"Age of Me": Six steps to a personalized approach to customers
Editorial
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August 8, 2016
The "Age of Me" has dawned in digital business. Today, it is almost impossible to convince customers and prospects with a standardized approach. Companies should therefore move away from traditional segmentation and consistently personalize their content and services. Arithnea names six steps with which this goal can be achieved.1. play through the customer journey. The prerequisite for a personalized approach is to know exactly where, when and how a company can reach its customers. It is therefore advisable to start by developing scenarios that map the entire customer journey. They should show all the steps that a person goes through at the various touchpoints until the goal pursued by the company is reached.2. generate comprehensive customer data. The basic prerequisite for a personalized approach is comprehensive customer data. Companies already have a lot of data in their CRM, ERP, PIM or content management systems. Tracking systems can also collect live data while a customer is using a website, online store or app. This information can also be supplemented by data from predictive behavioral targeting providers that make enriched user profiles available.3. integrate offline channels. True personalization is only possible if a company knows all of a customer's activities. To do this, it must also evaluate and integrate offline channels. There are several options for this at the point of sale, such as GPS tracking or beacon technology. If used cleverly, it is even possible to track which individual products a customer touches, picks up from the shelf or buys in the store.4. create one-to-one profiles. The combination and analysis of online and offline data enables companies to create a precise one-to-one profile for each individual customer. This not only reveals which products, topics or services a person is interested in on the company website, in the online store, on the internet in general and in the physical stores; it also allows individual preferences to be taken into account when using the individual channels, such as preferred navigation types or designs of websites and stores.5. play out personalized content in real time. Based on the one-to-one profiles, companies can use real-time decision or real-time targeting systems to personalize their content in real time. For example, if a customer accesses the company website on their tablet, it is not only optimized for mobile devices, but the page layout and content also reflect their individual interests and needs; if a customer is out and about in the city and approaches a branch, the company can automatically send them a suitable offer on their smartphone via push notification.6. continuously evaluate and improve. If the personalized approach is to be successful in the long term, companies must constantly review and optimize their offerings. This is the only way to ensure that they offer additional or different services when necessary or no longer play out content that is no longer relevant to customers. "In the 'Age of Me', personalization is the key to successfully standing out from the competition and continuing to win customers and retain existing ones in the long term," says Monika Schütz, Business Unit Manager Content Management at Arithnea. "Not only B2C but also B2B companies can benefit from this. On the one hand, professional buyers increasingly have the same expectations of user experience as in their private lives. On the other hand, the personalized approach opens up new sales opportunities for B2B companies, for example in after sales."
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The "Age of Me" has dawned in digital business. Today, it is almost impossible to convince customers and prospects with a standardized approach. Companies should therefore move away from traditional segmentation and consistently personalize their content and services. Arithnea names six steps with which this goal can be achieved.1. play through the customer journey. The prerequisite for a personalized approach is to know exactly where, when and how a company can reach its customers. It is therefore advisable to start by developing scenarios that map the entire customer journey. They should show all the steps that a person goes through at the various touchpoints until the goal pursued by the company is reached.2. generate comprehensive customer data. The basic prerequisite for a personalized approach is comprehensive customer data. Companies already have a lot of data in their CRM, ERP, PIM or content management systems. Tracking systems can also collect live data while a customer is using a website, online store or app. This information can also be supplemented by data from predictive behavioral targeting providers that make enriched user profiles available.3. integrate offline channels. True personalization is only possible if a company knows all of a customer's activities. To do this, it must also evaluate and integrate offline channels. There are several options for this at the point of sale, such as GPS tracking or beacon technology. If used cleverly, it is even possible to track which individual products a customer touches, picks up from the shelf or buys in the store.4. create one-to-one profiles. The combination and analysis of online and offline data enables companies to create a precise one-to-one profile for each individual customer. This not only reveals which products, topics or services a person is interested in on the company website, in the online store, on the internet in general and in the physical stores; it also allows individual preferences to be taken into account when using the individual channels, such as preferred navigation types or designs of websites and stores.5. play out personalized content in real time. Based on the one-to-one profiles, companies can use real-time decision or real-time targeting systems to personalize their content in real time. For example, if a customer accesses the company website on their tablet, it is not only optimized for mobile devices, but the page layout and content also reflect their individual interests and needs; if a customer is out and about in the city and approaches a branch, the company can automatically send them a suitable offer on their smartphone via push notification.6. continuously evaluate and improve. If the personalized approach is to be successful in the long term, companies must constantly review and optimize their offerings. This is the only way to ensure that they offer additional or different services when necessary or no longer play out content that is no longer relevant to customers. "In the 'Age of Me', personalization is the key to successfully standing out from the competition and continuing to win customers and retain existing ones in the long term," says Monika Schütz, Business Unit Manager Content Management at Arithnea. "Not only B2C but also B2B companies can benefit from this. On the one hand, professional buyers increasingly have the same expectations of user experience as in their private lives. On the other hand, the personalized approach opens up new sales opportunities for B2B companies, for example in after sales."
