The report, based on a global survey of around 700 client-side and agency respondents, explores personalisation, a topic which has quickly risen to the top of the agenda for companies wanting to improve customer experience and financial performance simultaneously. 

Here are just four reasons why you should be creating more personalised marketing.

Better customer experiences

Serving relevant personalised content throughout the online journey will help create a deeper relationship between your business and the customer. It’s important to remember that prospective buyers and customers alike are going on a journey of their own making, so marketers should be aware that creating personalised content will help position their business as the only logical choice.

This can lead to much higher levels of brand advocacy and will hopefully improve customer lifetime value

Improved conversion rates

As the link between an improved customer experience and better commercial performance has become more obvious, the ability to personalise is rightly seen as something which can help differentiate you from competitors, which can also help lead to that possible 14% uplift in sales. 

We asked our respondents: How do you (or your clients) measure the benefits of personalisation?

Real-time personalisation can improve sales even further

Real time personalisation can result in an uplift in sales which is 33% greater than those businesses who say their type of personalisation isn’t instantaneous.

Tailored content can be delivered at times when customers are most receptive and in ways that are more likely to stimulate engagement.

Companies targeting personalised content in real time are seeing, on average, 16% uplift in sales. This is higher than the uplift of 12% seen by those who are carrying out personalisation but not in real-time, translating into a significant amount of additional sales for businesses across a range of sectors.

Improved customer experiences without the creepiness

The personal touch is a time-honoured way for businesses to keep their customers loyal in the offline world, however it is only relatively recently that technology has enabled businesses to do this at scale online.

As our Modern Marketing Manifesto states:

Digital channels in particular allow us to use everything we know about a customer to inform and optimise each interaction. Location, device, screen size, usage characteristics, the weather… we are in an era where we have exciting and powerful new data points to power personalisation. 

However it’s important to remember that as modern marketers we should respect the privacy of customers and recognise that value must be delivered to them exchange for personal data.

Personalisation does not necessarily require personally identifiable information to tailor the experience. There is a whole range of data about individuals which can be used to customise the experience without knowing exactly who they are, for example if they are visiting your website for the first time. 

Download the full copy of the report Why Marketing Should be Personal to learn more.

For a further look at some of the most important trends affecting the marketing landscape, you can download more reports here: Econsultancy’s Quarterly Digital Intelligence Briefings.