Customer and brand interactions, as well as digital experiences generally, are becoming increasingly dynamic. One-size-fits-all approaches to marketing and consumer-facing investments are no longer as effective as they used to be.
58% of people report becoming frustrated with brand messaging that’s generic or inconsistent. Similarly, 62% of customers say that they would struggle to remain loyal to a company after a non-personalised encounter.
Providing customers with hyper-personalised experiences. Today’s consumers demand tailored experiences that resonate with their individual needs and preferences, especially in an age of what seems like unlimited data access. This doesn’t just mean including their name in an email opener, but things like analysing their previous buying history, using weather data to determine whether they’d be better suited to a winter or summer wardrobe, and suggesting options based on trends in their age group and location.
We’re an agency-client ‘matchmaking’ marketplace with first-hand and real-time experience of what big brands are looking to invest in with regards to their marketing strategies. Hyper-personalisation has been a hot topic in briefs we’ve seen recently, and our predictions deem this unlikely to change in the near future. For brands to get ahead of the curve, it’s vital to engage with trends and implement them effectively.
This report will discuss the benefits of hyper-personalisation over simple personalisation, reasons for its adoption, and how brands can implement it into their marketing strategies successfully.
Personalisation in marketing simply means using customer data and information to deliver relevant marketing communication such as emails or ads. The type of data used in this type of marketing includes customers’ names, demographic information, and purchase history. The aim of personalisation is to create messages that are relevant to customers and subsequently help them connect with the brand on a deeper level.
But in an age of increasing technological advancements, simple personalisation is no longer cutting it for many brands. Hello, hyper-personalisation.
Hyper-personalisation is the use of AI and real-time data to deliver highly tailored content and experiences to individual customers. The data used is significantly more advanced, and is aimed at understanding customer behaviours, preferences, and real-time interactions. As an example, a hyper-personalised marketing campaign from a clothing retailer would be able to suggest warm coats and blankets to a customer based on a current spell of cold weather in their live location.
There are five main features involved in the data collection used to create hyper-personalised experiences. These include data analytics, AI and machine learning, CRM software, location-based technology, Chatbots and NLP, and predictive analytics. This may seem a high-stake investment, but the benefits of this type of marketing far outweigh the losses. Let’s discuss those benefits.
Hyper-personalisation significantly enhances the customer experience by creating more meaningful and relevant interactions. This approach goes beyond using customers’ names in emails or segmenting them by demographic data. Instead, it involves using detailed insights into customers’ behaviours, preferences, and needs to offer highly personalised content, recommendations, and services.
Hyper-personalisation enables brands to engage with customers on a deeper level. By understanding individual customer journeys, brands can deliver the right message at the right time, making each interaction more relevant and impactful. This level of personalisation helps build stronger connections with customers, leading to higher satisfaction and loyalty.
A study by Epsilon found that 80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase when brands offer personalised experiences. With hyper-personalisation, this statistic stands higher, underscoring the importance of this type of marketing in driving sales and customer engagement.
Targeted and relevant content plays a crucial role in improving customer retention and loyalty. When customers feel understood and valued, they are more likely to remain loyal to a brand.
Hyper-personalisation fosters customer loyalty by ensuring that the content, offers, and experiences delivered to customers are highly relevant to their interests and needs. This approach reduces churn and increases the likelihood of repeat purchases. According to Salesforce, 84% of customers say being treated like a person, not a number, is very important to winning their business.
But it’s important to remember that there is certainly a line to be drawn when it comes to strike a balance between “relevant” content and content that appears an infringement on a consumers’ personal privacy. Ines Casas, Social Director at eight&four, asserts that “if [a campaign] is ‘too relevant’ then it fails to be effective.” If consumers feel that they are being bombarded with their own information, or deem the type of information collated by the brand too personal, then it can push them further away. The campaigns need to be relevant but not intrusive.
Hyper-personalisation has a profound impact on conversion rates and sales. By delivering highly relevant content and offers, brands can effectively influence purchasing decisions.
A report by Infosys found that 59% of consumers say that personalisation influences their shopping decisions, and 31% wish their shopping experience was more personalised than it currently is. These findings illustrate the demand for personalised shopping experiences and the potential for increased conversions.
Hyper-personalisation helps optimise marketing budgets by ensuring that marketing efforts are directed toward the right audience with the right message. This targeted approach maximises the return on investment (ROI) for marketing campaigns.
By focussing on the most relevant audience segments and delivering hyper-personalised messages, brands can reduce wastage in their marketing spend. This efficiency leads to better allocation of resources and improved overall campaign performance.
According to McKinsey, personalised marketing can reduce acquisition costs by as much as 50%, lift revenues by 5-15%, and increase the efficiency of marketing spend by 10-30%. These statistics highlight the substantial benefits of hyper-personalisation in driving marketing efficiency and effectiveness.
In today's digital age, consumers expect more personalised experiences than ever before. They are more likely to engage with brands that deliver relevant and customised interactions. Consumers now anticipate a high level of personalisation in their interactions with brands. They expect brands to recognise them, remember their preferences, and provide relevant offers and recommendations. Meeting these expectations can significantly enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Accenture found that 91% of consumers are more likely to shop with brands that recognise, remember, and provide relevant offers and recommendations. This statistic underscores the importance of personalised marketing in meeting consumer expectations and driving engagement.
According to a study by SmarterHQ, 72% of consumers in 2019 only engage with marketing messages that are customised to their specific interests. This highlights the necessity for brands to adopt hyper-personalisation strategies to effectively capture and retain customer attention.
In a crowded marketplace, standing out from the competition is crucial. Hyper-personalisation offers a significant competitive advantage by enabling brands to deliver unique and highly relevant experiences. Brands that excel at hyper-personalisation can differentiate themselves by providing superior customer experiences. This not only attracts new customers but also fosters long-term loyalty among existing ones.
Gartner predicts that by 2025, AI will be a top-five investment priority for more than 30% of CMOs globally. This indicates a growing recognition of the importance of AI-driven personalisation in gaining a competitive edge.
Gartner also reports that brands excelling at personalisation will outsell companies that don’t by 20%. This statistic highlights the substantial impact of hyper-personalisation on sales performance and market share.
Adopting hyper-personalisation aligns with future trends in marketing and technology, ensuring that brands remain relevant and adaptable in a rapidly changing landscape. Hyper-personalisation is not just a current trend but a forward-looking strategy that prepares brands for future challenges. By leveraging AI and advanced analytics, brands can stay ahead of consumer expectations and technological advancements.
Forrester Research highlights that brands implementing hyper-personalisation strategies see a significant increase in customer satisfaction and loyalty, which is crucial for future growth. This trend underscores the long-term benefits of hyper-personalisation in maintaining brand relevance and competitive strength.
Implementing hyper-personalisation into a business strategy can seem a time-consuming and data-demanding process, but in reality, the process can begin with fewer resources than you think.
Hyper-personalisation requires a business to rewire itself to the mindsets of customers, rather than trying to push a product to a large demographic through simple advertisement. Geoff Griffiths, CEO of BuiltVisible, notes the importance of “proving value to begin with” on hyper-personalisation projects. It needs to be established the angle your business will be using to implement this type of marketing, and how it will benefit that specific angle more than others.
This proof of value can be mapped out from a customer journey standpoint, which will ensure that the project retains empathy and thus increase brand loyalty. Andrew Smith, founder of planaria.black, imagines it best to “start thinking in baby steps, and work with what you’ve got.” This again proves that it’s not necessary to have a ‘big idea’ when setting out to provide a hyper-personalised experience. “Have a roadmap that you’re working on to increase relevancy from day 1, effectiveness from day 2, and revenue from day 3,” he added.
Sara Parrish, Experience Strategy Director at Imagination, says that it’s crucial to “remember the core of what we’re trying to achieve, thoughtfully applying technology where you should rather than where you could.” This technology should be tested regularly: businesses using regular A/B testing and real-time analytics see conversion rate improvements of up to 20%, compared to businesses who failed to test regularly.
If you’re looking for a summary of the do’s and don’t’s for brands when it comes to hyper-personalisation, then we’ve got you covered.
As we’ve just discussed, testing regularly is the key to any successful hyper-personalisation campaign. This testing should not only be performed in the early planning and proposition stages, but also during the campaign, whether it appears successful or not. Keeping track of this data allows room for changes to be made when necessary, as well as regular checks to ensure the campaign remains relevant.
As Geoff Griffiths noted, in the increasingly digital world, “brands are having to work harder than ever to capture customer attention”. Consumers are scrolling through hundreds of posts, seeing hundreds of ads, and receiving hundreds of emails. In order to stand out, it’s imperative to understand what the customer is looking for.
To do this, it’s best to focus on understanding your audience in a synchronic way. Understand each part of their journey and what it is that incites them to begin in the first place. Collating customer feedback on your products before beginning a hyper-personalisation campaign can help greatly in the planning process!
At the centre of all this, it’s crucial to remember what exactly it is you’re trying to achieve with your hyper-personalisation campaign. Are you looking to increase sales on a new product? Are you trying to increase sign-ups to an exciting mailing list? To increase customer loyalty and regular orders?
Connecting each step of the campaign journey to your main goal is key to achieving a seamless process for your consumers and successful results for your business. This ties in all of our do’s and don’t’s, reminding you to keep checking in with your objectives and regularly assessing your campaign.
We have mentioned frequently the need for any hyper-personalisation campaign to be ‘relevant,’ but, as Ines affirmed, a campaign that is too relevant fails to be effective. “The campaign needs to be balanced, and refrain from being overly-intrusive,” she told us. Customers should feel special without feeling like their private data is being harvested. This can become difficult with unclear legislation on AI data usage, but customer feedback and testing can help to mitigate this concern.
Understanding consumer expectations and analysing other successful campaigns can provide a great starting point for the type of data you should use for your project. This leads us nicely on to our next point.
Consumers are complex beings, and understanding them can be difficult, especially when their interactions are spread across a variety of channels.
In our recent StudioLive event, Andrew noted that “journeys can become fragmented when they’re omnichannel.” In an age where brands are using cross-channel marketing, it can be hard for a campaign to remain consistent.
It’s crucial to ensure a clear-cut path for your consumers by understanding what’s taking them on the journey in the first place. Understand the type of audience you’re trying to reach and apply the relevant technology to the relevant platform. “Add a layer of communications and engagements that retains empathy throughout the journey,” added Andrew.
Hyper-personalisation represents a pivotal shift in how brands approach marketing, moving beyond traditional personalisation to create deeply tailored customer experiences.
By leveraging advanced data analytics, AI, and real-time interactions, brands can deliver content and offers that resonate on a highly individual level. This not only enhances customer satisfaction but also drives engagement, loyalty, and ultimately, sales.
As consumer expectations continue to evolve, the demand for personalised experiences will only grow. Brands that fail to adopt hyper-personalisation risk falling behind, while those that embrace it will find themselves better positioned to meet the needs of their audience and stand out in a crowded marketplace. The strategic implementation of hyper-personalisation can lead to significant improvements in marketing efficiency, providing a competitive edge and future-proofing business strategies against rapid technological advancements.
In conclusion, the integration of hyper-personalisation into marketing strategies is not just a trend but a necessity for brands aiming to remain relevant and competitive. By understanding and anticipating customer needs, brands can create more meaningful interactions that foster long-term loyalty and drive sustained growth. The future of targeted marketing lies in the ability to deliver unique, personalised experiences that connect with consumers on a deeper level, ensuring both customer satisfaction and business success.
We’d like to thank the four panelists from our recent StudioLive event for their insightful comments on hyper-personalisation. Thank you, Ines Casas, Sara Parrish, Andrew Smith and Geoff Griffiths!
If you are looking to understand what hyper-personalisation can look like for your brand and customers, then we’d love to help! Drop us an email at hello@studiospace.com and we can connect you with one of our experts from our top specialist agencies for an initial exploratory session.
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