Personalization is taking over many industries besides marketing and sales. Here's a few trends across different industries that have seen benefits from focusing on individuals or narrow customer segments rather than the masses.
Personalization in marketing and sales
The benefit of personalization in marketing and sales has become more obvious with so many companies trying to get the attention of customers at the same time. Mass marketing has lost its edge and has been replaced by mass personalization and 1-to-1 personalization (account-based marketing).
Personalized content in inbound and outbound marketing
Companies are personalizing content on the website and across email campaigns by sending and showing more targeted messages to sub-segments of the whole customer base. The result is a 50-200% lift in conversion rates and engagement so it's a no-brainer for many companies to create personalized content.
The main reason personalized content works is that it pierces the noise and cuts through banner blindness. Customers get bombarded with messages from all channels around the clock so when someone can make a highly relevant offer and answers the customer's questions the customer pays attention.
Customers get bombarded with messages from all channels around the clock so when someone can make a highly relevant offer and answers the customer's questions the customer pays attention.
Personalized outreach in outbound sales
Sales has noticed the benefits of personalization before marketing and adopted it fast. Cold email outreach, product demos, educating content, and follow-up materials all are more likely to start a conversation, move prospects in the pipeline, and close deals when the whole customer journey is personalized.
Great sales development representatives (SDRs) personalize cold emails by targeting narrow customer segments that might have a specific need. They also research each prospect for an angle that might get their attention and make the message more relevant. SDRs are also using personalized landing pages to convert more customers to book a demo.
Personalizing product demos using the customer's company and use cases as examples are a great way to get more buy-in from the customer. 65% of B2B buyers are already ready to switch vendors if they don't personalize their communication.
Personalizing product demos using the customer's company and use cases as examples are a great way to get more buy-in from the customer.
Personalization in e-commerce
Ecommerce is the leading front of personalization because of consumer expectations. The benefits of eCommerce personalization have been shown in multiple ways and companies that are not doing it are being left behind. The vast amount of data available in eCommerce for personalization has created a separate category of solutions called personalization engines.
Personalized search
When a customer searches for products on an eCommerce platform, the platform takes into account the customer's location, previous searches, previous purchases, and many more attributes to offer the most relevant search results.
Personalized product recommendations
Similar to search, product recommendations on the bottom of a product page or checkout page are personalized. The Crown Choice is a personalized cleaning and organization eCommerce store that uses such recommendations with previous purchase history and the current shopping cart products to personalize what the user might also need.
The purchases of other customers also greatly influence the personalization of product recommendations. Customers frequently buy similar things together, for example, they buy certain marketing books together because they cover a similar topic. This data can be used to recommend products the customer is likely to also want and need, making the experience more personal than if the recommendations had no relevance to them.
Purchases of other customers greatly influence the personalization of product recommendations. Customers buy similar things together, eg. they buy certain marketing books together because they cover a related topic.
Personalized beauty and skincare
An industry reaping the benefits of personalization is beauty. Recent advances in technology are helping consumers enjoy hyper-personalized experiences both online and in-store, where many factors to deliver a personalized experience can be taken into consideration, such as gender, skin and hair type (eg. volume and type of curl), age, and location characteristics (eg. altitude, humidity, and heat) to pricing and product ingredients.
Even though beauty is one of commerce's most personal verticals, how the industry serves consumers has primarily focused on a one size fits all approach. However, during the pandemic with e-commerce's boom, brands and retailers figured that not only do they have to deliver a more personalized e-commerce experience to help consumers find the right beauty products, but also provide more value to their customers in each interaction with their brand.
For instance, most people think they know enough about their skin or hair condition. However, it may be that they are wrong and that they are not addressing their actual needs. Lack of awareness of their real needs can generate a lot of frustration in consumers, as they don't purchase the right products for their skin or hair, which, in turn, do not yield expected results. However, artificial intelligence and a selfie can now solve this.
Companies like Revieve help to remove brand and retailer pain points while personalizing the customer experience and revolutionizing the way how consumers shop for beauty across across all channels and verticals. Experiences powered by AI/AR make customers feel: from the sigh of relief when they see they can achieve the exact same thing as in store, to the excitement when try on a full makeup look in store and have the confidence to purchase the products right away. All Revieve's different software products for retailers for each catefory (skincare, makeup, haircare, suncare, and nutrition) are self-diagnostic, personalize search, and product discovery.
Personalization in education
Education is being disrupted by personalization fast because educators and schools have recognized the need to cater to the individual learning needs of students. When the curriculum and learning agenda is personalized to the pupil, the student is able to learn at their individual learning pace and in the learning style most suitable for them.
Education started from the non-personalized classroom education which served 20-40 students at a time. Separate classrooms and schools were organized for gifted students and learning disabled students that could match their learning needs. With online learning channels, the educational content can be tailored to each student and they can progress at the pace most suitable for them.
Online education also enables students to learn by reading, watching, listening, and interacting with content to match their learning style. Adaptive teaching platforms can detect whether the student should be given a harder or an easier problem to solve which has a large effect on motivation and learning.
Adaptive teaching platforms can detect whether the student should be given a harder or an easier problem to solve which has a large effect on motivation and learning.
Personalization in fitness and nutrition
Personal trainers have been around forever, but they have always been an expensive option for average fitness enthusiasts. With online channels, personal trainers are now matched with the customers that might need their coaching the most. For example, a powerlifter and a jogger need very different types of coaching. A lot of different coaching software are already personalized in the fitness industry based on the customer needs.
With training also comes personalized nutrition. People are much more conscious that what works for another person might not work for them. People are looking for individual results by selecting which foods to consume and when to consume them. Fitness applications that are able to track foods and tie the food consumption back to training results can create a lot of value with personalization.
Personalization in medicine
Personalization in medicine includes targeted therapies and methods that take into account the customer's individual health and problem. Medicine dosage is moving towards personalized recommendations while they used to be based on body weight and gender only. Personalized medicine helps the healthcare industry avoid problems caused by over or under treatment and medicine dosage.
Final thoughts
Many different industries are realizing the benefits of personalization from marketing and sales all the way to education and medicine. The results of personalization are much more accurate recommendations, treatments, and needs fulfillment of the individual. Personalization can include the individual or even a narrow enough customer segment.
