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.

The Best in Banking Personalization: USAA’S Innovative Customer Service

Legendary Service in the Digital Age

USAA is known for providing great service. Don’t believe it? The Temkin list of companies with the best customer service ranks USAA as No. 1 and has done so for the past five years. Why is USAA so highly ranked? USAA is passionate about providing the best in financial services to the men, women, and families involved with the military. According to the President of Property/Casualty insurance, Wayne Peacock, “that passion is what fuels our focus on delivering an exceptional member experience by listening to our members and constantly innovating to meet their needs.”

USAA’s goal is to bring the best customer service experience to each and every member. USAA has worked to create a heightened customer experience through enhancing services available in their mobile application as well as omnichannel customer service. Let’s explore how USAA is leading the way in using omnichannel personalization to create a better customer experience.

Mobile App

USAA has changed their mobile application to make it easy for members to navigate. Members can now easily access all features and functions within the mobile app; however, there is a focus on what each member does most frequently.

USAA begins the personalization from the moment a member opens the mobile app. The interface of the USAA app looks the same. However, the iteration per member differs. Personalized landing pages are a key feature of the app. These pages show the tasks each member does most frequently and their accounts. The products and services a member may see on the mobile app coincide with the products and services they have with USAA. If a member has a financial account with USAA, they will be able to see only relevant banking information on the account.

USAA has also made their app more user-friendly by integrating personalization and omnichannel interactions to the mobile app. Within the mobile application, customer context provides highly personalized information that the company and its members share between each other. This information is synced up across channels. For example, a member can make a payment online and see that same activity on the mobile application. By having the app customize to each member’s omnichannel interactions, USAA can better serve and help its members by highlighting that which matters to each member.

Functionality

Sharing information across channels has given USAA a way to effectively provide omnichannel customer service to its members as well. Members can now get immediate service anywhere, at any time, and from any device.

USAA has implemented a contact handoff system. When a member clicks “Contact Us” in the mobile app, they are connected to a service representative. These service representatives are provided information about the member and what they were looking for, before actually speaking to the member. Service representatives greet members by name and can immediately start helping without having members reiterate their questions.  Having this knowledge of the member’s information gives USAA the ability to create an experience that demonstrates to the member that USAA knows them.

USAA works to be aware of its members’ daily lives. Personalized customer service drives efforts to increase the service efficiency a member gets. Members no longer have to wait to speak with someone, nor are they bombarded with unnecessary questions. The assistance they need is at their fingertips.
USAA’s dedication to providing legendary service has allowed them to provide highly personalized support over multiple mediums. Sharing context about members across channels is enhancing the member experience. Members save time and get the assistance they need when they need it. USAA serves its members well by providing a better experience based on their personal needs. As an innovative leader in technology within banking, it will be exciting to see where USAA decides to explore next within the technology landscape.

How Personal Is Your Personalized Marketing?

Discover how automation can put the “personal” back in personalization

Is your personalized marketing really that personal?

The overwhelming majority of consumers prefer personalized experiences when engaging with their favorite brands (more than 70% of consumers in the US and UK!). Personalized experiences are not only very gratifying, but they satisfy two very important, and absolutely necessary, digital age value points: the consumer need for control, and information overload prevention.

The personalization trend has picked up steam in recent years as marketers and brands now recognize the great benefits of providing consumers a personalized experience, including: faster response times, improved engagement rates, and higher conversion rates. Yet, as the digital age has continued to advance, a troubling trend has developed… personalization no longer appears to be personal.

Contrary to what appears to be popular opinion, “Hello, <Insert Name>, we have a special offer!” is not personalization. Remember, today’s consumers are tech savvy, and well versed in the methods of digital marketing. They understand that the more times their name and contact information appears on a promotion or ad, the more likely it is that the engagement was anything but personal.

There are two pertinent questions that we must ask:

  1. How does this affect consumers?
  2. How have marketers arrived to this point?

Answering the first question is easy – they don’t like it.

While advances in data mining and analysis have granted marketers the ability to track consumer behaviors and preferences like never before, personalization doesn’t necessary equate to relevancy. For example, using a consumer’s name 10 times in the two paragraphs of a welcome email does not demonstrate that you know anything about them… it in fact conveys the opposite. Another important point to remember: digital age consumers want to know that brands and marketers understand them.

Moving on the to second question, in order to understand the current state of personalized marketing, and how marketers can develop a more “personal” relationship with consumers, we need to take a more indepth look at how our digital age reliance on technology has detrimentally influenced our creative ability to market.

Let’s quickly review!

Digital Age Tech & The “Personalization” Problem

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Across the entire spectrum of the diverse digital age, products and services are being infused with cutting edge tech to streamline the purchasing process. Consumers have become dependent on tech to fuel their need for convenience, and marketers have come to rely heavily on tech-infused processes for delivering content and value to consumers. Some of the most recent marketing advancements owed to technology include:

  • Mobile Technology: The consumer value paradigm has shifted towards small screen optimization and responsiveness. Today’s consumers research, purchase and connect all via mobile devices. Tech-infused omni channel solutions now provide consumers the ability to move between mobile applications and websites with fast loading times and responsive content. The next step in omni channel mobile solutions, and one that is on the cusp of being fully adopted, is that of wearable technology. In the future, mobile will mean wearable, and the omni channel will become a fully integrated part of the consumer and their experience.
  • Big Data: Data collection for marketing in the digital age means producers have the ability to optimize content and marketing solutions based on consumer information. Data in the digital age has allowed marketers to share relevant  content with customers, and has provided the ability to adapt to consumer demand in real time. In turn, this data responsiveness has improved the overall consumer perception of brand value, because consumers receive a more personalized experience.
  • Global Reach: The digital world is a global world, and perhaps the most important contribution of technology from the last 20 years is its ability to connect diverse consumers from diverse cultures. As today’s technology has brought fast and affordable internet to most of the world, omni channel marketing strategies must now accommodate a global audience and implement methods for the global transfer of value.

As we can see, the technology of today has provided both consumers and marketers alike with a wealth of advancements. Yet, for all it has given, it has also dulled one very important aspect of digital marketing:

Our ability to deliver consumer intimacy and personalize.

Consumers have become lost in an endless sea of technological noise, wandering between a multitude of similar brands that provide similar products, services, and first name “personalization.” Digital marketers have fallen into a predictable marketing pattern, and as a result, they are losing their ability to transfer value.

Remember, the goal of any omni channel marketing campaign is to provide consumers with value. Value is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as:

“The regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something.”

As Forrester details in its 2015 study, “The Power of Personalization,” not only do consumers find importance, worth, and usefulness in receiving personalized and practical information, but it has come to define their digital age relationships with brands. Omni channel marketing meets this consumer need through a mutually beneficial exchange of value. Consumers receive a personalized experience with quality goods and services, and producers receive consumer loyalty and business. If we no longer have the ability to build intimate relationships, it is hard to satisfy consumers.

Recognizing that successful brands provide their consumers intuitive and personalized experiences, the natural solution to meet the needs of those consumers expecting “The Internet of Me” is nothing more than a new take on an old trick – automated personalization.

Let’s take a look!

The Solution – Automated Personalization

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The digital age focus of marketers when it comes to automated personalization should the efficient extraction of consumer insight from data.

It is the key to putting the “personal” back in personalization, as automation technology can seamlessly adapt to changes in consumer behavior and preferences. It is important to remember that the notion of personalized marketing in the digital age was founded upon email marketing. Back in the early beginnings of the digital age (2006/2007), marketers discovered that the clickthrough rates for emails significantly increased when a potential consumer’s first name was placed in the subject line. With this new weapon of marketing warfare the email was brought back from the dead, and the modern digital age developed.

There was just one problem – consumers caught on.

Consumers quickly realized that the “Hello, <Insert Name>” email subject lines were not true personalization, and that brands didn’t know them any better than they originally thought. It was gimmick marketing at its worst. Recalling this lesson from the past, it is easy to understand the importance of marketing automation technology today. Automated personalization leaves the heavy lifting to technology. It adapts to consumer preferences, provides relevance, and allows marketing teams to focus on understanding the consumer experience. By studying the path that digital age consumers take, and creating targeted messages for each phase, automation software can then decide when, where and how to best apply personalized consumer experiences.

Yet, many digital marketers are often overwhelmed by the immense volume of data that is involved with automated marketing. According to a recent study by Monetate, even though 94% of marketers understand how valuable personalization is to digital age success, and 91% of marketers believe successful brands market with data, the study found 95% of all data remained “untapped,” while 26% of organizations do not use real-time on-site behavior to personalize experiences.

The reality of automated personalization is that it unlocks new visitor data, efficiently uses pre-existing data, and consistently improves to make sure that content is put in the best possible position to be seen! Combined with omni channel solutions, marketers can leverage consumer interactions and create personalized and intimate experiences across multiple channels of consumer communication.

What are some digital age examples of putting the “personal” back in personalization?

Let’s take a look.

Automation Example #1 – ZURB (Welcome Emails)

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Silicon Valley based design company ZURB is creatively using email automation to connect with their subscribers by transferring a mixture of design knowledge and intimacy.

According to Daniel Codella, a marketer at ZURB, the company has a variety of newsletter templates that can be modified and personalized for different segmented consumers and target audiences. ZURB has implemented a variety of different email templates that will automatically send subscribers a highly unique welcome email that includes reading suggestions based on previously noted interests. According to the company, these emails now have around a 70-75% open rate and a 40-45% click through rate.

In the words of Codella himself:

“ZURB’s mantra as a company is “design for people.” People are at the center of everything we do. We think about who the user is, and what they need. The emails we send are going out to thousands of people. We don’t think of the members of our lists as numbers — we think of our users as people, and constantly consider what value we can provide them.”

In an age where consumers question how well their favorite brands know them, this type of automation and personalization creates a competitive edge. While ZURB is not going to win any awards for their email design (see picture above), this type of personalized automation is highly effective in transferring value. This basic approach can, and should, be implemented and improved upon through personalized creativity.

Potential strategies for improvement include:

  • Sending product recommendations based on purchase history
  • Inviting interaction via social media buzz campaigns
  • Offering promotions and discounts based on interests
  • Providing access to valuable information via webinars/tutorial videos

All of these options offer a degree of personalized value; how much so will depend on the consumer/potential consumer and their prior interactions.

Automation Example #2 – BuzzFeed (Subscriber Engagement)

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Typically recognized for its “top ten” lists focusing on need to know Game of Thrones facts, digital media/news master BuzzFeed does a lot more than set the agenda for Millennial pop culture. Recently, the company has put together a growing email marketing campaign focused on delivering valuable content to its readers via automated processes.

BuzzFeed has created more than 20 unique email newsletters that are specifically designed to meet the personalization needs of readers. From politics, to health, to sports, BuzzFeed has studied what their readers want, and they have engineered their emails to deliver value. In fact, one of the top five referrers to their website is email, with each visitor spending three minutes or longer on their website!

The picture above is an example of a knowledge course that BuzzFeed automatically personalizes and sends to subscribers via email. By leveraging browsing history and other data, BuzzFeed is able to send along multi-lesson courses that deliver value to their readers. These courses not only provide knowledge, but they automatically keep readers engaged over a number of weeks. BuzzFeed segments their actual and target audiences by interest, as consumers are more likely to opt out of emails when the content they receive is irrelevant. As a mass media publisher, BuzzFeed recognizes the need to send their dedicated readers content that is unique to their interests, and at strategic intervals.

BuzzFeed is a great digital age example that even the largest media sites can use automation to drive engagement and keep readers engaged.

Example #3 – Caribou Coffee (Organic Customization)

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Caribou Coffee is the nation’s second largest specialty coffee company, with close to 500 coffeehouses. The company is a great example of the digital age balance needed to successfully provide an automated and personalized consumer experience. Caribou takes the “wait and see” approach of allowing their consumers to shop without overwhelming opt-in noise, while simultaneously (and subtly) encouraging consumer / brand interaction.

By implementing a mix of standard and creative capture points, Caribou is able to take note of consumer preferences without altering the organic nature of the consumer experience. While the website does include the standard registration and email opt-in form, ecommerce customization is where Caribou’s personalization truly shines. From roast varieties to syrup flavors, Caribou is able to capture consumer preferences, and in turn, use this data to provide homepage suggestions for the consumer’s next visit.

Take note of the homepage pictured above… it does not exaggerate the need for email opt-ins and gimmicky subscriptions. What the homepage is actually doing is providing unique coffee suggestions based on the previous search, customization, and purchase history of the consumer. The suggestions by their very nature are organic, and not at all overwhelming. Through personalized content, imagery, and promotions, Caribou can continuously update individual user content for a fresh look, and a more intimate consumer relationship. With richer options, deeper content, and organic personalization, Caribou is a great example of automated personalization in the digital age.

As Mike Tattersfield, president and CEO, recently told Forbes:

“Our guests are extremely loyal and passionate about our product offerings, and so we are thrilled to be able to reward them for simply being our fans.”

In Conclusion….

Marketers can no longer survive by focusing on single channels and single solutions… the consumer journey will not support it. Today’s marketers must creatively integrate multiple channels while simultaneously providing an intimate, personal, and relevant consumer experience. In other words, marketers must put the “personal” back in personalization. For this task, there is no better solution than automation.

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Fast Casual Restaurants and the Omni Channel

Discover the Restaurants Serving Up Digital Age Value

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Chipotle, Panera Bread, Shake Shack… What do they all have in common?

If the first thought that came to your mind was, “They are so darn delicious!” you would not be wrong. If your second thought was, “The quality of the food!” again, you would not be wrong. Now, if your third and final thought (as I’m only giving you three!) was, “The prices are so affordable!” well, once again, you would be right.

Added together, what do these three attributes of fast casual dining equal?

Value.

According to The Washington Post, citing data from research firm Euromonitor, the market share for fast casual food has grown by 550% since 1999 … that is more than 10 times the growth of the fast food industry over the same period. This number is cited frequently with a certain degree of confusion and perplexity. Marketing traditionalists have trouble wrapping their heads around this type of sustained growth.

Yet, value is the key.

The digital age is all about aligning with consumer values and engaging in mutually beneficial exchanges. From the clothes we wear, to the electronics we purchase, to the friends we keep … we instinctively assign value to all facets of life.

With our dining experiences, it is no different.

Fast casual restaurants recognized the notion of value before most in the restaurant industry, and as early “value adapters” they have made their mark with the irresistible combination of quality food, fast service, and value. As with any mechanism for digital age success, there are multiple moving parts. Two of the most important parts of the fast casual value exchange are innovation and millennials.

Let’s take a look at both.

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Fast Casual – millennials and Tech Innovation

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Ah yes, millennials…

That group of 12- to 35-year-olds born between 1980 and the mid-2000s that we and every other marketer have written about ad nauseam. They were raised with the internet, they know how to get what they want almost instantaneously, they are the sons and daughters of the digital age.

While we will avoid diving too deep into the characteristics of the millennial generation that we and others have already covered, there are a few important truths about millennials and fast casual dining that we should quickly review. The value relationship between millennials and fast casual dining has been on the rise since the early 2000s and it focuses on a variety of different areas, including: clean locations, fast service, social media networking and social consciousness.

All are well-known and well-marketed aspects of the fast casual experience and each one has contributed to a positive market response. How positive? According to millennial marketer Blue Bear Creative:

  • The National Restaurant Association estimated fast casual-dining sales to be at $709 billion for 2015 (an increase of 3.8% from 2014)
  • NPD Group reports that fast casual visits have increased by 5 to 9% each year over the past five years
  • Restaurant Marketing Labs reports millennials will spend more per capita in restaurants than any other generation

Another well-documented element of the fast casual value exchange is the industry’s pioneering use of personalization and technology innovation. These two elements cannot help but go hand-in-hand in the digital age. The influence of technology runs strong with today’s consumers as evidenced in recent findings reported by the Wand Corp.

The article states that not only do 33% of 25- to 34-year-olds expect to use their smartphones to pay at restaurants, but at least once a month:

  • 31% of consumers use mobile devices to view menus
  • 27% of consumers order from a restaurant’s website or app
  • 23% of consumers read online reviews

Why all the emphasis on mobile?

Because it is how today’s consumers connect!

Understanding this, fast casual restaurants use mobile technology and other connected devices to not only learn about their customers wants and needs, but to leverage this data to create a truly unique personalized experience. Menus and devices can be unique, even social media interactions can be based on device data. Other areas of fast casual omni channel innovation include:

    • High Tech Ordering: Table top kiosks are the future of fast casual ordering. No longer will consumers have to adhere to the restrictive nature of order and payment lines. Consumers will be able to browse the menu at their leisure and order when ready. This system allows for the creative and strategic implementation of menus and enhances personalization by giving consumers the ability to customize their orders.
    • Online Ordering: Whether purchasing a handbag or burrito, e-commerce is all about convenience. Online ordering platforms have been a staple of fast casual for years, giving customers the ability to order in advance and from the comfort of their homes. From personal ordering, to the professional catering boom, having the option to accommodate a busy digital age schedule is a value transfer that makes digital age consumers more likely to elect fast casual over other similar dining options.
    • Loyalty Programs: Digital age loyalty programs are based on the notion of “mobile first.” As mobile applications have granted deep insight into customer behavior, fast casual restaurants have created loyalty programs specific to individual consumers. By reviewing the frequency of visits, specific locations and order preferences, fast casual restaurants can create robust profiles for consumer preferences and habits.

Let’s take a look at several examples of omni channel/fast casual innovation.

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Example #1 – Panera Bread

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Panera Bread sets the digital age standard for fast casual.

Panera initiated a so-called “Panera 2.0” strategy in 2014 in an attempt to reconnect with today’s consumers. This strategy involved a complete consumer experience makeover and a simplification of the guest experience. The two cornerstones of the makeover are digital ordering and digital payment.

Walk into your local Panera Bread and it is bound to look quite different from the soup, salad and sandwich cafe/bakery you are used to. Remember the long lines around lunch time and the buzzer you were given to call you when your order was ready? Both are gone. Today you will find ordering to-go, ordering from the table, fully customizable ordering, touch screen kiosks, mobile and online payment options and the list goes on.

It was important for Panera Bread to reconnect with millennials, after all, it was only three years ago that their millennial-targeted “EZ Chicken” social media campaign bombed. Panera Bread’s integrated approach of 2016 focuses less on gimmicks and buzz and more on providing a truly enhanced guest experience. This new tech infusion, together with a refined emphasis on healthy ingredients and social justice, has gone a long way in repairing the loyalty damage done from prior marketing mishaps.

In the words of CEO and founder Ron Shaich:

“Panera 2.0 is an investment in the customer enabled by technology and powered by operational excellence. It’s more than a mobile payment system or digital-ordering process. It’s an integrated, comprehensive, end-to-end solution that we believe will reduce friction such as wait times, improve order accuracy and minimize or eliminate crowding — all while creating a platform for an ever more personalized experience.”

It is a solution otherwise known as the omni channel.

Example #2 – Shake Shack

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While Panera Bread may be leading the fast casual pack, Shake Shack isn’t far behind. Known for its loyal millennial fans, its emphasis on grassroots marketing and delicious all natural/hormone-free beef, Shake Shack has come a long way for a company that started 10 years ago as a NYC hot dog cart.

From hot dog cart to a successful IPO (with a company valuation of $1.63 billion), how did Shake Shack engineer this miraculous growth in an industry notorious for fast failures?

Easy, Shake Shack communicated via the most easily accessible consumer communication channel of today:

Social Media.

It is no secret that social media is driving the omni channel strategies of the digital age. Shake Shack has bucked the industry norm by focusing almost exclusively on social communication channels together with brick and mortar optimization. You will be hard pressed to find traditional media use – i.e. television, radio, print – that matches the level of their competitors. Shake Shack invests in building grassroots followings on social media platforms such as Vine and Instagram.

According to a Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research report, Shake Shack’s presence on Vine is massive relative to other industry competitors:

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And Instagram, too? You bet:

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While McDonald’s and other industry competitors may have a higher number of followers, they do not compare to Shake Shacks social media presence relative to system sales and revenue. It is here that Shake Shack, with only 63 worldwide locations, has no equal.

Shake Shack does not have to invest millions in digital marketing to improve customer loyalty. What they have employed almost exclusively is social media. A quick review of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+ and Youtube reveals a strategy focusing on consistency, frequency and connecting with the digital age consumer. By reaching out to their target market in the digital spaces they most often frequent, Shake Shack has proved that word of mouth marketing is alive and well in the digital age.

Consistent social media interactions, together with tech infusions (such as location-based webcams to monitor lines), will continue to allow Shake Shack to thrive in the digital age even without a McDonald’s type marketing budget.

Example #3 – Chipotle

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Ah yes, Chipotle Mexican Grill, not only the king of burritos, but the the king of fast casual.

Chipotle is the seasoned veteran on a team of young fast casual up and comers. Bringing 23 years of experience to the fast casual table, Chipotle has consistently stayed true to its millennial-centric omni channel marketing strategy.

Changing the paradigm for order processing, burrito orders at Chipotle are mobile and have been for some time now. Understanding the importance of utilizing multiple consumer channels, Chipotle has created one of the most acclaimed ordering applications available in fast casual dining.

From the office, to the gym, to the comforts of your own home, if you have a mobile device with an internet connection, you can place an order for pick up, track your order and save your favorite items for future access.

Need to answer a few e-mails or finish your gym routine? The app will even alert you when your food is ready so you can plan your schedule accordingly and get in and out of the pickup location without a hassle.

The app experience is fully customizable and inspired by Chipotles highly acclaimed service lines. As an added bonus (and omni channel standard), account information is seamlessly transferred from the mobile app to the online ordering platform, making sure customers never waste a second when changing devices.

App use is as easy as:

1) Select Location

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2) Order Entree

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3) Customize Order

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4) Split Order (if necessary)

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5) Review

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6) Select Pickup Time

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It is an app providing true value to the on-the-go consumer of the digital age.

In Conclusion….

Fast casual is an industry to be admired, respected and imitated due to omni channel success stories. While we have just briefly covered three examples, the industry as a whole is pioneering omni channel innovation. By focusing on technology infused processes, social interactions and consumer values, fast casual will continue to set the omni channel standard in the digital age.

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Email Marketing Personalization

Omni Channel Communication – Why E-mail?

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In today’s digital age what is the purpose of omni channel communication?

Generally, it is to communicate and convert, to build relationships with the customer and to create more unified and relevant experiences for today’s value driven consumers.

Understanding this, we must ask: Is e-mail dead?

Ok, so the question may be a little dramatic, but it is necessary to answer in the digital age. With the advanced technology solutions now available, why do we still need e-mail?

Well … before we begin, let’s take a look at the numbers.

According to a recent Pew Research Center study, 64% of Americans now own a smartphone. This number has increased slightly from 58% in 2014. The Pew study found that while text messaging is the most widely-used smartphone feature, “e-mail continues to retain a place of prominence in the smartphone era.” According to the same study, around 88% of smartphone users accessed e-mail on their phone at least one time over the course of the study period … making e-mail a more widely-used smartphone feature than video, social media and navigation applications.

It seems that if the true calling of omni channel marketing is to provide a total customer experience, i.e., to meet the consumer where they want to be met and deliver the value that consumers demand, then the numbers prove that e-mail is still KING.

If e-mail isn’t dead, what is the omni channel challenge of the digital age?

Keeping information up-to-date.

With the intertwining and complex communication channels that exist today, this task can be tough. However, e-mail provides an ideal mechanism to meet and overcome this challenge.

What are some of the great benefits using e-mail in the omni channel? Let’s briefly review:

#1 Value Driven Updates

Why is e-mail marketing an ideal digital age omni channel strategy? Because with minimal effort and high-cost efficiency, marketers can see steadily increase revenue and build loyalty by implementing highly informative e-mail newsletters.

Newsletters are powerful marketing and communication tools that not only remind your users you exist, but they inform them of your products, services, social presence and promotions (i.e., your value). Newsletters are added value in the sense that customers and potential customers sign up because they want to build a relationship with your brand, not because they are forced to.

Recent survey figures reveal 95% of people who sign up for a newsletter from a known brand find it somewhat or very useful … i.e., 95% find value. Also, it is important to note that newsletters are a relatively low–cost method as compared to mainstream marketing channels.

#2 Vast Mobile Reach

In the digital age, customers are constantly checking their e-mail, social networks and shopping online. Ifact, a recent Forrester Research study estimates that 42% of retailer e-mails for the year 2014 were opened on smartphones, and 17% were opened on tablets.

This high frequency of mobile use translates into countless opportunities to target unique market segments and create a user experience engineered specifically for mobile use. Some marketers have argued SMS (texting) marketing is more appropriate in the digital age because it streamlines value via the most widely used communication channel today; however, it’s important to remember e-mail has its advantages. For example, e-mail works on all mobile devices (not only phones), it is free (carrier charges apply to text messages) and e-mail allow for longer messages with the addition of digital media (pictures, videos, etc.).

#3 Fulfilled Expectations

While receiving an e-mail in 2016 doesn’t quite equal the joy of hearing, “You’ve got mail!” in 1999, it is what customers and potential customers are expecting from retailers in the digital age. According to an August 2015,e-mail marketing study by Adobe, 63% of customers continue to prefer to receive marketing promotions and offers through e-mails. This means that 63% of customers not only desire e-mail interactions, they expect them! By meeting consumer expectations, e-mail assists digital age marketers with the never ending quest to align consumer and marketer values.

Yet, for all the great benefits listed above, the truth remains that the consumer inbox in the digital age is a crowded place….

How crowded?

Well, according to Microsoft, the average e-mail user has an inbox count consisting of around 50% newsletters and 20% social media updates… and each of these consists of countless businesses and multiple social media platforms. Want even more evidence? In 2015, over 205 billion e-mails were sent and received daily.

This large number of 205 billion e-mails tells us retailers and marketers must separate from the pack or risk losing conversion and leads. Two of the best value creation strategies for standing out in the digital age include:

Personalization and automation.

Without further adieu, let’s take a look at how you can float like a butterfly while you sting like a bee and one-two punch your way to higher conversion rates.

E-mail Personalization – The Loyalty Builder

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It should be well recognized that personalization and marketing are inseparable in the digital age. Consumers have a personalization preference from the brands they use and love, because not only does personalization relieve the information overload of today, but personalized information makes the shopping experience more relevant to consumers.

By applying personalization techniques to e-mail marketing campaigns, marketers are more likely to build long–term relationships with customersand increase conversion rates. In terms of tangible numbers, this could translate into 6x higher transaction rates for personalized e-mails when compared to non-personalized e-mails.

As stunning as this figure sounds, perhaps the most amazing number is that only 35% of marketers are using personalized e-mail subject lines! Since 60% of marketers say they struggle with personalization, here are several simple personalization methods to try to boost conversion rates:

#1 Ask Questions and Build Profiles

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Customer segmentation depends on data. Yet, marketers often fail to ask the necessary questions before opting-in and segmenting potential consumers. What are the “right” questions? Remember the who, the what and the why:

Who are your customers? Why are they visiting/using your product/joining your list? What do they value?

Exclusive Bonus: Download 5 Tips for Email Personalization to know how to personalize email marketing.

These three simple questions can go a long way in gaining detailed consumer insight and creating highly targeted e-mails. For reference, the multi-question opt-in form above (from Thrive Leads) is a perfect example of how marketers can immediately begin to build value by understanding the interests and wants of clients.

Based on the answer to the question above, consumers and potential consumers can be assigned to separate segments and then sent different e-mails focusing on their specific interests. How effective is this technique? Well, Paper Style, an invitation and paper supply company, saw their open rate increased by 244% and their click-through rate increase by 161%.

Effective indeed!

#2 Develop Opt-In Consistency

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A great and subtle technique to help align with consumer values is ensuring your opt-in copy matches your e-mail copy. Remember, someone opted in for a reason! Your landing page and CTA have already conveyed a certain degree of value. Use this to your advantage by syncing the look and copy of your opt-ins with your e-mails.

The picture above highlights the recent success story of Nuffield Health. Wanting to increase opt-ins and leads, they segmented their target market and then assigned personalized landing pages and an e-mail series to each segment. By pairing personalized e-mails and landing pages, they were able to increase their conversion rates from 1% to 8%.

#3 Encourage Consumer Responses

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Our last tip is perhaps the most important. Remember, the entire point of sending an e-mail or a series of e-mails is to engage clients and potential clients. “Engage” means provoking a response via value. Accepting this as true, what is wrong with the e-mail address below?

noreply@company.com

By using a “no reply” e-mail address, you are telling your target market not to respond! Having a reply address creates a dialog channel that plays to consumer value. Using a real person and a real name will go a long way in making an e-mail credible and in provoking a response or action on the part of the consumer.

Want further motivation? Most ISPs do not allow “no reply” e-mail addresses to be added to address books; therefore, they are more likely to be tagged as spam.

Remember, no reply means no customer.

E-mail Automation – The Value Optimizer

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The implementation of e-mail automation strategies has become one of the most effective ways to engage in e-mail marketing. Automation and CRM software streamlines the consumer engagement processes, saves time and money and helps marketers develop relationships via personalized and efficient communication.

When should e-mail automation be employed?It should be used when:

  • Sending an e-mail series for courses or segmented information
  • Welcoming a newly opted-in subscriber to your e-mail list
  • Personalizing special messages (i.e., birthday, Christmas, etc.)
  • Purchasing follow–up (i.e., thank you, feedback, etc.)
  • Completing questionnaires and surveys to gain valuable insight

Not one of the 82% of B2B and B2C companies using e-mail automation? Here are some basic steps to get you started:

  • Select Trigger: What is a trigger? It is a specific action that activates an e-mail solution of your choice. For example, let’s say you decide that the trigger should be the moment someone subscribes to an e-mail list. A “scribing trigger” means that whenever an individual opts-in to receive your weekly e-mail, they will receive a welcome and thank you e-mail. Other triggers could be those mentioned from above: purchases, birthdays, lack of customer activity, etc. While the activation reasons may vary from individual to individual, it is important to remember that specific activation triggers should be part of a larger personalization strategy.
  • Design E-mail(s): Depending on the trigger, goal and target audience, e-mails and e-mail series will vary. They could include welcome e-mails, “getting started with your product” e-mails and discount e-mails. The point is to keep the communication channels open between the retailer and customer while consistently encourage a response. Again, individual goals will vary from series to series, but the overall goal of these e-mails is to remind your consumer or potential consumer of the value you can deliver. Also, remember to personalize! For a great resource on current and successful e-mail design examples, check out this recent list by Hubspot.
  • Select and Optimize Timing: The scheduling and timing of e-mails is a neglected and overlooked part of the automation process. Marketers should never take for granted the impact of time and location. From LA to Shanghai to London, it is important to remember today’s consumers are global. Certain market segments will prefer times that others won’t. Whether it is 8 a.m. or 7:30 p.m., the only way marketers will discover the value of optimal delivery times is through testing. A model example is the case study of BustedTees. This e–commerce retailer was able to segment its e-mail list by time zone and they developed personalized delivery times by reviewing past data on individual open times. The results included an 8% lift in e-mail revenue, an 11% higher click–through rate and a 17% increase in total e-mail response rate.

In Conclusion….

As you can see from the numbers and case studies mentioned above, e-mail personalization works. It engages customers, opens communication channels and builds value. Automation strategies in the digital age help facilitate the process of personalization through data analysis and lead nurturing.

Put together, today’s marketers have a one-two punch for e-mail optimization and omni channel ROI.

Exclusive Bonus: Download 5 Tips for Email Personalization to know how to personalize email marketing.

How Much Can You Know About Digital If You’ve Never Been In A Fight?

The first rule of Fight Club… you don’t talk about Fight Club.

The first rule of Digital Fight Club… you tweet, Snapchat, Instagram, Vine, Facebook, live stream, and email about fight club (Oh, and don’t forget to use the hashtag #DDFightClub & #DigitalDallas).

Last week the NectarOM team grabbed ringside seats to Digital Dallas’s Digital Fight Club and watched ten digital dynamos go head-to-head in five “fights” putting on the ropes some of the hottest undecided topics in technology today.  In other words, providing the ultimate panel experience.

The Fighters 

 

“Well, what do you want me to do? You just want me to hit you?” 

 

The Referees

 

Project Mayhem – The Fight Format

The fighters didn’t hold back, for one minute each fighter stepped into the ring and presented their argument, followed by a 30-second rebuttal, and answered a question from the referees. This sparring format highlighted each fighter’s verbal communication expertise and how events can use digital to interact with the audience. After punches had been thrown, the audience and judges used a web app to place their votes to crown the winner.

 

The Winners & Losers

Fight Club Digital Dallas Winners

 

For all you marketers that couldn’t attend, you’re in luck.  Digital Dallas plans to release a video of the event so you can see the fighters in action.

 

Until then get the blow-by-blow recount.

 

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.

Exclusive Bonus: Download the FREE overview of Big Box Retail Companies that are Crushing It with Omni Channel Personalization

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.

Exclusive Bonus: Download the FREE overview of Big Box Retail Companies that are Crushing It with Omni Channel Personalization

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.

Exclusive Bonus: Download the FREE overview of Big Box Retail Companies that are Crushing It with Omni Channel Personalization

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.

Exclusive Bonus: Download the FREE overview of the Top 5 Insurance Companies that are Crushing It with Omni-Channel Personalization

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.

Exclusive Bonus: Download the FREE overview of the Top 5 Insurance Companies that are Crushing It with Omni-Channel Personalization

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.

Exclusive Bonus: Download the FREE overview of the Top 5 Insurance Companies that are Crushing It with Omni-Channel Personalization

6 Types of Data To Collect From Customers And How to Grow Your Marketing Strategy With It

Personalization has hit the mainstream as the best marketing strategy for growing your business. It’s used by niche companies and conglomerates alike in order to create an experience that entices customers to buy. There’s no denying it’s power.

Have you ever found yourself shopping for a new shirt online, only to be bombarded with matching ads later in the day. The ads may even be the exact products your were looking at from the same sites. They’re remarketing based off information you provided. Someone else who shopped for pants will see a completely different set of ads.

The idea is to use a one-on-one marketing strategy to develop a closer relationship with your customer. Omni-channel personalization, with a focus on these data points, can create a thorough approach to tailoring your recommendations based on what you know about the individual. Levels of use will vary, but the goal is clear:

Marketing is no longer about whose ad is seen the most. It’s about who can be more personal.

 

1. Name

Names have been called the ‘customer’s favorite word’ and for good reason. Would you rather I address you as “Appreciated Customer”, or can we take it to a more personal level? Well Greg, we’ve got a deal for you.

Businesses have been using customer names since people started peddling wares in Mesopotamian markets. When Greg bought that suit, the owner had already learned his name. The next time he walked in, he was welcomed with it. It made Greg feel more appreciated than when he visited other shops. It created a brand loyalty and he’s significantly less likely to take his business elsewhere.

Knowing your customer’s name is easy when you’re talking face to face with her, but how can you do it when thousands of people are browsing your digital store?

Web developers solved this problem long ago. Membership and e-mail sign ups require a name. Even websites that only share your username have begun using your real first name rather than the word ‘profile’ on your browser. It creates a more personalized experience when the web page displays your name in the corner, even if you know it’s an automated system.

By e-mail lists having this information, subject lines can be constructed to appear like personal messages. Seeing their own name elicits a reaction from the brain, forcing them to slow down and read the text. Campaign Monitor found that working personalization into an e-mail subject line increased open rates by 14.68%. With a list of 1,000, that translates to nearly 150 more people opening your message. That’s 150 more potential sales just because you directed the letter at Greg. Talk about a great ROI on personalization.

 

2. Location

Where using a name is great, MailChimp would argue that city names are even better.

Locations can be used to expose customers to events in a given area. Is there an expo or event that you want to share with your fans. Directed messages at their location can be the quickest way to do it.

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6 Types of Data to Collect from Customers and How to Grow Your Marketing Strategy With It nectarom

Sending e-mails about a race in Seattle to people who live in New York City will cause your open rate to drop drastically. Meanwhile, your audience in the greater Seattle area may now attend, increasing engagement with your brand.

Gathering this information can be done through two key methods. You can have customers provide their location when signing up for different features, or you can have them grant permission using a geo-location enabled app.

Marketing Land claims mobile brand ads are seeing a 20% increase in conversions when coupled with location data. Need more reasons? They also found that “69% of Google searches  include a specific location.” That’s more data you can use in your marketing strategy.

A study by White Horse Productions, Inc. showed that 8% of the users of social apps running geo-location systems believe “savings in discounts and merchant rewards” are the most important benefit. Though this number seems low, given the sheer volume of traffic that social media receives on a daily basis, this number is astounding. Since 60% of that poll thinks the social aspects are most important, it could be argued that discounts and deals would play a larger secondary role for most.

Businesses like Yelp allow their customers to ‘check-in’ to different establishments. Later, they’re reminded to review the places they visited. This creates more interaction with their site and app, as well as customer pride because they’ve contributed to the product. The ‘check-in’ strategy also brings more engagement on social media, showing up on the newsfeeds for everyone to see.

The largest battle with tracking a customer’s location is the concern for privacy. Many smartphone users will disable the GPS feature because of a fear that the information will be used inappropriately. Unfortunately for the honorable business, this leaves the ability to track location to user sign ups and invoices. Still, it’s better than comprising your integrity.

 

3. Gender

The purple elephant in the room, gender, has become a touchy subject in today’s social climate. Still, for a business, knowing someone’s gender can translate into better targeting and profit.

A study by G+ proved that targeting genders can be more than efficient. They found that females make more of the buying decisions, including everything home furnishings to cars. They also saw that women are more likely to use a specific brand if it supports a cause.

Using this information alone, you could develop a strategy to target your female customers with ads. Select the cause you’re most affiliated with, expressing a cause, and have better luck at winning them over. Even better is that if it’s a large purchase, you know to focus more attention on that gender.

Learning your customer’s gender also gives you the ability to tailor recommendations on page. If you’re a clothing company that sells to everyone, ads offering skirts will be better directed at women, while men’s products are better with them. This technique would still require a Facebook pixel or local account, but it could pay dividends in the long run.

 

4. Previous Purchases

Along with the gender focused advertising, many sites will tap your previous purchases to target you. Amazon is excellent at this strategy.

When you’re comparing items, say a sleeping bag, you can go through dozens of pages without making a purchase. Don’t worry, when you open your Facebook later, you’ll find that Amazon has a kindly reminder waiting for you. They’ll use sponsored posts to keep your mental shopping cart alive and even offer recommendations for some of the sleeping bags you were looking at earlier.

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You can follow this same approach, or target on a finer scale. When a customer purchases a sleeping bag from your site, launch an automated email chain that offers them related products, like lamps or walking sticks. The odds of a customer buying from you again are higher than the chances of that initial purchase. It’s marketing done easy.

On the other side of the spectrum is the abandoned shopping cart. Maybe a customer became distracted. Maybe they found your prices too steep. By knowing that they didn’t make a purchase, but had intended to, you can attempt to reengage the customer. Remind them of the cart or make new offers. There are a lot of possibilities just by identifying their cart status and it can all be crafted into an automated system.

In the same sense, send emails when discounts appear on items they’ve expressed interest in, be it from a wishlist or deleted cart items. Study everything about a customer’s purchase history and you can learn some specific ways to target the individual.

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5. Interests

If interests aren’t part of your personalization marketing strategy, you’re doing it wrong. They can tell us everything we need to know in order to interact with customers.

Interest marketing is especially effective on social media platforms. Sites like Facebook and Twitter build profiles on all of their users, including everything they like. These likes translate into marketing channels.

By applying ads to social media, you can automatically engage those who prefer the niche you’re addressing without having to sort them out. A billboard is a shot in the dark. Social media advertising, thanks to the ability to target interests, is a point blank shot.

 

6. Web Behavior

A customer’s behavior on the web can lead to a lot of profitable information. Everything from web content to e-mail interaction can be tracked in order to improve your marketing strategy. Using omni-channel personalization with knowledge of their trends can be even better.

To start, figure out what the most popular key words for your business are. Once you have them, develop landing pages for each. Highlight those keywords as many times as you can in the page to be sure that’s the one they find and let the personalized experience begin. Depending on how many keywords you want, you can continue to develop new pages, offering a deeper connection to your audience.

Those keywords can say a lot in themselves by defining where the customer is in the purchasing stages. If they’re searching for a specific knife review, odds are that they’re looking to purchase that knife. If they’re looking for the 7 best survival knives, they may be a little further away. Through personalization, you can recommend products and advertisements based off where they are in that process.

Tracking behavior is where your content marketing can pay off. Everyone who has run a business with an online presence understands that cookies can be pivotal in your marketing strategy. By tracking which pages your customers are viewing, you can tailor content specifically to their interest. This can be a recommendation to other articles and products based off the category or focused bonus material.

Content upgrades that are directly related to the topic of the page can provide a great window for opportunity. If a customer is reading about repairing chainsaws, a guide to felling trees with one may be enough to get his e-mail. From there, he’s entered your sales funnel, leaving him open to more e-mails and potentially other personalization tactics from you.

Along with getting those messages out, you need to pay attention to how your customers interact with your e-mails. Spot which links are getting the most use and place the customers into a segmented list. Send them more emails that focus on the topic they’re interested in. Reduce the size of your segments if you can, creating various targeted sub-lists while still sending them e-mails from the main subscription.

Collecting data to grow your marketing strategy is as simple as opening a few analytics accounts and paying attention to customer behavior. Run as many tests as you can to learn what works and what doesn’t to maximize your potential.

The information you gather can be the difference between a year of growth or another twelve months of your peers passing you by. Develop a strategy for personalization and take the lead.

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