Delivering an experience with relevant content across different digital channels is becoming a priority for more and more brands.
Customers are becoming more demanding, especially as they become more digitally savvy. They are now more interested in bespoke experiences that make it easier for them to find what they want, that is appropriate for the brand and that is tailored to them.
The question brands face is, what do they need to put in place in order to be able to provide this?
To begin with, brands must start to ‘collect, connect and predict’. Companies can collect and use relevant customer data, which can now come from a range of different sources, such as social media, and then connect this data to the individual customer journey. Brands can then begin to predict where their customer will want to go to next and plan a customer journey based on real-time insight.
Furthermore, a personalised user experience can be achieved through segmentation, targeting and profiling specific customers with data that has been collected previously.
With customer experience platforms, it is now possible to deliver a real-time, one-to-one personalised journey for your customers, and this happens when the data you have about your customers is connected to the real-time journey they are on with your brand, to bring in the context and relevance.
One example is personalising to customers based on the kind of device they are using. If a customer is accessing a brand’s website on a mobile device, then businesses can use this data to tailor the experience for a mobile user, giving the best experience for a customer on the move.
Geographical location is another intelligent way to maximise the level of personalisation for each customer’s experience. For example, brands can draw on this information to customise their website to a user’s language, inform them of their nearest store’s opening times, and check product availability in their particular location.
Aside from segmentation, brands can also track a user’s actions in real time as they navigate their way around a website, and use the opportunity to offer relevant content to customers as they continue to browse.
To begin with, brands must start to ‘collect, connect and predict’.
For example, if a customer is shopping for sofas, your site can serve up content specific for their stage in the buying process – for a first-time visit you could focus on broader content to explain the brand’s concept or show the workmanship in the production process.
For a consumer who has clicked on a specific sofa several times, you could introduce offers and incentives, or complimentary products to ensure that your content is always relevant, potentially encouraging them to make a purchase that perhaps they would not have made otherwise.
Using data this way makes consumers feel valued and reassures them that their favourite brands are aware of their history and taking careful notice of their shopping habits.
An example of a brand doing this well is Nike with its running app, Nike Plus. The app logs information about the user and draws on this data to interact with that person, by congratulating them on running their furthest distance, or their quickest 5k, before highlighting a new pair of trainers they might like. This personalised experience gives a similar feeling to an off-line world experience, such as local coffee shop staff remembering how you like your beverage and offering the occasional recommendation on a new drink you might like to try.
The ability to convert customer information for use within the online channel enables brands to deliver a more personal, relevant and targeted service that increases customer satisfaction and, ultimately, their lifetime value to the business.
Brands don’t have the ability to change their physical store layout with the latest trends or sale items every time a customer walks in but, thanks to data, they can now adapt their online presence to fit each customer’s profile every time they return.
