The next generation of personalisation is fundamentally different than what we’ve seen in the past. Cheetah Digital‘s report in partnership with the CDP Institute gives actionable ways to incorporate next-gen personalisation.
Consumers don’t just want personalised experiences when they engage with a brand; they expect them every time, regardless of the touchpoint or reason. If done well, highly personalised experiences lead to increased engagement and loyalty by delivering content and messages that connect every time. Not only by understanding customer behaviour, but anticipating what they are likely to do next, which helps grow loyal relationships and brand advocacy.
Current state of personalisation
Personalisation goes beyond the basics of using $FNAME in a text or email, or using customer attributes for basic segmentation. As consumers bounce from one device to the next, accessing different touchpoints in a different context each time, they expect to be known, understood, and appreciated every time.
Eighty per cent of marketers still struggle in gaining ROI from personalisation. Why? Data.
Gartner notes that 27 per cent of marketers believe data is the key obstacle to personalisation.
There are challenges, though, with consumer’s high expectations and privacy considerations, scale in terms of volume and number of channels, and not having a single view that drives personalisation efforts. Additionally, marketers often rely on too many tools, or data sets, that drive personalisation or first-generation tools that don’t address today’s use cases for engagement.
Generally, first-generation personalisation relies heavily on static business rules or pre-defined segments managed manually, where everyone in the segment receives the same offers, message, and creatives, across all channels. What is required to keep up with the personalisation use cases for today is next-generation personalisation. Next-generation personalisation does away with fixed segments, manual rules, or basic personalisation. Instead, it happens in real-time and is rooted in data, technology, and analytics.
The next generation of personalisation
Cheetah Digital recently partnered with the CDP Institute on a report covering the Next Generation of Personalisation Technology. In this report, you’ll learn what next-generation personalisation is defined as, real-life use cases for implementing next-generation personalisation, what you’ll need to implement next-generation personalisation, and the benefits you’ll see from it.
The report highlights that personalisation requires changing the message content, regardless of touchpoint, to match the customers’ needs. In the first generation of personalisation systems, the data assigned customers to segments, and everyone within each segment received the same message. While this was more effective than sending the same message to everyone regardless of segments, it was still far from the ideal of crafting a unique message taking into account context and each customer’s situation.
The report also covers next-generation personalisation being fundamentally different because it works at the true individual level. This requires many more decisions than traditional manual methods can manage. Executing these decisions depends on automated processes to assemble data, select messages, and optimise decisions over time. It requires new technologies and new skills, which must be managed carefully for success.
Ninety-one per cent of consumers are more likely to shop with brands who recognise, remember, and provide relevant offers and recommendations.
Most marketers do understand the importance of personalisation, and positive business outcomes if done correctly. It is also essential to understand relevant use cases that drive next-generation personalisation, helping determine where to focus and prioritise. The report covers use cases such as:
- Website personalisation: provides visitors with personalised, individual, and relevant experiences.
- Live agent and in-store engagement: provides retail sales associates with access to customer history and suggested actions, such as products to recommend based on past purchases and current situation.
- Chatbots: provide personalised customer support of equal quality to live agents.
- Cross-channel offer recommendations: hyper-personalised offers recommendations, content, and messages, taking into account context, such as date, time, and location of interaction(s).
What to do next
To support advanced marketing use cases, we are delighted to introduce our next-generation personalisation solution, Cheetah Personalization, which includes three capabilities: Real-Time Personalisation, Journey Designer, and Intelligent Offers. These capabilities allow marketers to deliver personalisation at scale with the Next-Best-Experience, the Next-Best-Journey, and incorporate the Next-Best-Content.
While we are excited about Cheetah Personalization driving the next-generation of personalisation, we know it is also important to understand additional factors, such as data sources to consider, analytics best practices, and organisational alignment for success covered in the report. Lastly, you’ll need a plan and actionable next steps. The report will leave you with inspiration for creating a vision, team, and exploring quick wins that support your next-generation personalisation strategies.
Download the report here.