The power of data for businesses to deliver true personalisation
- Written by Paul North, Senior Vice President APJ at Optimizely
According to reports, the average person is exposed to between 4,000 and 10,000 ads per day. With over 71% of small businesses actively using a website, this only emphasises the need for better customer experiences to stand out from the crowd. Personalisation is a key way that businesses can connect with potential and existing customers. Offering personalised experiences across a customer's entire digital journey will increase the chances of building long-term customer relationships, turning browsers into sales and increasing ROI.
So how can businesses make the most out of personalisation to stand out from the competition?
It starts with customer data
If you don’t know anything about your audience, you can’t give them a truly personalised experience. Businesses, therefore, need to collect data, whether it’s potential or existing customers, to create hyper-personalised experiences. This data can include, but isn’t limited to geographic, demographic, behavioural, and even contextual information understanding the device and browser the shopper is using. The more you know, the better experiences you can provide through every stage of the digital journey. Businesses should also be keeping across broader market trends, putting together a strong picture of their ideal customer and what they are looking for.
By leveraging customer data, businesses will be able to segment their audience and target them with the right products and services at the right time. Not knowing what you’re customer is interested in, how they want to be contacted, or where they’re located makes it challenging for businesses to target them with personalised content - whether it’s recommending products and services or communicating with them on the right channels.
Understanding true personalisation
True personalisation allows businesses to build better relationships with their customers, increase loyalty and boost ROI. It has the power to increase conversion rates and sales, and it means that the products and services you’re offering to potential and existing customers are effective.
As more businesses turned online than ever before amid the pandemic, businesses were forced to exclusively meet their consumers online. This not only increased competition but made it harder for businesses to connect and engage with consumers as the face-to-face aspect was gone. The University of South Australia (UniSA), for example, adopted a hybrid approach with enrolments - a previously in-person event - to meet the demands of individual students. UniSA’s objective was to offer personalised content online, something that is hard to do during in-person events when there are thousands of people, and to drive registrations and course enrollments.
The power of technology
To achieve this, UniSA leveraged technology, in particular, Optimizely’s Digital Experience Platform (DXP) to personalise the information delivered to each student. By meeting the demands of individual students, UniSA created an exceptional digital experience, resulting in more enrolments than in previous years.
Creating a seamless digital journey for customers sets good businesses apart from the great and in the case of UniSA - turns browsers into customers. Technology assists by taking the guesswork out of it for businesses. With less effort and more control, businesses can continuously personalise interactions with customers so that every experience is better than the last.
With online competition increasing, businesses of all sizes need to enhance their user experiences and offer customers true personalisation across every touchpoint. Collecting the right data and leveraging technologies like DXP will help businesses improve campaigns, increase conversion rates and create hyper-personalised experiences for customers, ensuring you can make your mark on the industry and set your brand apart.
