5 Marketing Personalization Tips for 2020

Personalized marketing is critical for any business wanting to get ahead of the curve.

Statistics say that more than 63% of customers expect personalization as a standard of service. They do not want to be treated like a number anymore. Instead, they expect brands to recognize them as individuals with unique needs, problems, and requirements.

Given that, it is not surprising at all that 99% of marketers that use personalization have improved customer relationships.

In this article, you will learn a few essential marketing personalization tips and trends for 2020.

1. Smarter Email Marketing

In the era of hyper-personalization, one-size-fits-all email marketing campaigns do not cut it anymore.

That is why email list segmentation is one of the hottest marketing trends in 2020. Based on customer data, slice your newsletter down into narrower segments. That way, you will be able to provide your leads with more relevant content.

The easiest way to segment audiences is according to their:

• location
• gender
• age
• product preferences
• industry
• organization type
• past purchases
• education level
• buying frequency
• change in buying behavior
• content preferences

Many AI segmentation tools will automatically categorize email recipients based on multiple touch points with your brand, be it the day and time they read emails and the devices they use or the items they viewed on your website.

2. Enhancing On-Site User Experiences

When you visit popular eCommerce websites, you will notice that their homepage never looks the same. It adapts to each customer’s specific needs and browsing patterns.

Now, there are many ways to personalize on-site user experiences.

• Promote new products based on customers’ search preferences

This option is particularly important to eCommerce businesses that want to promote new arrivals, and yet, they are not sure whether promotions are relevant to all customers. For example, if a customer uses brand filters or a search box to find a specific brand, you can trigger a campaign to promote the latest products from that brand.

• Upsell by offering relevant products

Some brands inspire customers to buy more to save money. Others show “People that bought this product also saw” section to upsell and cross-sell. But, did you know that you can personalize offers for only those users that add a particular item to the cart?

For example, if a customer wants to purchase a pair of flip flops, you could ask them to buy another pair to get the third one for free.

3. Improving Brand Consistency to Gain Customers’ Trust

The communication between brands and customers happens across multiple channels, such as social networks, live chat, chatbots, IM apps, SMS, etc. That trend has changed the way customers perceive brands. They now think of your business as a friend – someone they trust and who is there for them 24/7.

Precisely because of that, you need to focus on creating closer and more personal relationships with customers. And, one of the most significant steps to take is coming up with a memorable brand name.

Select a brand name that is unique, simple, and relevant to your niche. To boost brand consistency and brand awareness, use your brand name as your domain name and your social handles. Go to any domain registrar and type your preferred domain name to check whether it is free. Always choose a personal domain name to humanize your business. For example, many brands, such as APieceOf.me, ID.me, PayPal.me, have picked the .me TLD because it is meaningful in so many languages, from English to Portuguese.

Also, pay attention to whether social handles are free. Keeping your brand name consistent across all digital channels will build trust with your target audience and boost brand memorability.

Once you establish your presence across different digital channels, focus on building a recognizable brand that stands out. Create detailed brand style guidelines for your marketers and designers to make sure they will always create on-brand content. They should dictate how brand assets will be used across different channels to inspire brand memorability.

4. Personalized Customer Surveys

Creating on-site surveys is one of the most effective ways to collect customer feedback and learn about their brand sentiment.

The question is – how will you motivate a customer to take a survey?

Start by personalizing them.

Customized surveys appeal to customers and make them feel special. They increase participation and encourage users to provide objective and honest answers. Send surveys to customers right after their case is closed to ask relevant questions and inspire users to take action.

Offering promotional items and discounts still works, but there are many more sophisticated ways to incentivize customers to provide feedback. One of them is customizing on-site surveys based on the product category a customer purchased.  You could ask them to take the survey to receive another item from that category for free.

5. Omnichannel Customer Experiences

If a searcher starts their interaction with your brand on your website, they expect you to memorize their choices and ensure the experience continues on your mobile app. The same applies to customers that are switching between multiple devices while browsing through your website.

In the era of wearable technologies and fast internet communications, customers are more connected than ever. They expect you to provide consistent and relevant experiences, irrespective of the device or channel they use.

That is why you need to memorize customers’ preferences, such as their website browsing patterns, the stuff they added to the shopping cart, previous sessions, products they viewed, etc. Only by consolidating customer data across multiple channels into a single, centralized location will you be able to provide personalized user experiences and maximize conversions.

A CRM system will allow you to manage customer interactions from multiple channels, such as your email, live chat, call center, and chatbots, from a single dashboard. Your teams will have access to the same data and be able to provide more consistent and targeted feedback.

Over to You

Hyper-personalization is an effective marketing tool that gives you a competitive advantage and builds trust with customers. And, with the rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning, it will be even more dominant in 2020 and beyond.

How do you personalize your marketing strategy in 2020?