Personal best, personal messaging, personal space, personal touch. Sounds good, right?
We like things when they're relevant to us – when we feel like someone's listening or we're succeeding. Personalisation works just the same.
According to McKinsey's Next in Personalization Report, 71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalised interactions.
A further 76% get "frustrated" when this doesn't happen.
There's nothing quite like being heard or feeling special. Constantly explaining yourself to company after company or endlessly hunting down the answers is exhausting.
Consumers want to simplify their buyer's journey, getting brands to provide a tailor-made experience.
The response is impressive: brands that excel in personalisation see 40% higher revenue than the average.
But how do you personalise your sales experience for a customer you've never met? That's quite a challenge! Find out how below.
In this article:
- Personalisation Meaning
- Personalised Marketing: What Do Customers Want?
- Benefits of Personalisation
- Hyper-Personalisation: The Next Step?
- How to Personalise Your Sales Funnel
What is Personalisation in Sales?
What is personalisation? It's pitching your product or services in a way a specific customer understands.
Once upon a time, restricted by mass media, brands were forced to appeal to the broadest demographic.
However, through the internet and social media, it's easier than ever to segment audiences, tailoring the message to their wants, needs, and interests.
Personalisation in sales involves leveraging data and insights to deliver individualised messages, offers, and experiences. Doing so moves beyond yesteryear's generic, one-size-fits-all approach, fostering a deeper connection between customers and the products or services on offer.
Advanced analytics, CRM systems, and new AI technologies allow sales teams to understand customers at a granular level. That includes tracking purchasing habits, browsing histories, social media activity, and even personal milestones.
Harnessing this data, companies can create a hyper-personalised sales funnel that speaks to the individual – whether that's through personalised emails, tailored recommendations, custom promotions, or microsites.
Personalised Marketing: What Do Customers Want?
Personalised interactions with brands can take many forms. Sure, we all like a message to speak to us, but not all personalisation is good personalisation.
Too much information, for example, can be a little creepy (especially with concerns about data privacy).
So, what do customers want from personalised marketing?
1. "Save me time"
Fundamentally, the personalised experience is about saving time. If you can present the perfect solution to a consumer's problem when they need it, you've achieved the dream of marketing. That's where tailored recommendations or digital sales rooms work wonders.
2. "Message me when I'm ready"
Personalisation respects a person's personal time. Identifying the right time to send an email or to update a digital sales room is equally important to the content itself.
We don't want to be endlessly bothered by pointless communications. Personalised marketing should be relevant and to the point.
For example, sending a post-purchase email containing a how-to video for a product is helpful and thoughtful.
3. "Remember our past interactions"
Talking to a salesperson you've spoken to before but who doesn't remember you is more than annoying; it's rude.
We like to be remembered. Addressing an email with a customer's name, including references to their past purchases or more, can create a customer experience for the ages.
4. "Solve my problems"
Identifying a customer's pain points (even pre-empting them) saves them time and makes your company their “business in shining armour.”
Indeed, in a Salesforce survey, 62% of consumers said they expected a business to anticipate their needs. The same number also reported an emotional connection to the brands they buy the most.
Benefits of Personalisation
Personalised shopping and marketing experience isn't just about catering to the whims of your customers. It yields results!
Customers might have greater expectations than before, but they also reward brands that go the extra mile.
Here's how:
More Repeat Purchases
Almost half of consumers say they'll become repeat buyers if a retail brand provides a personalised experience.
It's not just B2C – according to Adobe's 2023 B2B Commerce Growth Strategies Survey, 63% of B2B companies were investing in improving their user experience. Why? Because it works.
Greater Engagement
Personalisation is about having a conversation with your customers. It makes sense that they'd respond in kind. In fact, 54% of marketers globally report higher brand engagement thanks to their personalised marketing.
Rock Solid Brand Loyalty
From the initial conversation, personalised sales techniques build a relationship. People are naturally loyal to those who are helpful – including companies.
McKinsey confirms that personalised experiences drive custom loyalty.
Indeed, the research indicates it yields 20% higher customer satisfaction rates.
Considering it's much easier to keep old customers than attract new ones (and it's cheaper, too), it's little surprise that personalisation sparks an increased marketing ROI of 10% to 30%.
Hyper-Personalisation: The Next Step?
Hyper-personalisation takes the approach one step further.
Regular personalisation might use basic customer information, including names, ages, location, and more. For example, an email marketing campaign that addresses each customer by name.
Hyper-personalisation, on the other hand, pulls real-time and behavioural data to deliver an unparalleled, individualised experience.
There's just one problem: you don't want to seem creepy.
Gathering all this data is one thing, but if you come off like a stalker, you're in serious trouble. Indeed, consumers are 3x more likely to ditch brands that over-personalise versus those that don't bother at all.
How do we provide value while retaining trust? That's the key question.
First, it's a matter of tone. Ensure your messaging is friendly but not overly familiar. "Jessica, last time you purchased a blue sundress and sunglasses and the time before that, it was black trousers. We think you'll like these products" is unlikely to go over well.
Instead, a chirpy, "Hi Jessica! Summer is almost over. Here are some autumn essentials we thought you might like" works much better.
Second, don't reveal everything you know. We're all aware companies gather data on us; for the most part, we accept it because it's useful.
But, if you reel off everything you know about a customer, suddenly, it puts them on the defensive. Demographic data should inform your audience segmentation – but keep it to that.
How to Personalise Your Sales Funnel
So, we know personalised marketing works. It's not just an optional extra but a growing expectation from customers. But how do brands go about integrating personalisation into their sales funnel? Here are some tools, techniques, and tips to give your sales the personal touch:
Digital Sales Room
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Brands usually jump straight to personalised emails or retargeting campaigns – because they work. However, most online marketing is a poor substitute for the in-person interactions of yesteryear. Digital sales rooms (DSRs) bridge this divide.
Serving as a private, branded space for sales teams and prospects to engage, you can tailor your Digital Sales Room to the customer in question. That includes:
- Customised Content. Only include content that speaks to a prospect's questions, needs, and pain points, e.g., specific blog posts, competitor analysis, or product demonstrations.
- Real-Time Collaboration. Trumpet's DSRs integrate a mutual action plan to allow buyers and sellers to work together toward a sale. It helps build a solid relationship, establishing loyalty early on.
- Rich Data Insights. Because Digital Sales Rooms are a 100% trackable space, you can gather immense feedback on your marketing approach, identifying what works and what doesn't using sales intelligence signals.
Buyer Personas
It's hard to market to faceless demographics. Developing buyer personas based on your demographic data helps humanise your customers. They're no longer just numbers on a page. You can then create personalised marketing campaigns related to a specific persona.
For example, an online furniture retailer could have personas like "The Trendsetter," "The Bargain Hunter," or "The Quality Seeker."
For "The Trendsetter," emails about the latest products or trends would have an ROI, whereas "The Bargain Hunter" wants to know about the upcoming sale.
Personalised Emails
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Email marketing has the highest ROI of any digital marketing medium in part because it's already personalised. Everyone in your subscriber list chose to sign up.
Take it to the next level by segmenting your email campaigns based on subscriber demographics and personalising the subject line.
For example, if a customer has been inactive on an app for a few weeks, the subject could read: "We Miss You At [App Name], Sam!"
Inside the email, include personalised health tips or past achievements, e.g., "You ran 40km last month. Keep up the good work!"
Experience Personalisation in Action
Personalisation is the most potent tool in a sales team's arsenal. But only if you get it right. Only collect the data you need for marketing and sales purposes and be upfront about your data privacy policy.
For most companies, however, the problem is making the best use of the data they have collected. Don't ignore the data gold mine in your customer relationship manager (CRM).
Trumpet integrates with the biggest CRMs to auto-populate our 'pods' – the latest tool transforming the sales process.
Much loved by sales and marketing teams, our auto-personalised, collaborative, and trackable spaces let you personalise the customer journey from cold outreach to the final sale. Book a free demo with our team to learn more.
