With more businesses having an online presence than ever before, simply having a website doesn’t set you apart. In today’s world, consumers want a memorable experience. Our 2020 B2C Report revealed that 36% of consumers expect personalized product recommendations on the retailer’s website homepage. The need to deliver custom experiences grows greater each day.
The catch? “Personalization” is not as easy as sending coupons catered to the dollar amount consumers spend at a store. Customers expect your site content, FAQs, recommended products, and more to reflect their individual interests. And delivering poor personalized experiences isn’t an option: 41% of consumers have switched companies due to poor digital personalization. If you want to truly stand out, your business needs to offer a personalized experience that can’t be replicated by competitors.
So how do you dive into delivering personalized experiences for your customers?
- Define your business objectives.
The foundation of a successful plan lies in the strategic framework. Once you have your objective set, you can optimize your teams, processes and resources to align with your goals. To inform your strategy, do a deep dive into your customer data, especially their digital journeys. Is there a common drop off point? What could be a pain point for them? Draw insights from the data and map out how you overcome those roadblocks. Start by optimizing pages with high exit rates, then look for ways to improve pages with low conversion rates. You should also identify key stakeholders who are able to support the implementation of personalization activities. Next, assess your technological needs. Do you have all the relevant tools to put your personalization tactics in motion?
- Build digital intelligence.
The importance of pulling data-driven insights cannot be understated and can improve your ROI exponentially. Use the information gained to align your strategies to your business goals. Next, create measurable KPIs and make note of current benchmarks for future reference. To speed up the process, try using automatic dashboards and insights. You should also create all-encompassing data management practices to get a holistic picture of your customers. Train your team effectively. Of course, always stay on top of tech releases and updates so you’re positioned to maximize your investment.
For an intro-level guide to developing digital intelligence, check out the workbook here.
- Develop your program road map.
To build a proper strategy, you need to understand your customer’s needs. Perform multiple tests to gather customer data and behaviors and use that information to evaluate which elements of personalization are favorable or unfavorable. These tests can include language, graphics, element location and more. Start your implementation small. Find areas of the site that can be personalized quickly and without too much hassle. Monitor which personalization efforts have the greatest impact on your KPIs and modify your plan and program to the proper scale. Never stop evaluating what’s working and what isn’t.
Do you need help crafting a personalized digital experience for your B2B customers? Check out our whitepaper on personalizing the B2B buying experience.
