These days, consumers aren’t coming to stores for the prices or the comparison – they can easily find better alternatives to both online. They are looking for an experience that can’t be copied online: a personalised experience that is worthy of a trip. In order to strengthen this offline experience, more and more industries also provide their customers with a personalised online communications experience. But why there is this need? We listed four important reasons.
1. Consumers are part of the experience economy
Changes in cultures have resulted in a shift in consumer expectations. Technology has enabled consumers to buy all their products and services online, so they don’t necessarily need to go to public places anymore. The goal of retailers therefore shifted to making consumers want to go to their stores. They should offer consumers a memorable time, rather than a product or service.
2. Consumers have greater choice
In 2023, competition will be tougher and companies will be under more scrutiny than ever before. Consumers will have greater choice and find it increasingly difficult to make purchase decisions. Organisations will recognise that a satisfying customer service is becoming the most important aspect for consumers. If they won’t get it at your company, they will go somewhere else.
3. Consumers are extremely busy
Ask people how they are doing these days, and the first word you will hear is busy. We do more, go to more places, and buy more. As time becomes our most scarce asset, limiting this flow to relevant offers will increasingly become important. Complex machine learning algorithms will play an important role in our lives, as we train them with our behaviour. For instance, we’ve created more information in the last 10 years than in all of human history. All of this is more information than the brain is configured to handle. We have an overload of information and need relevance.
4. Consumers expect personalisation
As today’s technology is able to analyse consumer’s behaviour and deliver a completely personalised experience on the Internet, consumers expect the same experience from anyone else. They expect retailers to know their preferences and interests. Sending personalised emails, and recommending products or services based on previous behaviour are increasingly important to promote customer loyalty. Consumers aren’t scared by your ability to collect personal data – they encourage it so that you are able to offer the things they are interested in.
Give consumers what they want, where they want it
Solutions like predictive analytics allow retailers to give consumers what they want, where they want it. For instance, imgZine’s internal news app allows employees to personalise their news channels based on departments, offices, topics and personal interests. An extensive search filter also helps employees easily find what they are looking for. Furthermore, news is available at all times, all devices and all places.
Is your product and communication tailored to the individual needs of your consumers? Feel free to share your best practice with us in the comments below!
