It's 2015 and personalization is on everybody's mind. For consumers, it's about products and services that cater to an exact need, as if they were created specifically for an individual. The flip side is that the onus for developing these personalized items is on brands and businesses that are already battling it out for consumer attention.
The good news is that as advanced as personalization is in some areas (targeted ads based on interests and online behaviour), it's still in its infancy in other, equally important ways. For example, when I first bought somebody a bottle of Coke with their name on the logo, it was kinda cool. And while I don't doubt that the campaign was a huge, global success, how much effort did it really take on Coke's part? Is the fact that they replaced their logo with some text true personalization or just a gimmick?
If it sounds like I'm saying the Share-A-Coke thing is both brilliant and only fractionally personalized, that's because it's exactly what I'm saying. So that's why for our latest infoGIF (a new creation from our amazing design team) we came up with some stats and facts to show you just how up close and personal your customers want you to get!
Last year, we talked about personalization in our discussion of Spike Jonze's film Her as it relates to the future of mobile marketing. In the movie, the products Philippines Photo Editor and services depicted are created to get to know their owners in a matter of seconds (and to then assist them in the day-to-day activities). More recently, Dan Monaghan brought up Minority Report and the all-access data pass we give to apps and devices when we talked to him during the first episode of the Digital Insider Podcast Series.
Both of these topics adopted a somewhat negative perspective on how personal technology is becoming (albeit in part due to the heavy conclusions drawn by both films). Overall, this stands in contrast to what we found when we jumped into data on the results of personalization, which is that consumers actually appreciate when marketers use their data correctly. And it makes sense. After all, when was the last time you got mad at Netflix for suggesting a totally awesome movie that you'd never even heard of?
When you consider how helpful and efficient personalized marketing is for consumers, it's no surprise that studies have shown 1:1 campaigns beat out static campaigns in an overwhelming fashion. Think about the places you go during your weekly routine, like your favorite coffee shop, local grocery store or the gas station near your house. Do you see the same employees over and over? Have they tuned into your regular habits (the drink you order or the fact that you always buy a lottery ticket with your gas)? These small but meaningful human connections that occur in our daily lives are the kind of personalizations that smart marketers are making in their digital campaigns.
