Tailoring experiences to build brand loyalty
In this month’s blog, I am going to take a look at personalisation in branding and how tailoring experiences to individuals helps to build brand loyalty.
Today, we live our life online.
For example, how much time do you spend per week on your smartphone, tablet, laptop or PC?
As consumers, we are bombarded every day by hundreds (if not thousands!) of adverts and brand messages.
Brands have realised that in order to stand out from the incessant ‘noise’ they have to adopt a more personalised approach and provide an individual experience for every customer.
The Importance of Personalisation
By making sure that customers enjoy a personalised experience when interacting with them, brands evoke a sense of feeling valued and understood.
Brands delivering personalised messages and products/services encourage a deeper connection with their target audience, which boosts customer loyalty and ultimately, drives business growth.
Why does personalisation in branding matter?
Businesses have learned that providing personalised experiences to customers gives them a competitive advantage, differentiating them from competitors in a crowded marketplace.
Personalisation matters to customers, who want to feel special when they buy a product or service, rather than just a number or one among many. Customers have an expectation that the brands they engage with will understand their needs and behaviours.
Tailoring experiences increases the feeling of customer satisfaction, boosts confidence and trust in the brand and engenders brand loyalty.
Personalisation matters to brands because they need to retain and extend their customer base.
Brand loyalty and audience engagement enables targeted marketing campaigns, driving repeat business, higher conversion rates, and fosters word of mouth recommendations to new customers, resulting in growth of sales.
Targeted campaigns generally offer a higher ROI than a ‘one size fits all’ brand strategy.
The key components for personalisation in branding
- Data Insights
Information gathering:
- Who are your customers?
- Where do they live?
- What do they buy?
- How do they browse your website?
- What are their buying preferences?
Analytics:
Collect customer information and feedback from:
- CRM systems
- Customer surveys
- Social media comments and polls
Manage the data effectively and use it to identify patterns in behaviour and buying trends. Analyse reviews to understand customer views and feelings.
Artificial intelligence:
Leverage AI and machine learning tools to process, analyse and interpret large amounts of data. Use the results to anticipate customer needs and behaviour and identify opportunities for personalisation in branding through product/service recommendations.
2 Segmentation
Once the data has been analysed, brands can segment customers effectively, based on:
Demographics:
- Location
- Gender
- Age
- Income etc.
Behaviour:
- How often they purchase
- What they buy
- Their actions on the website
- Which web pages they browse
Lifestyle:
- Attitudes
- Interests
- Values
3 Technology
Use the latest technology to tailor experiences as part of the customer journey:
- Use AI and machine learning to anticipate customer needs
- Build algorithms that can offer personal product/service recommendations
- Synchronise data to ensure experiences are seamless and consistent across all touchpoints
- Create an individual and immersive experience using AR (Augmented Reality), and VR (Virtual Reality) technology to enable customers to try on clothes/glasses, see furniture in their own living room etc.
4 Tailored communication
Customer segmentation provides an opportunity to personalise brand customer journeys, based on the information collected for each audience segment.
- Engage new customers with welcome messages and tailored offers
- Use browsing and/or purchase history to make product/service recommendations
- Targeted email campaigns based on lifestyle or demographics can be sent in a timely manner,
- Use SMS marketing to deliver timely and relevant messages
- Use custom-created content on social media platforms to target customer segments
- Implement dynamic web or App content that adjusts to customer preferences and browsing behaviour in real time
- Offer individual support and advice through chatbots and virtual assistants, and provide relevant product suggestions
5 Test and measure
Once a personalisation strategy is in place, it is essential to know that is it providing the right customer experience, in the right way, at the right time.
Testing different configurations of the components to determine the right mix is crucial for producing the best results.
Brands should make refinements to the components of a personalisation strategy by regularly analysing the results against marketing and business goals and adjusting, as necessary.
The challenges to personalisation in branding
Brands also have to demonstrate responsibility, especially around the use of data collection, storage and analysis.
Transparent practices such as compliance with regulations (GDPR), and obtaining consent, are essential for ethical reasons.
Data breaches are a real threat to brand reputation and brand equity, so employing best practice from a security perspective is essential to protect customer data invoke trust.
There is a danger that brands can take personalisation too far. Customers may feel that communications are intrusive and too frequent. Brands should seek a balance between being helpful and being too full-on by respecting boundaries and individual preferences.
It can be a challenge for smaller businesses to keep up with the big brands because implementing the components of tailored experiences for customers can be resource-heavy and expensive.
Top Tips for Personalisation in Branding
So, what are my top tips for personalisation in branding?
Respect privacy:
- Employ security best practice,
- Handle data responsibly
- Use data ethically
Keep it simple and timely:
- Avoid intrusion and over frequent customer communication
Test, learn and adjust:
- Refine the components of your personalisation strategy to implement the most effective customer experience
Technology:
- Use technology (systems and AI) to automate as much as possible
In this blog, I have examined personalisation in branding from both customer and brand viewpoints.
The former expect brands to understand their needs, lifestyle and feelings, with messaging tailored specifically to meet those demands.
Brands use data, audience segmentation and technology to tailor messages and make product recommendations that meet individual needs, ensuring a personalised customer experience when interacting with the brand.
The benefits of personalisation in branding are that customers feel understood, which fosters an emotional connection, creating a positive perception and building brand loyalty.
By providing tailored experiences, brands ensure:
- Customer retention
- A better ROI on marketing campaigns
- A greater number of brand advocates
- A high conversion rate for new customers
It’s a win-win, right?
If you aren’t sure, or would prefer a chat with me, Clare, to discuss personalisation in branding, (or any other aspect of branding), why not book a brew, so we can discuss your brand strategy in more detail? The Make a Brew team are always ready to answer your branding questions and whether creating, building or marketing your brand, we can’t wait to help you grow your business!