Digital personalization

Digital personalization is the process of offering customers and web visitors a tailored advertising, marketing, and brand experience across digital channels. The spirit of digital personalization is to deliver an experience that speaks directly to each customer, meets them where they’re at, and offers something valuable that they want or need. However, when personalization isn’t done right, customers can feel annoyed, misunderstood, or unsettled.

Why is digital personalization important? 

The benefits of digital personalization are twofold. Customers feel cared for and don’t have to repeat themselves—while organizations have higher chances of better engagement and conversion, consistent messaging, and enhanced loyalty. Notably, 90% of customers will spend more with organizations that personalize the customer service they offer, according to a Zendesk report. Meanwhile, 68% of consumers expect all experiences to be personalized, and this number is likely to increase with time. 

Which digital touchpoints should I personalize? 

The sky’s the limit with digital personalization, but remember, there’s a difference between personalization and too personal. As Stephen Doerfler, UX Research Lead at Verizon Connect, tells UserTesting: 

"Companies have to balance between collecting enough data to create an optimal experience and what they think users want and not collecting too much or using it incorrectly so that people see it as becoming intrusive. It becomes further complicated with these individual differences in not just personality and content but individual differences in technology and thresholds for what people personally find okay with what’s being shared."

When considering a personalization strategy, there are many factors to consider. For example, poor data hygiene can lead to ineffective personalization. If you’re unsure whether customer names are entered correctly into your marketing automation system, personalizing an email with someone’s first name might be risky. Ensure that when you’re coming up with a personalization strategy, your data is accurate, your content is up-to-date, and your systems can handle the automation. 

Examples of digital personalization 

While we don’t recommend personalizing all touchpoints at once, consider starting with the following examples: 

  • CTAs 
  • Email greetings 
  • Chatbot templates 
  • Search bar 
  • Product and service recommendations 
  • Notifications 
  • Advertising 

Digital personalization permeates industries like finance, ecommerce, and entertainment with organizations: 

  • Addressing customers by name
  • Sending notifications of payment deadlines
  • Launching abandoned cart emails
  • Providing auto-populated suggestions in the search bar 
  • Offering apparel sizing quizzes
  • Recommending products based on demographics, lifestyle, and budget data
  • Launching virtual makeup try-on technology using augmented reality 
  • Asking for feedback or reviews on consumers’ previous purchases 
  • Providing data-based TV show or movie recommendations 

Wherever you start with personalization, make sure that it fits your brand. Personalization should make consumers feel closer to your story and you to theirs. At the end of the day, it should be a two-way conversation that’s mutually beneficial. 

Best practices for digital personalization 

So how does your organization plan to compete with all of the elite customer experiences available? One way would be to prioritize data-driven personalization to make customers feel connected. Another way is by solving the real needs of consumers. 

Either way, you’ll deepen your customer relationships. Leverage qualitative insights to discover what types of personalization are valuable to your customers and validate that your efforts will pay off. 

Below are the best practices for implementing digital personalization at your organization. 

Before and after a product launch 

Addressing pain points 

  • Leverage usability tests to discover why drop-off exists in your customer journey and personalize touchpoints to combat it.  
  • Prioritize personalization features and functionality based on customer feedback.
  • Optimize personalized content for marketing, price points, and subscription tiers to accommodate a variety of audiences and budgets.
  • Test frequent purchasers’ reactions to personalized loyalty content like rewards programs or discounts. 

How Burberry boosts customer interactions by 200% with personalized content

Luxury fashion house Burberry aims to bring more customer insight into its workflow, which historically saw little testing. Centering one of their projects on increasing the frequency of customer visits to the app through personalization, they involved their customer services, styling, copy, and marketing teams, among others. Leveraging UserTesting, the teams create solutions that improve styling preferences, personalized product recommendations, and push notifications. The outcome is a 200% increase in customer interaction with personalized content and an App Store rating boost from 4.6 to 4.9. 

Thomas Arnold, Senior User Experience Researcher at Burberry, says, “Personalization matters because it allows us to give the user what they need at the right moments, which increases engagement with our digital platforms.” 

Start testing your personalization strategy today

Whether you’re a part of a research, design, digital product, or marketing team, figuring out if a personalization strategy is right for you and your customer is key. Assess your ability to make it happen and start small. By connecting with customers and your target audience, you’ll learn more about what’s valuable to them and what’s not effective.