Understanding Personalisation
Personalisation is the essence of crafting a “just for you” atmosphere through the products, services, or experiences a company provides. It’s about leveraging insights from your interactions—your past purchases, clicks, and preferences—to deliver a message that resonates: “Hey, we get you. Here’s something tailored especially for you.”
Need help with your social media? Book your FREE 1:1 consultation today and get started.
Personalisation in Australian Marketing
In the context of Australian marketing, personalisation has been transformative, more so during the lockdown years which reshaped our shopping habits and brand interactions. With a significant shift towards online shopping, the importance of personalisation has skyrocketed.
Imagine visiting a website and being greeted with recommendations that seem handpicked for you, or receiving emails that go beyond the generic “Dear Customer” to address you by name and reflect your interests. This level of personalisation is becoming the norm for businesses striving to connect on a deeper level with their customers.
The Art of Personalisation
Australian businesses are increasingly leveraging data and technology to infuse a personal touch into every interaction. This strategy extends beyond merely boosting sales; it’s about ensuring that customers feel genuinely understood and appreciated. However, there’s a fine line to tread. Overdoing personalisation can be off-putting, akin to a friend who just doesn’t know when to stop. The secret lies in striking the perfect balance, and using data intelligently to foster genuine connections without coming across as intrusive.
The Importance of Getting It Right
In the crowded marketplace of Australia, personalisation is no longer just an impressive tactic—it’s a necessity for customer retention and brand differentiation. Businesses that master the art of personalisation are those that thrive and grow, navigating through the challenges posed by the lockdown years and emerging stronger. Personalisation is key to not just surviving but flourishing in today’s competitive landscape, making every customer interaction count.
Exploring the Nuances: Personalisation vs. Customisation
The Core of Personalisation and Customisation
Personalisation and customisation serve the same purpose: to adapt products or experiences to meet individual preferences. However, their approaches to achieving this objective are distinctly different, catering to unique aspects of customer interaction and satisfaction.
The Personal Touch of Personalisation
Personalisation is characterised by a brand’s initiative to tailor experiences or products for the individual, leveraging collected data. This process is often automated, employing algorithms to analyse your past interactions—like viewing habits on a streaming service—to predict and suggest what you might enjoy next. It’s a proactive approach, where the company anticipates your preferences without requiring you to explicitly state them.
The Individual Choice of Customisation
Customisation puts the control in the hands of the customer, allowing you to actively influence the product or experience. Whether it’s assembling a computer with specific components or customising a pizza order, customisation empowers you to make decisions that tailor the offering to your exact needs and specifications.
Comparing Approaches
While both strategies aim to deliver a more relevant and tailored experience, they diverge in execution. Personalisation is about the brand crafting a bespoke experience based on predictive data, often without direct input from the customer at the moment of customisation. In contrast, customisation requires the customer’s active participation in shaping the product or service, providing a sense of ownership and involvement in the customisation process.
How To Use Personalisation in Marketing?
For a fresh perspective on leveraging personalisation in marketing, consider adopting a more nuanced and creative approach that goes beyond the basics:
Craft Story-Driven Content: Develop marketing narratives that resonate personally with your audience segments. Use storytelling to connect on an emotional level, incorporating user-generated content or customer success stories that reflect shared experiences or values.
Implement Interactive Elements: Utilise quizzes, surveys, or interactive videos on your digital platforms to engage users in a fun and meaningful way. These tools can also serve as data collection points to further refine personalisation efforts.
Need help with your social media? Book your FREE 1:1 consultation today and get started.
Focus on Micro-Moments: Capitalise on micro-moments by offering personalised content or recommendations when your customers are most likely to need them. For example, suggesting a raincoat during a rainy forecast in their area or offering quick recipes around dinner time.
Leverage Social Listening: Monitor social media for mentions of your brand, product, or relevant topics. Use this information to engage in conversations or offer personalised responses and recommendations, demonstrating that you’re attentive and responsive to customer needs and preferences.
Create Dynamic Email Campaigns: Beyond using a customer’s name, tailor email campaigns based on the recipient’s lifecycle stage, recent interactions with your brand, or upcoming personal milestones like birthdays or anniversaries. Incorporate dynamic content that updates based on the latest interactions or behaviours.
Utilise Augmented Reality (AR): Although the market for AR has been a hit and miss, and most people don’t like putting Apple’s Vision Pro Headset, AR can offer personalised experiences that allow customers to see how a product would look in their own space or on themselves. This immersive approach can significantly enhance the decision-making process and increase engagement.
Offer Personalised Learning Experiences: If your brand is educational or offers courses, create learning paths that adapt to the user’s progress, interests, or performance. This makes the educational content more relevant and engaging for the user.
Prioritise Mobile Personalisation: With the prevalence of smartphones, ensure your personalisation strategies are optimised for mobile. This includes personalised app notifications, SMS marketing tailored to user behaviour, and mobile-exclusive offers.
Develop a Personalised Loyalty Program: Design a loyalty program that rewards customers based on their specific purchase behaviours or preferences. Offer rewards that are genuinely valuable to them, enhancing their sense of being valued as an individual.
Incorporate Voice Search Optimisation: As voice search becomes more popular, optimise your content for voice queries with a more conversational tone and include personalised responses where possible.
How To Use Personalisation In Social Media
Applying personalisation in social media marketing requires a strategic approach that focuses on engaging with your audience on a more individual and meaningful level. Here are ways to implement personalisation in your social media efforts:
Audience Segmentation: Start by segmenting your social media audience based on their interests, behaviours, and interactions with your brand. Use this information to tailor your content, making it more relevant to each group. For example, if part of your audience frequently engages with content about sustainability, you can create more posts that highlight your brand’s eco-friendly practices or products.
Customised Content: Create content that resonates with different segments of your audience. This could mean developing variations of a post that cater to different interests or preferences, ensuring that your messages feel more personal and relevant to each follower.
Direct Engagement: Use social media as a platform for direct communication with your audience. Respond to comments, messages, and mentions with personalised replies rather than generic responses. Showing that you’re listening and engaging on a personal level can significantly enhance customer loyalty and brand perception.
User-Generated Content: Encourage and share user-generated content (UGC) from your followers. This not only provides you with authentic material to post but also makes your customers feel valued and part of your brand’s community. Highlighting customer stories, reviews, or photos can personalise your brand by associating it with real-life experiences.
Need help with your social media? Book your FREE 1:1 consultation today and get started.
Personalised Recommendations: Leverage data from your social media channels to offer personalised recommendations. For instance, if someone has shown interest in a particular product or service through likes or comments, you can directly message them with more information or a special offer related to that interest.
Dynamic Ads: Utilise social media platforms’ dynamic advertising capabilities to serve personalised ads based on user’s previous interactions with your website or app. These ads automatically show products or services users have viewed, making the ad content highly relevant and personalised.
Influencer Collaborations: Partner with influencers who resonate with different segments of your audience. Influencers can create personalised content that speaks directly to the interests and needs of their followers, providing a more authentic and engaging way to introduce your brand to potential customers.
Celebrating Milestones: Acknowledge and celebrate milestones, both your own and those of your followers. Whether it’s a follower’s birthday, an anniversary of their first purchase, or a holiday relevant to their culture, recognising these moments can add a personal touch to your social media interactions.
Polls and Surveys: Use polls and surveys to gather feedback and preferences from your audience. This not only helps in tailoring future content but also makes your followers feel involved in the decision-making process of your brand.
Story Personalisation: Utilise social media stories for real-time personalisation. Share behind-the-scenes content, host live Q&A sessions, and use interactive features like polls, questions, and quizzes to engage with your audience in a personalised and immediate way.
About the Author
Crom Salvatera is a seasoned marketer, consultant, and freelancer with a passion for digital innovation and customisation. With extensive experience in social media, marketing strategy, and customer engagement, Crom has helped brands across various industries achieve their digital marketing objectives.
Follow or connect with Crom Salvatera on LinkedIn.
