Personalization

Personalization: Don’t Be Afraid to Actually Talk to Someone

February 25, 2016
, , , , , , , , The Art of Research, The View From Walnut St.

An editorial in the February 19, 2016, Philadelphia Business Journal by Editor-in-Chief, Craig Ey, got me thinking about whether ‘personal service’ is dead and replaced by ‘personalization’.

Mr. Ey, after touting the growth, success and amazing benefits of electronic communication, offered that “person-to-person contact can be a great strategic advantage, particularly at a time when many of your competitors are relying strictly on electronic pitches.  I know they are because that’s how the vast majority of people try to establish or maintain a business relationship with me.”  He further complimented someone who actually called him on a telephone to introduce his company.

For so many of us, ‘business relationship’ is really about ‘relationship’… getting to know each other, thinking about the business issues we deal with, considering whether we can actually help one another in some way.

Being in the business of serving clients with market-based information and marketing research for over 30 years, I’ve been so excited about the advances in electronic communications and the ease and speed of delivery of necessary information.  Email allows us to quickly advise clients, to ask and answer questions at all times of the day, to assure the highest level of responsiveness clients deserve.

I’ve been reading recently about ‘personalization’ and getting confused as to what it means.  I read a review of a study that said that “marketers looking to deliver exceptional customer experience will increasingly turn to personalization as the key driver to maximize customer value… that customers expect that the brands will understand who they are, what their habits are, what they want, etc.”  [A shout-out to Altus Agency, the Marketing Minute; referencing Pegasystems “Predicting Routes to Revenue”]

I was hoping that this meant that organizations and their leaders are actually getting to know their customers and providing solutions based on who they are, what they value, what they think about.  But, I think I might have misunderstood the concept of personalization or maybe I’m a little jaundiced.  How can brands understand us?  Isn’t it the people working at/for “the brand” who have to understand their customers’ wants, needs, interests?  Shouldn’t we be reaching out to and actually meeting these customers and learning more about them?

Electronic communication has given us at The Melior Group a significant and dynamic platform for introducing ideas, getting prospective and current clients to think about things that might matter, identifying trends and the implications of them for business.  It has especially given me access to companies that I believe we can help with our services and those who may not be great fits (with both parties realizing this).  I’ve also met thousands of people on LinkedIn and other social media who are doing amazing things.

But, what we’re missing is the emotional and physical nuances that make for a productive business relationship.  How are people going to know we want to work for them and them us?  Like Mr. Ey, I’m a believer in the handshake, look you in the eye, actually chat, maybe smile (but not necessary) – the “huge advantage” that human conversation and engagement can provide.

In a service business like we have – and even a product-focused business where prospective customers have to choose among many alternatives when purchasing – it is not enough to be able to connect.  It is more about talking and engaging with customers, prospects, donors, colleagues, others with shared interests.  I really believe that people today want to experience the “real you.”  In that way, maybe we can actually “personalize” what we’re offering.

This takes me back to an ad I have long remembered… when I was talking to staff about why it’s not enough to rely on electronic communication… give a look and see how you feel about business relationships.

 

 

 

For more information, please contact Linda McAleer at [email protected] or 215-545-0054 x104.

You think they don’t know you, but companies have never known you better…

December 12, 2013
, , , , , , The Invisible Customer

Invisible Customer, very valuable to companies

By Reshma Bennur

It is easy to believe in this world of impersonal online transactions that companies you buy from don’t really know who you are – they don’t recognize you by face or voice.  The truth is companies have never known their customers better.  Companies might reduce customers to account numbers, lumped in a database with several thousand other account numbers – but with one click, they can access or buy all sorts of information about a customer – purchase history, personal information, financial credibility.

Business sense dictates that companies that have the wherewithal to gather all this “private” information, use the data to further their financial gains – use it to predict future purchases, identify cross sell opportunities and inform marketing initiatives. While gathering customer data is effective when used for marketing, it only works well when customers don’t know this strategy is being employed.

Take the recent example of Target – the big box store swamped select customers with discounts and coupons on baby products.  These were not customers who had babies or baby registries, but customers whose purchase behavior indicated that they could perhaps be pregnant. Target conducted extensive data mining and predictive analysis to identify who these customers might be.  Not surprisingly, customers reacted negatively – it disturbed people to think that Target somehow thought they were pregnant. Customers felt manipulated, spied on, and angry.

When Target became more subtle in its marketing efforts, continuing to promote baby items to select customers, but this time intentionally mixing up the ads for baby items with ads for unrelated items (like ads for a lawn mower next to coupons for a crib), customers no longer felt spooked. And they happily used the coupons.

Customers want to believe that the discounts, coupons and privileges they are being offered are a reward for their loyalty, not a result of calculated purchase predictions.  In Melior’s research on the invisible customer, we learned that only 9% of customers value receiving customized recommendations of products/services of interest, while 50% of customers value receiving discounts and coupons on products and services.  Why? Customized recommendations are considered akin to “selling” – making customers wary by highlighting the fact that their behavior was tracked, analyzed and used for possible financial gain.  The same recommendations repackaged as discounts and coupons are seen as a benefit – as a special opportunity to buy.

So in the enthusiasm to implement marketing strategies based on data mining and predictive analytics, keep in mind that customers want to feel valued for their loyalty not openly targeted for promotions based on their behavior without feeling that the reward came with a price – no longer being “invisible” to a marketer.

Invisible Money?

September 4, 2013
, , , , , Financial Services, The Invisible Customer
Bitcoin, an example of invisible money

Bitcoin.org

By Elisa Foster

Invisible customers can now pay with invisible money (a.k.a., digital currency). With the emergence of Bitcoin, consumers have the ability to make transactions from their computer without an intermediate financial institution.  Bitcoin has been getting an incredible amount of attention over the last year and people are starting to wonder how it will affect the financial services industry.  Head over to American Banker for an interesting discussion on Why Banks Should Care About Bitcoin.

Do you have Invisible Customers?

July 16, 2013
, , , The Invisible Customer

Picture of invisible customers

By Elisa Foster

The Internet has certainly made life easier for consumers and businesses; purchases and transactions can be made from the comfort of one’s home or office.  However, there is a downside to this trend: customers who once had to be physically present and conduct business face-to-face (e.g., at a department store or bank) are rendered virtually invisible by the conveniences of modern technology.  We like to call them “invisible customers.”

In this series of posts, we will explore the impact of invisible customers on retail businesses, service providers and the overall economy.  We will also give some advice to those businesses that want to reach beyond the computer screen, build a relationship and reconnect with their invisible customers.

First, we’d like to figure out which industries are seeing the most growth in their invisible customer market.  At a brainstorming session of Meliorites, we realized that the possibilities are endless.  However, we decided that the banking industry is a great example: over the past several years, we’ve seen a huge push to get bank customers to handle their business online.

Stay tuned for details about our research on this topic.  In the meantime, what industries do you think are seeing an increase of invisible customers?  Is this a good or bad trend?  Feel free to discuss in the comments below!