Top Five Reasons Why Sales Personalization Is Essential

In the era of digitalization and social distancing, personalized marketing is becoming more critical than ever. McKinsey stated that personalization will be the primary driver of marketing success in the next five years.

David, Wachs, Founder and CEO of Handwrytten

Personalization helps you gain valuable insights into clients’ preferences and behavior through accurate data so that you can deliver even more tailored experiences to them. Personalized information seems more relevant to customers, and as a result, they are more likely to pay attention and eventually convert.

 This article will dive deeper into the top five reasons personalization is essential to building client relationships.

1.   Showing empathy

Empathy has never been out of “fashion”. It’s the basis of building trust and strong relationships. It’s the ability to relate to another person’s emotions, especially during turbulent and insecure times. Imagine that you are just starting your business, and you don’t know your audience and its preferences. The way to personalize communication with them is to demonstrate empathy.

●      Send handwritten thank-you notes. These may be an old-school but aesthetic way to show appreciation or even apologize to your clients.

●      Write personalized emails. Of course, adding the client’s name to your email is not enough. Today’s consumers demand real, authentic experiences from brands, and they can easily spot when their email has been added to a mass mailing list.

●      Read and listen carefully.

●      Be patient, positive, and respectful.

 Whether you are just starting your business or you’ve been around for some time and have a solid customer base, showing empathy will make your clients more forgivable when you make a mistake and will stay with you longer.

2.   Improving engagement

Engagement is vital because it keeps clients “warm” and shortens the distance between you and them. That helps you collect more data regarding their preferences. Here are a few examples of how to increase your target audience’s engagement rate:

 ●      Involve them in personalized surveys, quizzes, and quick games.

●      Post relevant content (articles, videos, images) on social media and your own website/channel.

●      Ask for their opinion regularly.

●      Conduct webinars and lives.

●      Share news related to your brand, such as new products, locations, functionalities, etc.

●      Use communication channels such as Viber, Whatsapp, and others to reach them via mobile.

 Note: There is a thin line between engaging your audience in meaningful and desired ways and being annoying and intrusive. Pay close attention to your clients to apply the best approaches. What works for your competitors may not necessarily work for your brand too.

3.   Staying competitive

Consumers today are being bombarded with hundreds of messages streaming from all kinds of communication channels. Failing to personalize their experience would make them switch to a competitor in seconds. So, how do you stay competitive via personalization?

 ●      Have a user-friendly website. This is one of the main factors that influence user experience. Your website should be easy to navigate, with relevant content for your target audience. You can personalize certain sections of your website.

●      Research your competition regularly. That will give you a heads up on what your competitors do better than you and may give you ideas on further personalizing and improving your service or product.

●      Educate yourself on market and consumer trends. You need tо monitor the “big picture” to stay confident about where you fit and what steps you can take to improve. 

4.   Boosting loyalty

Personalization helps boost your clients’ loyalty. Loyalty marketing is the highest level of marketing, and it’s not about giving out discounts and promotions:

●      Loyal clients stay true to your brand identity, spend more, act as brand ambassadors, and bring more clients with them.

●      It’s more profitable to retain existing clients than to attract new ones.

●      It’s easier to gain valuable data from loyal clients than new ones.

However, turning your customer base into loyal brand ambassadors requires more effort and a more personalized approach. This is where loyalty programs come in. Individualized loyalty programs make clients feel truly important to you but at the same time allow you to track customers’ behavior and deepen relationships further.

5.   Increasing ROI

Increased ROI depends on multiple factors, but personalization is a major one. 80% of consumers are more likely to purchase when brands offer personalized experiences. Higher revenue is also the result of all the above steps combined, at the core of which lies personalization. Showing empathy, knowing your competitors, engaging clients in meaningful activities, and implementing intelligent loyalty programs will lead to more sales. This is real marketing - building your brand in a way that people come to you to buy an experience rather than products or services.

Final thoughts

Personalization is essential for any business as it ensures stronger and longer-lasting relationships with clients. It helps you attract new clients, keep your existing ones closer to you, examine their behavior, and give them exactly what they are craving at the right moment. Since competition is fierce and consumers – overwhelmed by vast varieties of products, services, and messages – the way to stand out from the rest is to invest time and resources in personalized marketing.

About the author

David Wachs is the Founder and CEO of Handwrytten - Handwriting Services for Brands. David is also a frequent speaker on messaging technology and has presented for the Direct Marketing Association, South By Southwest, and others.