The Need and Benefits of Personalization in Sales and Marketing today
Today, consumers have a greater choice than ever before – meaning brands face ever-increasing competition. Connecting with consumers, particularly online, and turning website visitors into customers, is difficult – an estimated 2% of people that come onto your website convert. That’s why personalization has to be a key part of your digital sales and marketing strategy, as it benefits both consumers and your bottom line
Changing digital needs
Consumers can be bewildered by the choice they have online, leading them to miss products and offers that fit their needs. In the offline world a store assistant can understand what consumers are looking for and recommend products – brands therefore need to equip their websites with the same ability to measure customer intent, learn about their requirements and suggest what is best for their needs. That’s essentially what personalization provides – offering website visitors relevant and unique experiences that closely address their needs. U.S. consumers see the benefits – 75% say they want to receive a personalized experience from the brands they deal with.
In my experience working with brands, personalization meets their needs and delivers benefits in these five key areas:
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Increased visitor engagement
Particularly on large websites offering thousands of products in different categories, it is easy for visitors to give up early in their journey. Tailoring the experience, by highlighting relevant content, messages and products, based on visitor needs boosts online engagement and helps move customers down the sales funnel.
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Increased conversion rates
Generating successful sales is a matter of timing. Fail to provide the right information or messages at the right time and visitors will buy elsewhere. With personalization you can identify when visitors are undecided and offer them the experience they need to convert, whether that is a social proof message, further information or a discount coupon..
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Greater lead generation
98% of website visitors don’t convert. By understanding their behavior through personalization you can identify those that are most likely to buy and turn them into qualified leads. These can then be followed up directly on the web or through other channels – for example, Toyota uses its website to identify and qualify leads that are then offered test drives at their local dealership.
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Retain more customers
Winning customers can be hard – so you don’t want to lose them and have to start the whole process all over again. Retaining customers means continually delivering the right experience, tailored to their individual needs. Personalizing the experience, such as by recognizing that they are an existing customer and offering special deals and tailored information helps build loyalty.
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Reduce churn
You’ve made the effort and investment to attract visitors to your site, so you don’t want to lose them once they arrive. Personalization enables you to identify visitors that are about to leave your site and allows you to trigger the right, personalized actions to retain them.
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Personalization is a way to address the strategic challenges facing all sales and marketing teams, enabling them to meet the changing needs of their customers. By offering consumers relevant and unique experiences it enables you to create long lasting, valued relationships with your current and future customers, boosting your revenues and delivering marketing ROI. That’s why we believe all sales and marketing teams need to make it the cornerstone of their digital strategy.
