Companies often face a case—whether or not to work on customization? A company must have a fair idea about its customers, their preferences, and general demographics. But this goes way beyond a general overview of a customer sample. It involves harvesting chunks of user data and generating actionable insights.
But what are these actionable insights? These are fundamentally a roadmap of how a brand should approach its customers. Communication is an essential element by which brand targets and engages customers. And communication has long evolved from the past, primarily shaped by linguistic influences and the Internet culture.
Personalization is a popular concept paired with the method of communication. It is not only related to creative ad copies, marketing jargon, or catchphrases. Personalization is an element that has been incorporated in different aspects, such as mobile application user interfaces, email marketing, content marketing, product development and prototyping, and generally all experiences which involve a customer using and interacting with products and services.
To a great extent, this means using memes, Internet trends, pop culture references, and emojis. The appropriate term is “Conversation Media”. It is the use of interactive media and visual content to engage viewers and anchor their interest.
Conversation Media is relevant in markets where companies operate in a highly competitive environment in which users have more and more options. And when it comes to trusting a brand, people tend to be more inclined towards those who address them directly and inclusively, considering their profile, interests, and opinions in each part of the communication process.
The benefits of personalization
Conversation Media helps to establish and strengthen the relationship with customers. The advantages it provides could be summarized as:
1. Show the client that you know him/her and that we differentiate him/her from the rest in a fun way.
2. Indicate to the consumer that we invest time and resources in communicating with him.
3. Offer a more efficient service adapted to the needs of each of the users
4. And, ultimately, strengthen the trust of existing customers and attract new ones
There are numerous techniques and personalization options that are continually being updated and used in the different phases of the relationship with customers. And it is possible to offer a personalized experience to the user by combining different ways: personalized mailings, GIFs, videos, memes, emojis, interactive blog posts, individualized advertising campaigns, and actions on social networks.
But personalization with conversation media stands out. Using conversation media makes personalization easy for brands and fun for users. Here are some practical examples of how different type of personalization works. Or, in other words, analyze the work of companies and brands from different sectors that saw personalization as a weapon to connect with their audience.
1. Coca-Cola
Multinationals of the stature of Coca-Cola has opted for personalized marketing in their products. A prominent and widely known example is the ‘Share a Coke with’ campaign. The American company redesigned the cans of the drink, adding the name of its customers around the world.
If someone could not find a can with their name, they could request it through the brand’s website. The result? The total involvement of customers with the product came to buy cans not only for the drink but also for the packaging itself. Many people shared photographs of their personalized cans on social networks, making the brand visible organically and effectively.
2. Campofrío
The Campofrío brand always surprises its Christmas spots, but this holiday season has decided to complement it with an ingenious campaign on social networks: #Amodio. Through multimedia content and interactive surveys, this campaign tries to measure the feelings of Spaniards. The most positive thing is that Campofrío has shown to know his clients well and take advantage of current trends or the most recurrent topics about Spain or Christmas dinners. In this way, the user feels identified with the campaign and interacts with it.
3. Amazon
The giant Amazon also surprised its customers with a personalized product. Specifically, it is the Pebble Watch, a watch that the user could customize to their liking. On the web, the watches’ owners could choose between various elements to personalize them, thus obtaining the possibility of enjoying the applications and watching faces more akin to their tastes and preferences.
4. Barclays
The banking sector has not been oblivious to the different personalization strategies either. An example of this is the personalized cards with the clients’ photographs that Barclays launched in 2012. The procedure was straightforward. The customer had to upload a photograph of themselves to a website and, once approved, receive the card printed at their home address.
5. Vodafone
There cannot be a post about online marketing campaigns without talking about Vodafone. In 2011 they carried out a blended marketing campaign that allowed them to send a Christmas greeting through the website.
6. Starbucks
It is one of the most popular coffee shop chains globally, and much of that success is due to its longstanding commitment to personalization. We no longer only talk about e-mailing and social media campaigns, but about the sales service itself. And it is that Starbucks has managed that its customers identify with the brand from the moment they receive their drinks in a glass with their name written on it. As with the cans of Coca-Cola, they felt alluded to with the coffee packaging and encouraged to share photos and talk about the brand on social networks.
Starbuck also used conversation media marketing with GIFs to reach out to its hip users when it came out with some cool GIFs that users can share. Using their brand name in their conversations leaves an impression on the user and makes them feel that the brands relate to their beliefs.
7. Porsche
If there is one thing that makes customization possible, it is impacting the user through originality. So did the car company Porsche, which taught creativity a street marketing campaign in Australia. The German brand did install a digital banner that showed a different message to the drivers of vehicles of the Porsche 911 range. It identified them through a recognition camera and showed them the message, “It is easy to recognize you in the crowd,” thus removing more than a smile.
It’s never too late
The trend is clear: more and more companies, regardless of the sector in which they operate, are aware of the potential of personalization and apply it in specific campaigns and the daily treatment of their customers. A consumer is no longer a taxable person who is limited to buying a product. On the contrary, he wants to interact with brands, consume quality content focused on his profile, and, ultimately, be part of stories and experiences. It is in your hand to provide it, and it is never too late for it.