Personalization Archives - Page 9 of 13 - Omnichannel Personalization SaaS Solution

07 Apr
2015

Optimizing Mobile and Preparing for Mobilegeddon

Syncing your mobile and website platforms has always been a smart move for marketers, simply because shoppers prefer the ease and convenience of optimized mobile sites.

However, new updates to Google make this optimization a necessity, rather than option, for today’s eCommerce sites.

Google recently released plans to change its mobile search rankings based on a site’s “mobile friendliness” in the eyes of Google. The search engine giant will implement adjustments to its algorithm starting April 21, 2015 and has provided a tool to check if a site is mobile-friendly.

This is a big game changer for retailers that benefit from showing up high on Google’s search list. If these mobile sites are not properly optimized, they may be knocked down a few pages on Google’s search results lists. Companies around the world have cleverly dubbed these big changes, “Mobilegeddon.”

Google’s announcement has caused companies to reevaluate their mobile optimization. In light of this game changing situation, we are determining the best ways to optimize websites via mobile.

What does mobile “unfriendliness” look like?

Tiny links and text that require the user to zoom in are unfriendly, according to Google. Sites that require the user to scroll sideways to see content is also unfriendly. A properly optimized mobile site should be easy for the user to understand and use.

This shouldn’t surprise anybody. Shoppers like seamless experiences that are quick and easy – not an hour-long session that requires time, effort, and lots of extra navigation.

Although Google is practically requiring sites to become more mobile-friendly, retailers should have already be attentive to consumers by offering the best material for them. However, recent studies show that a whopping 91% of small businesses have not optimized their sites. When NectarOM heard this statistic combined with the breaking news of Google’s Mobilegeddon, we decided to take a closer look at optimization and mobile sites.

Types of mobile site configuration

There are a couple different ways companies can configure their sites to mobile:

Responsive: Responsive configuration looks the same across all devices used. It uses the same URL across all platforms. For example, a site will look relatively similar on a laptop and on a mobile device – minus a few formatting changes. Tech experts agree that, traditionally, Google prefers a responsive configuration.
Mobile-specific: Mobile specific configuration can look significantly different from a website viewed on a computer. Oftentimes, these sites utilize less text, larger links, and resizing features to make the mobile commerce experience easy for users. Mobile-specific sites usually use “m” as their subdomain. For example, Peet’s Coffee and Tea
designs their mobile site to include elements from their website – but with larger buttons and links, and less text.

Effectively optimizing mobile content

When reconfiguring your mobile site, there are several factors your company should consider for easy site viewing and usage. We’ve determined what we think are the most important factors for effective optimization.

The most im

portant thing to remember when optimizing for mobile is to keep things simple. Don’t overcrowd the user’s mobile screen with text and links – an overabundance of content can get overwhelming and leave the user frustrated. Instead of cramming an information surplus into a home page, use basic links and titles to make a shopping experience easy for your users.

As far as formatting goes, there are several different factors that can strengthen your mobile optimization.

One of my biggest qualms in mobile sites are links that are too small or too close together. When my

Heinz uses links that are way too small for anyone's thumbs — Heinz uses links that are way too small for anyone’s thumbs

thumbs are too large to click a single link on my phone, I oftentimes get so annoyed that I leave the site entirely. When this happens, I might check out a competitor’s site, and use that instead if its easier to use. Be sure that consumers are able to click on your links easily so they don’t leave you for your competition.

Similarly, your site’s text should carry over seamlessly to mobile as well. If you are not designing a site unique to your mobile device, your site should utilize text that is easy to read – even when it’s smaller. Large, cursive fonts that may look pretty on the computer can look like illegible scribbles on a small mobile device.

Companies should also be aware of which outside content they are bringing into their site. In particular, plug-ins like Flash or Java can be an Achilles’ heel for companies implementing them on mobile sites. Both Flash and Java are notorious for failing to be mobile friendly. Ensure that your users are able to experience all content by avoiding these entities.

Going forward

Optimizing mobile in the upcoming weeks will be a necessity for all businesses. And the sooner you get started with optimization, the more time your company can take to effectively optimize your content. Interested in learning about other ways you can utilize mobile? Check out our mobile personalization white paper to learn what personalization can do for your mobile marketing campaign.

26 Mar
2015

Increasing Loyalty with Personalization

Two weeks ago, we talked a little about defining the loyal customer with data.

And because loyalty is so important for successful marketing, we decided to explore the topic a little further. But this time, we’re looking at loyalty through the lens of personalization. Personalization is the best way to successfully retain customers effectively and efficiently.

We have developed a guide to show how personalizing marketing can increase customer retention and loyalty.

Collecting Data

When marketers struggle, the reason often has something to do with acquiring customer information and data. Marketers may worry that customers are hesitant to share personal information – especially over digital avenues. Some customers may complain that the process to share information takes too long to share. Others may worry that disclosing contact information may put them at the receiving end for a plethora of spam mail.

It is a marketer’s job to put these customers’ minds at ease. Customers unwilling to spend an extra few minutes sharing personal information should be reminded that data disclosure is a future investment. Spending extra time sharing information today can result in a faster online check-out in the future.

Kate Spade gives its subscribers exclusive access to its secret sales

Marketers should also reassure consumers who are wary of spam mail. Those worried about copious amounts of spam should be reminded that they will actually be on the receiving end of exclusive offers from the retailer – offers that may not be available without sharing an email address. Consider Kate Spade’s email campaign, which offers secret sales for users that share email addresses.

While these ideas might seem like second-nature ideas for marketers, it’s important to remember that the public is not always familiar with loyalty programs and data disclosure.

Drafting content

After data has been collected, marketers can develop personalized content.

Personalized content is meaningful content for consumers. Integrating customer data into marketing can transform a generalized message into an intimate, 1:1 experience.

Personalized messages should always contain the recipient’s name. Using a customer’s name in a subject line can serve as an attention grabber. When scrolling through emails from a variety of companies, a customer is more likely to pause when seeing his or her own name amidst dozens of irrelevant emails. Name usage can also make a customer feel important. A first-name basis relationship can enhance the intimacy between marketer and marketee.

Personalized content should also incorporate the consumer’s location. Consider, for example, AmazonLocal, which sends emails with deals based around a shopper’s location. These offers are often successful because people obviously prefer products that are relevant to their lives – about 3 out of 4 people get frustrated with irrelevant offers.

Personalize via nontraditional channels

Don’t be afraid to stray from the automated email “norm.” Differentiate your company from others by sending hand written notes or making phone calls to your loyal customers.

Designer Tory Burch is an expert at personalizing through nontraditional channels. The lifestyle brand who sent its frequent shoppers holiday gifts in December. My mom was sent a small USB keychain as a gift, as well as a note from the company, thanking her for her purchases. The token was small, but the gesture was big and memorable.

Personalized tokens show customer appreciation, which, in turn, perpetuate loyalty and retention. Thinking outside of the box can be an asset when keeping customers interested and invested in your company.

Personalization’s potential

Personalization is great for increasing customer loyalty, but there are many other ways marketers can use content marketing to their advantage. Learn about how to overcome stress when marketing, or how to tap into the disconnected consumer with personalization.

26 Feb
2015

Marketing Personalization: A Long Term Investment

With 94% of marketers agreeing “personalization of the web experience is critical to current and future success,” we know that personalization is an investment that yields impressive results.

However, personalizing content can take more effort than producing generic, robotic marketing content. Getting to know a customer’s habits and preferences can take time, and analyzing customer behavior may require a few extra resources from the marketer’s toolbox. Nevertheless, personalization is an investment worth making, as a 1:1 shopping experience yields dramatic increases in ROI.

How is personalization a “long-term investment”?

Companies might need to wait several months before seeing a significant payoff in any type of long-term investment. The time it takes for personalization to pay off varies, based on the amount of interaction a shopper has with a company. For example, the pay off for a consumer that purchases purchases from a company a few times each year is longer than the payoff of a consumer who buys from that same company a few times each week. The brand will subsequently have more opportunity to gather data about the frequent purchaser based on his or her purchases and will be able to use the applicable personalization techniques over time to increase revenue on the customer. The more you know about your customer, the better the payoff.

Why does personalization yield results?

Customers prefer personalization. Tailored content enhances a shopping experience and makes a customer feel special. 1:1 marketing improves loyalty, strengthens business-consumer relationships, generates leads, and attracts shoppers. This all leads to an increase in sales and ROI. With all of these potential benefits, marketers should be more than willing to invest a little effort into personalizing content for shoppers.

How do you get that payoff?

Investing in personalization is a three-step process. Marketers should practice the following steps for maximum ROI.

Collect customer data: Data is the backbone for a personalized marketing campaign. Companies can collect customer data with a Data Management Platform (DMP), and make adjustments to marketing strategies based on what customer data tells them. Companies can retrieve data by offering exclusive customer membership accounts, promising an exchange of personal information like name, address, and birthday, for special offers and discounts. Companies can also collect data from customers’ past searches or purchases in-store or online. After compiling this information, marketers can then…
Analyze customer data: Customer data analysis shows whether a marketing strategy is working or failing. By evaluating specific metrics, marketers can figure out their customers’ preferences. Each interaction between a consumer and a business contributes to their 360-degree customer profile. The more interactions a consumer has with a business, the more complete their customer profile will be. Complete profiles allow businesses to adjust their marketing strategies and provide relevant content for customers. With a customer profile, marketers can proceed to…
Create content based off of analysis and customer profiles: Once a company figures out which marketing messages their customers prefer, marketers can begin drafting personalized, relevant content. This tailored content may include products similar to past purchases, or special offers based on birthdays or location. Data analysis is reflected in every aspect of customer content – from a personalized subject line of an automated email to a list of recommended products on a website.

The collection, analysis and content development process should be a never-ending cycle. If companies slack on collecting customer data, marketers could miss important changes in customer preferences. This could lead to an inaccurate data analysis. Mistakes in data analysis – or neglecting to analyze data at all – can taint marketing content. And failure to adjust marketing messages can lead to a drop in sales, as nearly 75% of consumers dislike irrelevant content. Interested in learning a little more about marketing personalization? Check out some of personalization basics here.

22 Jan
2015

Overcoming Stress with Marketing Personalization

Marketing has never been easy, and 2015 is no exception. This year, marketers in every industry will face several new challenges and stressors. However, today’s marketers should banish all anxiety and confidently embrace these challenges head on with a marketing personalization strategy.

We have determined three common stressors for today’s marketers, which can all be solved by implementing marketing personalization techniques.

Adjusting to big shifts in target audience

For decades, the largest generation has been the baby boomers. Boomers have held the most purchasing power and have been primary targets in marketing campaigns. However, as Millennials begin to outnumber the boomers, there will be a shift in purchasing power. This shift might be stressful, as marketers will be forced to change marketing strategies to remain relevant to Millennials.

However, marketing personalization is the key to pleasing this new purchasing power. Personalization is one of the most important elements that Millennials want when being marketed to.

A Forbes article explains, “Millennials today are looking for relevancy…they want to develop relationships with brands that deliver a personalized, customized experience.”

While the shift in purchasing power might be unnerving for businesses, marketing personalization is exactly what businesses should implement to gain favor with Millennials.

Keeping up with technological advances

When it comes to making sales, marketing and technology go hand-in-hand. Over the past century, marketing has evolved with technology from simple print ads to broadcast and radio, broadcast and radio to the Internet, and Internet to mobile and social media. With several changes in a short span of time, marketers may be stressed about using the latest marketing technology to attract customers.

Embracing marketing personalization is the key to a successful transition into the newest development in marketing technology.

The newest development in marketing technology is the marketing cloud. Marketing clouds will connect engagement channels and create an omnichannel experience for customers.

An article from Forbes lists several ways that businesses can be the winners when using the marketing cloud. Personalization appears several different times, through recommendations like “map the end-to-end decision journey for each persona,” and “build and manage personalized experiences and campaigns across key touch points seamlessly.”

As businesses introduce the cloud into their marketing strategy, implementing marketing personalization will make this technological adjustment easier and more effective.

Meeting goals

Marketers stressing about meeting their businesses’ goals may be at an advantage when considering personalization strategies.

In 2014, a CMO report found that the top four marketing priorities for 2014 were customer acquisition, personalized experiences, customer engagement, and loyalty. With the implementation of a personalized marketing approach, successfully meeting these priorities should be easy.

Implementing marketing personalization obviously meets the personalized experience priority. However, personalization also plays a strong role in meeting the remaining three goals.

With the average human attention span approximately 8 seconds, companies have a small window of time to attract consumers. A personalized, tailored message can quickly grab a consumer’s attention – and keep it. Companies can also improve customer engagement by presenting relevant, personalized merchandise based off their past purchases and demographics. After continuously presenting relevant products to buyers, companies can expect brand loyalty to increase, as “most consumers (60 percent) expect businesses to know their preferences and understand their needs,” according to a CMS Wire article.

So if your business or marketing team is feeling stressed, ask whether you are using marketing personalization to its fullest extent.

If you feel like you could use a little marketing personalization help, learn how to get started and check out personalization strategy from the experts.

29 Dec
2014

The Top 5 Personalized Marketing Efforts

In a market that places increasingly more importance on creating a customer-centric experience, today’s top marketers must utilize personalized, 1:1 marketing strategies to drive sales and stay competitive with other companies. However, some personalized marketing efforts are more effective than others. While we have talked about some great omnichannel marketing winners, we’ll be focusing on personalized marketing winners. We’ve determined five brands that offer some of the best personalized marketing campaigns.

Amazon

Amazon incorporates personalization into marketing automation emails, as well as on their website. Last September, I experienced Amazon’s marketing personalization first-hand, when I received three emails from the company within the week following a purchase of textbooks.

The first email I received was an order confirmation email. The email confirmed that my payment had gone through, that my order had been made, and – most importantly – included a thank you for shopping with Amazon. The second email I received confirmed that my order had been shipped and, once again, thanked me for my purchase. The final email I received was signed from TextbooksTexas, but was sent through Amazon. I received confirmation that my order had been delivered, a request for review, and yet another thank you.

While each of these emails contain different content, they all thank the customer for making a purchase. Incorporating a simple “thank you” can turn a standard confirmation email into an intimate shopping experience, making the customer feel appreciated. Showing gratitude makes the customer feel valued, which increases the likelihood for loyalty and future purchases.

In addition to emails, Amazon also implements personalized marketing when customers visit their sites. A widget at the bottom of their home page lists recently viewed and recommended items for past customers, based on previous purchases. Because my past purchases had been textbooks for journalism and human rights classes, my widget was filled of different books of the same nature.

Anthropologie

Anthropologie has one of the best personalized marketing strategies for their customers’ birthdays. The retailer sends several emails to consumers over the course of their birthday month. At the beginning of the month, Anthropologie sends an email inviting the birthday guy or gal to a birthday soiree at the nearest store, complete with appetizers, personal styling, and discounts. Anthro also sends multiple emails throughout the month with special codes for discounts to birthday customers.

People like to celebrate their birthdays with family, friends, and loved ones. As Anthropologie sends customers birthday celebration emails, the retailer nonchalantly categorizes itself into the same category as those friends and loved ones. This simple personalization technique gives Anthropologie another dimension: a company that wants to maintain a close relationship – not just another sale.

Hostelworld.com

Hostelworld.com is the world’s number one hostel booking website – an accomplishment that can be explained by their personalized marketing strategy.

After one stays in a hostel booked through Hostelworld, he or she receives an email requesting a review about their stay. If, after a few days, the traveler still has not reviewed their stay, Hostelworld sends out a friendly reminder email. In big bold letters at the top of the email, Hostelworld tells the user, “We value your opinion.” Hostelworld also sends an email to its users six months following their last use of the site. This email is a reminder to travelers that Hostelworld is still around, and highly values their business.

In both of these emails, Hostelworld emphasizes the high value they place on each of their users. And, when a customer feels valued, they are likely to become repeat users.

Spotify

Similar to Amazon, Spotify incorporates personalized marketing through emails and their actual site in order to generate and maintain subscriptions.

Spotify sends out several emails each month with recommendations for music to the subscriber. These recommendations are based off of music that the user has previously listened to on Spotify. In addition, users have the option to discover new music recommended by Spotify on the Spotify platform. These recommendations, again, are based off of music the listener has listened to in the past.

ASOS

The retailer is another company that has utilized personalization through marketing automated emails to drive sales. Interested in bringing back past customers who have not visited their online store in a while, the company sends out an email with a special promo code for discounts on items on the site. Asos also sends out abandoned shopping cart emails to customers who have left the site without purchasing items they placed in their cart. As online studies show that 60% of online shoppers return to the site to make purchases after receiving an abandoned shopping cart email, Asos’s marketing automation techniques are a strategic implementation.

In both types of emails, the importance Asos places on keeping tabs on past customers is very clear. Forbes explains the importance of customer retention through statistics, like Gartner Group’s findings that 80% of a company’s future revenue will come from 20% of existing customers.

Wrapping it up

From using personalization to celebrate birthdays, to keeping customers engaged, companies utilize various 1:1 marketing techniques to generate sales. And, as data usage and omni-channel develop further, we can’t wait to see what personalized marketing campaigns await in 2015!

04 Dec
2014

Top Three Fears About Marketing Personalization

A recent survey of online shoppers shows that consumers are more open to marketing personalization strategies than ever before. 79% of U.S. consumers expect personalization from brands, and over 50% expect e-commerce sites to remember past purchases. With these expectations and demands from the public, why hasn’t every company utilizing personalized marketing?

We’ve found that unwillingness to incorporate personalization comes down to one factor: Fear.

Fear of change
As marketing personalization is a relatively new concept, companies that are doing well without utilizing this marketing strategy may not want to make changes.

An article by Forbes explains why companies hesitate when making big changes.

Old habits act as a resistant towards change. These habits can be powerful and hard to break, pulling us away from new, alternative ideas. The brain is also responsible for resistance to change. One’s prefrontal cortex must work harder when experimenting with new ideas. With this in mind, companies may be reluctant toward embracing the new concept of personalization.

However, while embracing change may be difficult, doing so is imperative for a company that hopes to stay successful. Those who fail to utilize new approaches risk becoming outdated by competitors who conform to the fresh marketing tactics the public wants.

Fear of turning off customers
Personalized marketing is designed to give customers a 1:1 experience with products that are relevant and tailor-made for each individual. So why would some customers be turned off by this approach?

The creepiness factor.

Consider this blunder Target made a couple years ago. The company sent coupons for baby items to a teenage girl. Using the girl’s Guest ID number, name and historical buying data, Target had determined the girl was pregnant…however, the baby item coupons arrived in the mail before the girl had told her father. As chaos ensued, Target was met with skepticism. Critics called the company’s personalization practices “creepy” and “eerie.”

Situations like this give personalized marketing bad stigma. However, if the right precautions are taken, personalized marketing will not turn away customers.

Consider this: When a consumer is aware that their information is being tracked, they may be more comfortable sharing their data. Target had come across as invasive because neither the girl nor her family was aware that Target had been tracking her purchases and personal information.

Contrast this situation with a strategy employed by Nordstrom. Nordstrom uses marketing personalization by showing products similar to ones a customer has previously viewed. Because Nordstrom is so open about their use of personalization and data tracking, people are not fazed by it.

Nordstrom's take on marketing personalization — Nordstrom’s take on marketing personalization

Rewards in exchange for information can help customers feel at ease with the creepiness factor. Reward customers for sharing their email information with special offers each month exclusively through email. Similarly, asking a customer for his or her date of birth can go from creepy to personal with the promise of a birthday card and special gift delivered during their special month.

While personalized marketing can admittedly come across as creepy, companies aware of the boundary between personal and invasive should not fear the concept of a personalized marketing campaign.

Fear of the payoff
If your company is spending money on personalizing an experience, will it pay off in the future? Or is your company wasting time, money and other resources on something that could end up costing more than its worth?

How can you be sure you’ll reach your desired return on investment?

Based on these statistics, we are confident that personalized marketing will generate positive results for companies. Personalization makes customers feel special, generates a higher response rate, strengthens loyalty, and increases customer lifetime value. Personalized emails in particular are able to generate 18 times more revenue, compared to generalized emails. 78% of CMOs believe that custom content is the future of marketing.

With so many positive effects from personalization, it’s difficult to imagine an unsatisfactory ROI after implementation. These stats should qualm any uneasiness about payoffs a company may have.

Key Takeaways:
While changing adding a personalization aspect to marketing campaigns may seem like a big leap of faith, doing so is more of a help than hinderance to companies. However, if used correctly, personalization gives your company the edge it needs to stay competitive, retain customers, and increase ROI. Need a few tips for getting started with personalizing your marketing strategies? We have determined four steps to implementing marketing personalization.

10 Oct
2014

How to Audit Your Marketing Personalization Efforts

Climbing the personalization mountain ain’t easy. How can an audit help?

You’ll face set backs, run into frustrating data issues, and find yourself confused as to why things just won’t work. With marketers juggling so many tasks these days, most simply don’t have time to take a deep breath and really untangle their technology stacks, execution points, and channels to pinpoint where marketing personalization priorities should lie.

For our clients that want to quickly pursue a path to marketing personalization, the first thing we tackle is a comprehensive audit of their customer experience through website, contact center, mobile app, and even brick & mortar to get a feel of their current personalization capabilities. The goal is to let marketers focus on what they do best while we do the analysis necessary to make marketing heroes.

Our audit allows our partners to:

Have a calculated outside perspective on current customer experience
Benchmark their performance against expected internal performance measures
Prioritize low effort, high return personalization efforts
Tackle personalization as a single entity vs. separate silos

If you’re currently personalizing, you can start doing some preliminary audits on current marketing personalization efforts by taking a step-by-step approach.

Step 1: Understand the big picture

You may be working specifically on email marketing, or managing social media, but getting a better feel of the overall picture will set the framework on your audit. It may take an email or some digging, but knowing where resources are spent, and understanding some metrics across different marketing channels will help you build a better foundation (both for your understanding of the marketing role at your company and also for this audit).

Step 2: Connect the dots

What systems integrate? How do they integrate? Are databases linked so personalization flows? You don’t necessarily need to ask an IT wizard or access systems do this. Simply take the path of a customer and engage with your brand. Sign up for your newsletter and check for personalized touches, go onto the website and see if offers change based on your behavior, and even visit a brick & mortar store to see if the cashier recognizes your loyalty sign up. Your job is to find out what connects, what doesn’t, and what level of personalization currently exists.

Step 3: Pinpoint areas in need of improvement

As mentioned in the opening paragraph, it isn’t easy to benchmark given the few companies that have attained high level personalization performance. A much less intensive method of benchmarking is to simply do a comparison side-by-side with a market leader(s). Companies like Amazon are also great to use as a standard for personalization. You can assess your competitors by taking the customer path method in step 2 and appropriating it for the other companies.

Takeaways?

It takes time to do a marketing personalization audit, but it will save you time and effort when it comes time to decide on what needs help and where you should focus your time for the next year.

If interested, we’re offering a complimentary marketing personalization audit for qualified companies.

Marketers who sign up will be presented the very same audit report we give to our partners, and even a short consultation session on specific points in the report. Our goal is to make you a hero – someone who can proudly proclaim that they’re well on their way to conquering the marketing personalization challenge.

01 Oct
2014

4 Marketing Personalization Mistakes to Avoid

We’ve posted quite a few articles on marketing personalization best practices and ways to increase value with personalization, but what we haven’t touched on are things to avoid when it comes to building momentum with marketing personalization and automation.

Here are four marketing personalization mistakes you absolutely have to avoid like the plague if you want a smooth ride(relatively) on your path to personalization.

1. Infringing on customer privacy and not protecting customer data

Don’t be manipulative when it comes to gather information from customers

All it takes is one screw up for a huge PR disaster and plenty of lost potential and current customers. Just don’t do it.

This applies to email opt ins on retailer websites, to mobile app permissions, to social log ins on websites. Be clear, respect your customers by letting them know exactly what you will be using information for, and you’ll earn their respect.

Since one of the first steps of true hyper-personalization is building an integrated data management system that can bring in multiple external and internal data sets, the inherent risk is quite clear. With all your data in one location, there must be significant care in protecting the customer gold harvested because one data breach can mean multiple streams of data are vulnerable.

Be honest with your customers about what you are taking from them, and once you have their trust, protect what you have. It’s that simple.

2. Relying on one set of data

To build a 360 degree view of your customers, you need to draw insights from various data sources. While one data source may constitute a large majority of your data analysis into your personalization platform, the more diversified your data collection points are, the more accurate your predictive analytics will be.

For instance, a big box retailer with may point to POS data and their eCommerce data as their main data feeds into a marketing personalization tool, but forgetting to integrate social media data for crucial life event data would be simply be a waste. There will be sources of data that will be more relevant than others, but finding out where to piece in and weigh each data channel is too important to ignore.

3. Neglecting testing

Testing is a pain. Multivariate testing can get very messy with hyper-segmentation, but always remember to test while executing. The closer you get to hyper-personalization, the more marketers will be tempted to skip various parts of the testing process.

Don’t fall into that trap. Just because the testing process will become more complicated doesn’t mean you should take your foot off the testing pedal. It will become even more important to your personalization journey that all your data sources, creative pieces, and messages are carefully tested to optimize your personalization efforts. Remember that a marketing personalization tool is exactly that…a tool that needs constant recalibration to make the high, consistent returns that you expect.

4. Thinking you’ve reached true hyper-personalization

Thinking that hyper-personalization is a place where you will someday reach and lay claim to is unreasonable and dangerous to long-term marketing personalization efforts.

Algorithms can be update and tweaked, new sources of data can be added, execution points can be refined and tested.

Knowing your customer 100% and predicting their needs exactly won’t happen without having Jedi mind reading powers, but you can always keep moving in the right direction.

Nobody said personalization was easy, which is why very few have figured out the right path towards marketing personalization. With these tips in mind, you’ll save yourself a lot of time and money while consistently moving and accelerating in the right direction.

19 Sep
2014

What is Marketing Personalization?

At nectarOM, we mention the phrase marketing personalization quite a bit. In fact, we mention it so frequently we have decided to write a blog post about it just to make sure you’re completely clear on what it is.

The short definition is that marketing personalization is the process of sending targeted personalized messages to individuals based on consumer data acquired from various sources or channels.

In short, makes marketing much more relevant to your customer base by using existing customer data.

When we talk about implementing marketing personalization at a company, we assume that:

1) Your company already has a customer database. You may not be quite sure how to segment and target these individuals, but you have the list, which is the most important step. Marketing personalization does not assume that you want to acquire customers, rather, you want to be able to analyze your customer data more efficiently in order to send personalized messages.

2) You have data, but it’s scattered. You have data sitting in so many different places you have not the slightest clue on how to bring it all together to make recommendations. You have your standard customer data (name, email address), your customer transaction data, and your customer’s social data sitting in all these different places. Ideally, your marketing personalization is able to aggregate this data into one platform, like we do in our suite.

Personalization means that you are able to tailor targeted communications, whether it’s by email, text message, call center, or mobile app to your customers in a relevant way that will induce a higher probability of purchase.

So now you’re asking, so what? Who cares if my customers see relevant messages? I want to know what it does for my bottom line. Well I’ll give you an example. Let’s say you are an online hotel retailer and your customer is looking at multiple hotels in the New York City area. She has looked at several hotels in Manhattan but hasn’t actually made a booking yet. Based on click tracking information and searches, this online hotel retailer has configured trigger personalized emails to display NYC hotels in her price range to send a couple of days after she conducted her search. After seeing a great hotel deal in the email, she is inspired to make the booking.

The above is an example of how a potential could turn into a guaranteed revenue purchase. Just a simple email pushed the customer through the funnel from evaluation to purchase. Now imagine sending automated trigger emails to your entire consumer base. Below, we’ll do some quick math.

Assuming the following

Conversion rate: 1%
Customer base: 500,000
Customers who purchase: 500,000 * 1% = 5,000
Average Order Value: $300
Revenue: $300 * 5,000 = $1,500,000

That’s a huge chunk of change left on the table, and when your customer base is in the millions, it’s easy to see how marketing personalization can dramatically increase your bottom line.

So when someone asks you, “what is marketing personalization” you’ll be able to give them an answer with a short quantitative case study! Use your newfound understanding of marketing personalization to impress your friends and colleagues.

If you have any questions or comments, drop us a line below in the comments section.

03 Sep
2014

5 Tips for Improving E-mail Metrics Using Marketing Personalization

Email metrics are increasingly becoming an essential part of a company’s marketing plan. Marketers are constantly under pressure to excel at various key performance indicators. These 5 tips will give you a better understanding of how to start improving and measuring important email metrics using marketing personalization ad various other tactics.

1) To Increase Open Rate, Personalize the message

Personalizing email message content results in an average open rate of 13.2% versus 9.8% with no content personalization. It’s clear that personalizing the content in the message is instrumental in increasing open rates. Personalizing a message may include adding relevant items based on the individual’s past browsing behavior, cart additions, or more sophisticated omnichannel data analysis.

However, it’s interesting to note that personalizing both the subject line and content message results in a much lower open rate of 5.3%, according to the same study. Conducting your own study with your customer base may give you a better understanding of how your consumers react to different personalization tactics.

Fabletics.com works on a subscription model, where you receive an outfit every month for $49.95. If you don’t wish to purchase an outfit that month, you must login and opt out within the first 5 days of the month. Your first outfit is $25 which is a steal for an outfit compared to the price of other athletic brand names. When you first sign up you are prompted to create a Lifestyle Profile Quiz, which generates a personalized profile regarding your likes/dislikes, what kind of activities you are involved in, and the type of clothing you prefer. Consumers sign up for the website and get an email on the first of every month, exclaiming “Your Personalized Picks Have Arrived”. This model is an example of how personalization is integrated within both email and the website experience where personalized outfit picks are the largest selling point.

2) To Decrease Bounce Rate, Use Double Opt-in Signup

A company’s reputation is perhaps its most valuable asset, not just in the physical world, but in the digital world as well. It’s important to be well aware of your bounce rates because these numbers directly affect how an ISP sees the emails that are coming to your consumers’ inboxes.

A soft bounce means there is a temporary problem associated with the email address, such as an automatic vacation message responder or full mailbox message.

A hard bounce means there is a permanent reason why the email cannot be delivered because the email address is invalid or closed. Removing hard bounces is important in maintaining your reputation as a company because ISPs will use these bounce rates to place your emails in the “Spam” category.

Using double opt-in can combat increasing bounce rates. Double opt-in means that an email address is validated a second time through a confirmation email which will contain an activation link.

Additionally, letting members personalize their preferences on what types of emails they wish to receive and making the unsubscribe process simple will also ensure satisfactory bounce rates.

3) To Increase Open and Click Through Rates, Time of Day Matters

Some claim that deciding when to send your email is just as important as what goes in your email.

There is a wide variety of conflicting information regarding what time you should send your emails. Open rates typically peak at 8am and emails are more likely to be opened during normal business hours, specifically from 8am to 5pm.

Additionally, sending emails on either Tuesdays or Wednesdays are beneficial in increasing your open rates. Weekend email sends generally have lower open rates and click through rates as well, although this could vary for certain retailers, such as those who send out weekly sale emails every Sunday.

4) To Increase Open Rates, Keep Your Subject Line Relatively Short and Sweet

When crafting subject lines, keep in mind short and sweet is the way to go. Aim for a range of 4-16 character limits, as this range has shown to have higher open rates. Various studies suggest that subject lines with 4-15 characters have slightly higher open rates compared to emails with longer subject lines.

Since the goal of the subject line is to entice an open, it’s important to explain the benefit from the get-go by explicitly stating it in the subject line in order to grab the user’s attention.

Below are some examples of subject lines received in my personal inbox within the last two weeks that were enticing enough for me to open because they were either very applicable to me (just bought a Kindle PaperWhite and was therefore browsing books on Amazon) or piqued my interest because of the potential discount or promotion I could get (J. Crew lured me in with the $50 off promotion and Travel Zoo knew I would love travel sales from my city).

You There? Here’s $50…
J. Crew

Up to 85% Off More Than 1,000 Kindle Books | and more
Amazon

NEWSFLASH: Virgin America Launches 3-Day Sale from Dallas
TravelZoo

5) To Increase Click Through Rate, Include Multiple Calls of Action within Email

Have you heard of “above the fold”? Essentially, you have about 2 inches of space to really catch your customer’s eye before he/she decides to hit the back button and browse the other 100 promotional emails within the inbox over the weekend. Because this is valuable real estate, you will want to make it as appealing as possible by announcing what the benefit of the email is to the user. Your e-mail header, the header that contains your company logo, shouldn’t take up too much space because you will want to allow room for both the benefit and call of action.

I counted 24 different areas within the main area of the email below where one can click to go through to the website. The email offers plenty of opportunities for clicks which makes the experience very user friendly. If the consumer is not particularly interested in the clearance items, but has been wanting to get a new cross-over bag, she can click on the BAGS tab which is reflective of Francesca’s website.

The image above the fold is eye catching and it’s clear that the benefit of the email is buy one get one 50% off.