Every customer wants to be seen by the businesses and companies whose services they use and products they buy. The personalised information they provide to brands is a golden engagement opportunity, yet it’s an underused resource, particularly among publishers. We can help you maximise your customer data to personalise your offerings across multiple channels, potentially boosting loyalty and your bottom line.
The importance of consumer data for personalised, enhanced experiences
Purchase history. Subscription dates. Product preferences. Previous enquiries. Website activity; every business has a vast repository of data covering everything from individual customer preferences to consumer feedback.
Over time, these records can become a rich, detailed and valuable business asset, providing insights into your customer needs and whether you’re delivering exceptional customer experiences.
Yet many organisations and brands only use a fraction of this high quality data in their marketing campaigns.
We know that a more considered use of consumer data can have a wide range of benefits, including improving the customer experience, encouraging repeat purchases and creating lines of communication that feel both genuine and relevant.
Every customer interaction results in valuable information
Each interaction isn’t just an exercise in gathering data that goes nowhere. The most up to date information also has a lot to say about who is subscribing to or buying your products and services.
Your CRM systems, website, e-commerce platform or subscription systems are already packed with insights that can help shape your customer communications.
That information could include:
- products purchased
- subscription history
- renewal dates
- previous enquiries
- preferred brands
- geographic location
- purchase frequency
- customer lifetime value
Viewed as a set of unified data, these details create opportunities for publishers and brands to communicate with subscribers and customers, as your personalisation efforts can follow their journey in a more tailored and relevant way.
Customer journey mapping then becomes a practical mechanism to boost customer satisfaction, making data driven personalisation more than just a buzzword.
Turning information into meaningful communication – and consumer engagement
Collecting data is really just the start. The real opportunities for publishers and brands to create personalised customer experiences using existing data all come from one simple question:
How could this information make our next customer service interaction more useful?
Examples include:
A renewal reminder arrives at exactly the right time.
A magazine subscriber discovers another title they’ll enjoy.
A customer receives an offer based on products they’ve already purchased.
A QR code directs them straight to the page that’s most relevant to them.
One of the key benefits of effective data driven personalisation is it enables brands to deliver consistent experiences and communications that feel more thoughtful, timely, and tailored – often significantly improving customer response rates.
It also allows brands and publishers to be smarter with their targeting, using demographic data to focus on specific consumer segments to maximise their personalisation strategies and the resources behind them.
Five practical ways to use your customer data
Boost conversion rates by cross-selling complementary products
Data-led insights into customer behaviors are great for helping to identify potential cross-selling opportunities. Brands can recommend complementary products, publications or services in one or more consumer segments that naturally follow an existing purchase.
Create timely renewals for customer journeys
Boost business success by using subscription dates to deliver relevant, personalised content that reminds customers to renew their subscriptions before they run out.
You can use the marketing communications across various channels to create a sense of urgency, while also directing the customers to the exact link they need.
Enhance your competitive edge by recommending related brands
Targeting specific customer segments is crucial to creating personalised experiences.. Businesses offering multiple products or publications should implement data driven personalisation to identify – and maximise – individual preferences.
Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, drawing on detailed customer profiles, or data such as customer feedback, can help publishers or brands guide their consumers toward products or services they are more likely to value.
Recognise your loyal customers
Successful personalisation recognises that customer intent varies from person to person, and has evolved beyond basic segmentation into a sophisticated and useful tool.
It makes sense that a long-term customer’s data quality will be far higher than a new buyer. Both need a very different personalisation strategy, but they also deserve to have very different messaging.
Exceed customer expectations with personalised calls to action
Successful personalisation strategies make your customers feel as if you’ve reached out to them individually.
It’s a great way to direct consumers to specific landing pages, offers or resources they are more likely to be interested in, because they are based on and have been guided by what you already know about them.
A real-world publishing example of customer data personalisation
Imagine the latest edition of a magazine arriving through the letterbox.
The wrap includes:
- the subscriber’s name (spelled correctly)
- a reminder that their subscription expires in four issues
- recommendations for related magazine titles or other relevant products
- a relevant insurance offer, based on existing customer information
- QR codes linking directly to renewal or additional subscriptions
Every element feels considered and thoughtful, because they are built around information the publisher already holds.
It’s a customer engagement opportunity that often gets overlooked
Many publishers and brands carry out data collection and recognise the value of real time personalisation but struggle to move from the idea to deliver targeted implementation.
Modern marketing teams are too busy to comb through customer data platforms, creative teams sometimes have competing priorities.
Siloed data about customers sits in one system, production in another and campaign planning somewhere else.
Joining those key elements together requires ownership of marketing efforts and sometimes technical expertise, which is why many worthwhile ideas never progress beyond the planning stage.
Small improvements to the customer experience can create lasting results
Your brand’s personalisation efforts don’t have to involve large-scale transformation. Sometimes, you just have to implement strategies that are simple, but effective:
A single personalised message
A better-timed reminder
A more relevant recommendation
An offer based on previous purchases
We can help you make the changes which, introduced consistently and based on the right customer segmentation, can improve customer experience, strengthen relationships and boost your business.
Maximise your marketing with customer data
Your customer database contains so much more than contact details.
Your customer data platforms have all the information you need to create communications that are relevant, timely and valuable.
Businesses with the most successful personalisation strategies look more closely at the data they already have, and find practical ways to put it to work.
We can help you maximise all the marketing opportunities offered by your customer data.