As the story goes, it was just more than 100 years ago that Henry Ford declared at a company meeting that his customers could purchase any color car they wanted, given that it was black.
Leaving aside the actuality of this story, we can speak that the way we understand and cope with consumers has wholly changed since that time.
Customers were mere captives to the few companies that supplied products and services in the past. Nowadays, they are central to every market practice, particularly as part of Content Marketing strategies.
What is Content Personalization?
Content personalization incorporates using customer (or user) data to provide publications, messages, and offers derived from the interests, activities, or maturity of the customer inside the purchase journey.
You have almost definitely seen this into practice — your name in an email, pages regulated on behalf of your navigation, as well as banners with recommended products are among several of the possibilities.
For instance, what you observe in content personalization examples such as Netflix or Amazon Prime is not similar to what other users see.
Importance of Content Personalization
Some question the evolution of a personalized content plan. But it is irrefutable that we’re heading through a path of no return, particularly as it’s almost unfeasible to imagine the current internet without it.
Let’s take deliberation on some arguments that reveal the significance of this practice today.
Inside the 21st century, we’ve observed the empowering effect of Marketing 3.0, an era of value-targeted communication.
In his publication on Marketing 3.0, Philip Kotler explains this occurrence as the moment when people stop being treated as simple consumers and start to be seen by companies as complete human beings, through mind, heart, and spirit.
Yet at this time we’ve reached Marketing 4.0, which includes the vision of its precursor. It adds to the existing digital transformation context, marking the technological as well as the cultural transition from traditional to digital procedures.
In this new situation dominated by searches, devices, as well as online services, consumers anticipate personalized experiences. They are likely to avoid brands that restrict to regular or one-size-fits-all messaging.
This truth was established in a study through the research company segment. It revealed that about 71% of respondents accounted that they were frustrated through impersonal shopping experiences.
This new approach to customers did not occur by chance. The expansive intensification of competition and extensive access to information has made people more challenged and improved their bargaining power.
Nevertheless, through content personalization for digital marketing, a lot of people became used to extremely personalized solutions.
Ways to Personalize Content
Independent of the category of customization, three steps are vital:
1. Capture: Firstly; it’s essential to define what customer information will you require and how you will collect it; through market studies, page navigation, satisfaction surveys, third-party data, etc.
2. Analysis: Later than collecting data, it’s vital to develop ways to systematize it and make it constructive for marketing, often needing the use of particular tools and platforms, similar to a CRM.
3. Application: Lastly, it’s time to use the knowledge collected in such strategies. This involves building buyer personas as well as themes for posts to build campaigns, sales letters, as well as even personalized products.
For businesses searching to implement a personalized content plan on an individual level, the volume of data necessary demands the adoption of a superior solution. This is where algorithms play a vital role, able to carry out all of the above separately.