New research provides further evidence that marketers are missing the mark when it comes to personalisation. According to Epsilon’s report, there is often a disconnect between marketers and the consumers they are trying to reach, centring around a misunderstanding of what the latter actually want from personalisation.
In a survey of consumers, the company found that 32% want brands to customise their offerings to suit them and their specific needs, while another 32% thought that knowledge of their likes and dislikes was the most important part of successful personalisation.
Brands, however, tend not to be focusing on this kind of personalised experience. Instead, 31% of those surveyed are putting most of their eggs into the discounts and rewards programmes basket. 22% are putting simple recommendations at the heart of their personalisation strategy.
When it came to customisation and service, these were prioritised by 16% and 8% of brands respondents respectively.
Insight and action
“With the report revealing that 80% of consumers are more likely to do business with a company that offers personalised experiences, it’s a no-brainer. But brands need to be aware that there are so many factors within ‘personalisation’ and this doesn’t always mean saving money on your next purchase,” commented Elliott Clayton, SVP Media UK, Conversant.
Tellingly, 27% of the consumers surveyed didn’t think that brands are trying hard enough to improve their personalisation, and 7% actually think that they are getting worse.
“If consumers feel that brands are offering less personalisation, then clearly something is going very wrong,” concluded Clayton.
“The only way for brands to truly understand their customers’ buying motivations and what their consumers want is to access insight on both past and real-time consumer actions and decisions through a true single customer view. However, they also need to be able to act on this insight, creating real one-to-one conversations, gradually building them up over time and across all their devices.”
