Insights: Why retailers are focusing on personalisation to please customers

In 2023, it’s not a surprise that consumers want increasingly digital interactions and experiences.

All brands are moving their businesses and platforms online, and looking towards personalisation based on demographics to make experiences more customised.

While this strategy might have worked even a couple of years ago, it has now become common practice (and even the bare minimum for a brand) to address customers by first name and keep demographics in consideration. Now, customers want more — more personalisation, more customisation, and tailored experiences.

The next step

Consumers are demanding experiences tailored to their preferences, behaviour, and stage in the buyer journey. They’re looking for more sophisticated communication at every touchpoint with brands, and this holds especially true for emails, which give brands multiple avenues to include personalisation strategies.

A study on email benchmarks that analysed 10.9 billion B2C emails found that basic personalisation strategies only increased email marketing metrics by about 1.8X, but adding a deeper layer of personalisation based on consumer behavior increases the same metrics by 7.5X. This holds true for conversion rates, open rates click-to-open rate (CTOR) and unsubscribe rates too.

Customer journey-based personalisation is shown to increase CTOR by about 10.9 times and open rates by 7.2 times.

The email benchmarks report for 2023 also outlines similar metrics on a case-by-case basis for multiple industries such as retail and e-commerce, banking and fintech, travel and hospitality, media and entertainment, and more.

Every metric across industries sees a direct correlation with sophisticated personalisation strategies based on buyer journey stage or customer behaviour, when compared to regular attribute-based personalisation.

In conclusion, personalisation has become an integral part of businesses’ ability to stay competitive in the digital age.

As consumers become more digitally savvy, the need for brands to offer tailored experiences based on preferences, behavior, and where they are in the buyer journey will only increase.

More sophisticated personalisation

Today’s consumers demand more than just basic personalisation strategies – they want deeper, more sophisticated customisation that showcases a understanding of their needs.

Brands that offer it will be better positioned to build long-lasting customer relationships, drive loyalty, and enhance revenue.

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The writer is the CEO and co-founder of MoEngage.