The Power of Real-Time Personalization
It seems all so-called marketing gurus believe they’re utilizing personalization in their tactics…but are they really? To be clear, personalization represents something much deeper than simply using someone’s first name in an email blast. Taking this to the next level, real-time personalization embraces the full context of the engagement and data to achieve the marketing equivalent of “the cocktail party effect” – in your marketing efforts, this would mean having an individual focus solely on YOUR ‘conversation’ amidst a sea of ‘noise’.
From the outside looking in, here’s an example of a typical contact’s experience: A fashionista educated in the ways of all that is chic, clicks on an ad placed by a clothing company for a stunning, gray skirt suit before arriving on the brand’s landing page. Once there, she sees a stock image of a city-scape including a guy donning a blue summer coat, pronounced by an ‘Order Now’ button. Now, here’s an example of a personalized and contextualized real-time experience: The woman clicks on the same ad, leading to a landing page with a header banner that reads “Welcome Susan! Here’s more about that stylish suit!” accompanied by an image of an equally trendy fashionista wearing the gray skirt suit in a street-scape reminiscent of Susan’s city and a ‘Susan, you can order now!’ button to click.
And therein lies the point and power of real-time personalization and contextualization: Based on consumer activity, it is possible to personalize the contact’s experience with their name, gender, location, time and date they arrived and EXACTLY what asset led them to a site…in addition to countless other personalization variables. It’s the difference between shouting to the room and engaging an individual in a real conversation.
Why is Real-Time Personalization Important?
When it comes to making a great first impression and converting leads, it’s a website that creates all the magic today. Just like a salesman gathering information from customers through conversation, a website gathers information through visitor actions and behaviors, as we touched on above. As a marketer, you will understand more about your client’s potential customers and fine-tune responses, engagement and offerings that are relevant to each individual person.
Here’s the deal: Real-time behavior-based personalization will help your clients increase brand awareness, build relationships, generate qualified leads and ultimately close deals. Think about it: What are YOU doing to optimize your clients’ customer experience to drive engagement and conversions? With big data and technology to thank, marketers just like you can now serve relevant content to website visitors based on where they clicked and where they came from; indeed, the days of static and irrelevant websites are a thing of the past.
Isn’t it time you delivered a better customer experience and more accurate and relevant communications for your clients and their website visitors?
