep up their client base. Creating that awesome experience can pay for itself, sometimes more so than advertisements and events.

Emails should offer help to the customer’s specific problem, not generic sales. If a customer repeatedly calls rather than using messaging systems, an actual conversation should be held.

These are just a few examples, but when you link them together, they become even stronger.

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Omni-channel Personalization

Every personalization technique is wasted if they’re not integrated into a single system. Knowing a customer’s name does nothing unless you track his issues and engage them. With tools like linked Facebook sign-ins, it’s easier to track customer likes and status updates.

Through requests for information or quotes, social media, or browsing history, insurance companies are able to develop a plan for each customer. As customers travel along their journey towards a purchase, companies are using all of these to collect information to engage with them.

With the data collected, they’re able to increase conversions, brand loyalty, and customer satisfaction, while lowering wasted quotes and negative feedback.

All of the companies listed below have an omni-channel personalization strategy. But additionally, they study market trends to see where advertisements and introductions to their business can be made. You’ll be surprised with how some of the companies collect data and put it to work.

Check out these other ways the top dogs in the insurance market have added channels to their business’s personalization.

 

1. State Farm Group

On their mission page, State Farm acknowledges their customers want a personalized experience. It’s not surprising they achieve it. Their collection of information is best seen through some well developed applications.

State Farm constantly pulls data through their personalized mobile app. The app offers driving routes, weather reports, and reminders for things like A/C filter changes. When it is time for a filter to be swapped, they’ll provide you with a list of the closest stores to purchase one.

When a customer opens the app, they’re seeing a page unique to them, but still connected with the State Farm name.

They also maintain a website called ChaosInYourTown.com where users can enter their actual home address and watch a robot destroy it. This was done as a different way to demonstrate that they’ll always be there for you.

Both of these gather data and put it to immediate use, improving the customer’s experience. Although the latter is more entertaining, it’s a unique technique that has paid off, driving them traffic to other sources and increasing brand awareness. It’s helped to assist them in leading the insurance market by billions of dollars.

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2. Allstate Insurance Group

Allstate uses applications in their own way. Using their mobile app can use the geo-location feature to request assistance after having car trouble. They can also log all of their maintenance requirements and details which can help diagnose the problem.

Along with the geo-location features, if you’re waiting for a flight at an airport, you may get an offer for travel insurance.

While the location data is essential to a lot of their market, they still use other points to recommend different products. Their ‘Personalized Insurance Proposal’ uses and collects data on customers in order to give them a plan that meets the needs unique to them.

These tactics have helped with customer satisfaction overall, allowing Allstate to maintain their enormous client base.

 

3. Progressive Insurance Group

In 2007, Progressive was proud to offer a personalized experience for their customers. They identified early that treating each customer individually would take them far.

In the same manner, they’re well known for their ’Name Your Price’ program. It pioneered the idea, giving customers a personalized plan based solely off what they wanted to pay.

If leading the way on those fronts wasn’t enough, Progressive, was one of the first to use telematics. This long distance digital information allowed them to see actual driver behavior and reward customers based off their proven records. Discounts were granted for safe driving and, according the a case study by J.D. Power it increased customer satisfaction as a whole.

These, along with their ’Snapshot’, have kept the company growing at a significant rate and it continues to look for ways to improve.

 

4. Farmers Insurance Group

Farmers Insurance took a very different approach to omni-channel personalization. They partnered with the developers of the FarmVille Facebook game. Through this method, they were able to increase brand awareness and prove they could reach out to customers in various ways.

The strategy allowed them to collect data that users offered by having open social media accounts and connect on a different level. Because they were trying to engage those specific people, it was easy for them to interact. Through a sweepstakes, they were able to show people from the game to their website, offering more chances for conversions.

By coupling the game with a sweepstakes, Farmers more than doubled the amount of likes on their page and was able to gather beneficial information about their fans.

Farmers also became the first company to put a hashtag on a vehicle in a NASCAR race, branching out in a very different way.

 

5. GEICO

If anyone isn’t familiar with the company that in “15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance” hasn’t turned on a television or radio for years. GEICO, through more than a descriptive slogan, has become a frontrunner in the auto insurance market.

GEICO quickly understood that personalization was the key to their marketing strategy. Through systems within their app, they are able to maintain user information and cut the undesirable wait times from customer interactions.

With their Quick Messaging addition, customers can leave messages for representatives and leave the app. When an agent has a reply, they receive an app push notification. This allows customers to take care of the things they want to, rather than acknowledging hour waits.

More prominently, GEICO’s spokes-character was spawned from their data collection and became one of the best known characters in advertising. After running an initial series of ads, they were able to correlate a growth in customers.

All of these businesses use omni-channel personalization in similar and different ways. The goal for insurance companies is to create a better experience for their customers. Because rates can only drop so low, the best way do this is with exceptional service. Using data, they can tailor interactions to specific individuals and do just that.

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What Do Google, Netflix, Amazon, And Best Buy Have In Common?

These 4 Billion-Dollar Companies Are Leaving the Competition In the Dust…

The customer is always right, right? Well, it all depends on what kind of experience customers have with your brand. Their experience will not only dictate how often they’ll complain, but how successful your company will be. Think of some of the biggest new brands – ones like Google, Facebook, Netflix, Amazon. All started within 15-20 years, but all have seen incredible success. Want to know why? Because they spent a lot of time and money making the customer experience the best it can be.

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Recently, taking the customer experience to the next level is possible through personalizing the content. It’s been an important cornerstone of successful marketing for some time now.

Think back to how this got done before the web. Companies were talking to customers, giving them surveys to try and find out as much as they could about them.

These days companies have a wealth of knowledge at their fingertips, and are embracing data to make it work for them. This article will explore how four companies (Amazon, Netflix, Google, and Best Buy) adapted over the past five years to see amazing growth, largely because of personalization.

 

Google

What Do Google, Netflix, Amazon, And Best Buy Have In Common NectarOM Omnichannel Personalization

This company needs no introduction, and I bet you can already start to connect the dots on how they’ve managed to leverage personalization to great success. First, we need to take a step back and understand how Google makes its money. 89% of it comes from ad revenues, so for all intents and purposes, we’re only going to focus on that. So the question is, how do they leverage personalization to see the 66-billion-dollar revenue they pulled in last year.

 

Personalized Search

Google works best as a profile-based service, which means that to get the most out of it, you’ll need to sign into an account. From Gmail to YouTube, Google accounts work with a lot of services that people use regularly. Sure, you can still use it without signing in, but that is where the real personalization begins. This first point is pretty obvious. Depending on what you search for, and what your browsing history is, Google will serve you different sites.

Despite this fact, most people still don’t mind using it. By knowing what you’re searching for, they can offer products they think you’ll want to see. Yes, they are skewing the data. If you want a completely unbiased web search, consider using something like duckduckgo.com. Google is banking on a complex algorithm that takes sites you’ve visited and continues to show similar ones. If they know the type of sites you enjoy, why not show you more of the same?

 

Personalized Ads

This takes the first point to the next level and is made obviously clear after searching for a specific topic that you wouldn’t usually search. As an interesting experiment to illustrate this, I changed up my searches for a week. I love cars and do a lot of car-related searches. Understandably, most of my ads (when ad blocker was turned off) were for car-related products. I tried searching for something completely unrelated to cars: bird watching. Google noticed and then started showing me tranquil ads for bird watching equipment. Anyone can run this experiment, and it’s interesting to see how your search affects everything around you.

Though this may come off as creepy to some, it makes sense. If I am genuinely interested in all this bird watching stuff, maybe a company is offering a sale on those killer binoculars that I was looking for; so, I’ll click an ad, Google will get paid, and I’ll have some nice binoculars. Thanks, Google!

 

Personalized Videos

This last example is the natural progression from search and ad personalization. Since Google owns YouTube, it’s already happening. Depending on what you usually watch, it will curate your content to show you related videos.

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Though most, or all, of us, hate video ads, they know it’s a numbers game. Sure, you may close an ad every time, but 1 in 100 people might click it, and 1 in 1,000 might go on to buy the product. With these ads being served to millions of people every day, there is a lot of money to be made.

Google has mastered personalization to try and give you what you’re looking for before you even look, and the numbers speak for themselves. If this approach weren’t working, they wouldn’t be doing it.

Next, let’s look at everyone’s favorite streaming site: Netflix.

 

Netflix

What Do Google, Netflix, Amazon, And Best Buy Have In Common NectarOM Omnichannel Personalization

“Netflix and chill,” may be a popular saying, but they are not chill about their dedication to providing you with shows you want to watch. Unlike Google, Netflix doesn’t make their money through ads, but through subscriptions, so their main focus is retention and keeping existing customers happy. They do this by filtering through their sea of available content to give you only what you want to watch.

Let’s look at how they’ve managed to leverage personalization to create a unique experience for all of their 81.5 million subscribers.

 

Recommendations

The “Recommended Shows” sections of Netflix aren’t new. In fact, they were working on improving their recommendation algorithm when they were still mailing out DVDs. Way back in 2006, they announced a $1 million prize to any team who could help improve their recommendation algorithm by just 10%. It’s clear they’re serious about constantly improving recommendations, and things have only gotten better for them since they made the jump to streaming in 2007.

What Do Google, Netflix, Amazon, And Best Buy Have In Common NectarOM Omnichannel Personalization

Compared to a DVD watch list, instantly streaming content gave them a lot more data about people’s viewing habits. While they only had a list to work with in the past, now they can see what shows you watch, how much of each show you watch, what time you watch, and a lot more. This knowledge about your viewing habits helps them keep you engaged by ensuring you always have something new to watch.

 

Multiple Devices

Once Netflix made the jump to streaming, it opened up a whole new platform to reach new potential users. The thing is, not everyone’s the same, and different people prefer to watch movies or TV on different media. Netflix quickly understood this dilemma and saw the potential to have their service on different platforms. Rather than just being available through their site on a PC, they opened it up to Roku, Xbox, Apple TV and many others.

Netflix has one thing down: they are available to personalize content wherever and however their customers want it. From laptops, to phones, and even gaming consoles, Netflix is available wherever you want to use it.

 

Breaking The 4th Wall

The last piece of personalization that helps Netflix deliver a seamless customer experience is by now bringing recommendations right to your inbox. They knew people spent a lot of time just browsing for something to new watch, so now they help out by emailing suggestions directly to you. By using all of the data from your account, if a new show or movie that they think you’ll like comes out, they’ll let you know. You can even add it to your list from your phone!

Delivering useful content and recommendations is the type of omni channel personalization that has separated Netflix from the competition. They’re able to deliver a seamless experience from start to finish.

 

Amazon

What Do Google, Netflix, Amazon, And Best Buy Have In Common NectarOM Omnichannel Personalization

You may have heard of this company. They used to sell books online, but are now the largest marketplace in the world, and are a perfect e-commerce example for how personalization helped them dominate the marketplace. As an e-commerce site, they make their money by selling products, and make even more money by recommending other items.

The motivation for recommendation is getting you to purchase more items. As the web grew, and more data points became available about their users, they were able to track more and more information, and make appropriate recommendations.

 

Frequently Bought Together

What Do Google, Netflix, Amazon, And Best Buy Have In Common NectarOM Omnichannel Personalization

If you’ve ever used Amazon, you’ve seen this section, and it’s an ingenious piece of personalization. These recommendations are not serendipitous or a fluke. They are cold and calculated. Fortune describes it pretty well:

The company reported a 29% sales increase to $12.83 billion during its second fiscal quarter, up from $9.9 billion during the same time last year. A lot of that growth arguably has to do with the way Amazon has integrated recommendations into nearly every part of the purchasing process from product discovery to checkout.

Not only does this work, but they have multiple areas, each offering different suggestions: frequently bought together, customers who bought this item also bought, sponsored products relating to this item, and what other items do customers buy after viewing this item.

Those are four other suggestions to upsell and get you to buy more products. It’s no wonder why Amazon is the leader in the marketplace. This alone shows their understanding and value of customer data.

 

Follow Up Emails

If you’re running an e-commerce business, then you know that it’s a fact that a certain percentage of people will abandon their carts before purchasing. It doesn’t mean that they hate your brand or don’t want the product; life is complicated, and lots of things are vying for our attention.

With nearly 44% of cart abandonment emails being opened, a good percentage of those result in sales. This kind of personalization and customer experience isn’t hard to achieve, and any e-commerce business should be doing it. All it takes is a simple email with the items they left in the cart to try and rekindle the relationship and emotion felt in the first place.

 

Amazon Dash

This last product of Amazon’s takes personalization from the digital into the real world. If you’ve been following along, then you understand that people like to interact with brands on their terms, and that repeat business is key for a successful brand.

What Do Google, Netflix, Amazon, And Best Buy Have In Common NectarOM Omnichannel Personalization

Amazon took their one-click checkout feature and made it into a real button. They realized that certain people would buy the same staples like Tide, Gatorade, or razors, so they made it even easier for you to buy them with one touch. Going from multiple steps to one press of a button is the next step in personalization and takes the customer experience to the next level. I’m excited to see what else they have up their sleeves.

Exclusive Bonus: Download the free cheat sheet of tactics big brands use to create a personal experience, and software to do it on a budget.

What Do Google, Netflix, Amazon, And Best Buy Have In Common NectarOM Omnichannel Personalization

Not mentioned in the title, but equally as interesting is Best Buy, and they’re the last example of how a brick-and-mortar company can also adapt to the online data revolution and go toe-to-toe with the best of them. Worldwide, they have a 22% hold in the electronics market and are trying to close the gap with Amazon. To do so, they’re implementing similar tactics as Amazon and capitalizing on the shift to personalization.

 

Catching Up With The Rest

If you’ve bought something at Best Buy recently, you’ll notice that they too are sending recommendation emails. If you bought an Xbox and they have your email address, you might get emails suggesting new game titles you might like.

Of course, Best Buy stores benefit from the ability to offer instant gratification, but they also separate themselves from other online retailers by offering store-exclusive content. That means if you preorder a game at Best Buy, you’ll get exclusive access to limited-edition content, not available to anyone else. With prices being pretty consistent for video games, offering the bonus of additional content is an interesting approach to helping close the gap with online retailers.

 

Price Match

Around 70% of Best Buy’s inventory is available cheaper elsewhere online (Amazon, eBay), so how do they still manage to compete? To combat this, they’ve implemented a pretty liberal price-match policy for brick-and-mortar as well as online retailers. This policy is a pretty bold statement and makes a strong case for those who prefer to buy all of their electronics at once to do it all at Best Buy. If online retailers can’t compete with price, then they’ll have to get creative to compete with Best Buy moving forward.

Personal Contact

Though brick-and-mortar can seem like an excessive overhead in our digital society, Best Buy uses it to leverage their “blue shirt” experts and staff, who give a real personal touch. This is something an online store just can’t do on the same level. Sure, they could have a pop-up live chat window, but it just can’t replace actual face-to-face, human contact. Their staff is well versed in what they’re selling (sometimes that’s because they are actually employees of the brands they are recommending, instead of being Best Buy employees), and can usually understand your concerns and make real-time recommendations.

Though large businesses are generally not known for their speed in implementing change, all of these companies have done a great job of using data to their advantage to keep things personal for their customers and deliver an amazing overall experience. And as far as it looks, the customers have returned the favor by staying loyal to them and purchasing time after time.

 

 

 

6 Characteristics of Our Favorite Marketing Heroes

Each of us have a marketing hero. It doesn’t matter if you are new to the marketing space or have worked in the industry most of your life. Each of us know someone who inspires us to be a better marketer today than we were yesterday.

You might think that business executives, marketing consultants, technology gurus, data scientists, and digital specialists would have varying ideas on what makes a marketing hero. Our idea of heroism isn’t as different as you might think. I’ve been talking to people in Dallas, San Diego, Chicago, and other cities to learn what traits people look for in a marketing hero.

Have a marketing hero characteristic to add to the list? Let us know on Twitter using #MyMarketingHero!

1. Socially Responsible. Some of our favorite marketing heroes embrace a philanthropic cause. It’s clear their end goal is to build awareness and spread resources to those in need. Marketing hero Pete Frates, creator of the viral ALS Ice Bucket Challenge campaign, reminded us of the power of a smart digital strategy powered by community engagement. Retailers, non-profits, and business-to-business brands alike can learn from these passion-filled philanthropists using marketing to help the world.

2. Data-Driven. Our favorite marketing heroes focus on reaching goals in the most efficient way possible. They don’t rely on assumption or hunches, but seek data that informs them on the best route to generating results.

3. Tech-Savvy. A hero sees technology as a tool to provide a more seamless and meaningful experience for both the business and the consumer. They don’t hesitate to learn a new platform and develop creative ways for pushing its capabilities to the max. What if the technology doesn’t exist? No problem. Marketing heroes are oftentimes entrepreneurs of marketing tech.

4. Mentor-Centric. Whether it’s in an auditorium of five hundred people or the corner table of a coffee shop, marketing heroes are eager to share bits of wisdom. They teach us tips and tricks, and inspire us to push the boundaries of what we think is possible. They are positive and give constructive feedback. While they may not always spell out the answer, they provide direction so we may discover the answers for ourselves.

5. Resourceful. Marketing heroes have this amazing ability to make the most out of the tools and talent around them. They have trained their mind to recognize opportunities when others might only see obstacles. A hero also doesn’t expect to go the journey alone, and welcomes those who are willing to work hard to achieve goals.

6. Curious. This is perhaps the most important characteristic of a marketing hero. Curiosity feeds knowledge. It’s a trait that pushes us to look for solutions even before the problem arises. Marketing heroes look beyond the obvious. They see failure as a growth opportunity, and always welcome a challenge that gets them a step ahead from where they were.

Who is your marketing hero?

Who is your marketing hero? Is it a committed mentor or conference speaker? Is it your colleague or friend? A celebrity or client?

Nominate your hero on Twitter using the hashtag #MyMarketingHero.

DMA 14 Contest Winner Shares How to Be A Marketing Hero

Some members of the nectarOM team and I attended DMA 2014 in San Diego this past October. There we met kindred spirits in the marketing ecosystem and among new friends was Rick Miller, a marketing technology and direct mail executive at Valid USA.

After winning our #MyMarketingHero contest, I had the opportunity to visit with Rick about marketing heroes. What do we talk about when we talk about heroes? It’s not just Gary Vee, Jay Baer, Seth Godin, or Mark Clark that we look up to. (Although, these names usually make most people’s list for marketing heroes.)

Marketing heroes can be found all around us. They sit next to us in the office, attend the same conferences, lead workshops, or befriend us on social media. Rick shared some awesome points about what it takes to be a marketing hero, and so I’m sharing them with you. Want to join our discussion? Tweet to us and let us know your thoughts!

A Talk with Rick Miller about Marketing Heroes

KD: What do you think makes someone a marketing hero?

RM: When I saw the contest advertised during the DMA Conference I envisioned the qualities I looked for in order to be able to call someone a marketing hero.  I first focused on longevity, it had to be someone dedicated enough about marketing to make it a “lifelong” endeavor, (Tweet this quote) something they were so passionate about that they were willing to stick with it through good times and bad. In addition to this I felt this individual needed to exhibit their willingness to educate and mentor others to develop marketing’s next generation.

KD: Who did you nominate for the #MyMarketingHero contest at DMA 2014 and why?

RM: When I thought of the qualifications I came up with that are outlined above, the first name that came to mind was Brian Kurtz from Boardroom, a publishing company in Stamford Connecticut.  Long before Boardroom became a client of Valid’s I had encountered Brian at numerous industry events, especially those related to the publishing industry.  When he was a presenter at these events, his passion for marketing was evident in his enthusiastic approach to the topics he covered.   Brian continues, after 30 plus years to give accolades to his personal mentors / marketing heroes. In my opinion he has done them proud by exemplifying all that was good in what they passed on to him as he now fills those shoes and educates/encourages marketing’s future generations.

KD: What would you tell marketers to focus on if they want to be marketing hero within their organization / company?

RM: Don’t stagnate in regards to marketing technology and innovation, be willing to try new things because where there is risk, there can be reward. (Tweet this quote.) Also, be a role model and mentor for others within your organization and the industry. Whenever you can pass on the knowledge to others so overall as a company, and within the industry others can become stronger.

KD: Do you think marketing heroes are born or made?

RM: My opinion would be that they are made.  I can’t think of anyone that has ever told me, “when I grow up I want to be a marketer”, rather the story typically starts with an admission that they didn’t really know what they were getting into when they accepted a marketing position.  The marketing hero is the one that develops a passion for marketing through their experiences.  (Tweet this quote.) Over my 25 plus years in the industry I have encountered a number of what I would consider to be brilliant marketers and their stories are similar, their passion for marketing came about through on the job experiences, personal mentors and heroes that may not have known it at the time but they were helping to grow that passion for marketing in these individuals by encouraging them to pursue marketing as a career.

Who is your marketing hero?

Who is your marketing hero? Is it a committed mentor or conference speaker? Is it your colleague or friend? A celebrity or client?

Nominate your hero on Twitter using the hashtag #MyMarketingHero.

How did one marketing hero raise over $125 million for an incurable disease?

An uncommon disease quickly became a philanthropy sensation, thanks to some creative marketing tactics. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has generated over $125 million in donations toward finding a cure for ALS in just a few months. Since the first ice bucket challenge video debuted in July 2014, more than 2.5 million people from 150 countries have filmed videos to raise awareness for the deadly disease.

Pete Frates is the man behind the Ice Bucket Challenge. After being diagnosed with ALS in 2011, Frates decided to do something about the incurable disease. While most people would accept this diagnosis as a tragedy, Frates saw his diagnosis as his opportunity to change the world.

His initial goal was to get ALS in front of philanthropists like Bill Gates. A team of Frates’ family and friends aimed to raise awareness of the disease. Frates acts as their fearless leader. Although he is currently paralyzed, Frates communicates with eyegazer technology and is still the face of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

Frates and his successful campaign can be attributed to three factors: a positive, proactive attitude; a mental toughness required to put himself out there and refusal to give up; and the mindset to go after an unacceptable situation.

Because of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge’s undeniable success, we are naming Pete Frates this week’s Marketing Hero.

In less than a month after the first video, ALS received attention from national media, celebrities and global media. How was the Ice Bucket Challenge successful so quickly? We’ve narrowed it down to four marketing concepts.

1. Social Media

The Ice Bucket Challenge shows us the importance of using social media in marketing campaigns. In a fast-paced, technology-based world, social media in marketing is more important than ever.

Social media made the campaign sharable through multiple platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Because multiple social media platforms were utilized, the campaign reached a larger audience, spreading rapidly within a relatively short amount of time.

Additionally, social media made this campaign easy for people to participate in. Only a few minutes and one technological device (a cell phone) were required to film, upload and share videos on social media platforms. People found this simplicity attractive, which is why the Challenge attracted so many participants.

2. Emotional Appeal played a big role in the Challenge’s success through its feel-good aspect. Think about it – people love feeling like they are making a difference. This campaign made it easy for participants to achieve that feeling of importance through just a small act of posting a video. Whether people poured water over their heads or donated toward a cure for ALS, participants felt like they were truly making a difference. And – to their credit – they did!

3. Make It Fun. Millions of ice bucket videos were uploaded, but people never grew tired of watching someone getting drenched with freezing water. Why? Because it’s a fun campaign and a funny concept! Participants stretched their creativity, coming up with their own original ways to do the challenge. Videos became more and more outrageous (check out this video by Bill Gates). A fun campaign attracts an audience and keeps them interested.

4. Originality. How many other marketing campaigns involve pouring ice water on your head to generate awareness? None that I’m aware of. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is creative. It’s new. A marketing strategy that is the first of its kind will be memorable and leaves a lasting impression on the public.