Nowadays, we barely have a relaxing time. But when we do, we spend it watching Netflix! The popularity of this streaming platform has become so immense that it is redefining pop culture and slipping into our daily lingo.
Behind this popularity lies the power of personalization, which makes the platform’s consumers hooked. When you pick a show or a movie to watch on Netflix, the platform immediately starts organizing a bank of accurate recommendations for you.
It comes as no surprise, then, that 80% of the content consumed on Netflix comes straight from recommendations. Big Data is indeed a powerful tool, but only a few brands, like Netflix, are using it to create an impeccable personalized experience.
Let’s define what exactly personalization is, and what data is being used.
What is personalization?
Customers are easily the most important component of a business, and if you can design a product that clicks well with them, then half your work is done. The challenge, however, is knowing your consumers’ pulse, especially when you have a market of millions. Even trickier is meeting all their expectations at once.
Keeping this in mind, the CEO of Janrain, Larry Drebes, decided to study online consumer experiences in 2021. The conclusion that he drew was that customers prefer relevant content that is personalized to their preferences. He used the company’s emails as an example, saying customers responded better to personalized emails than generic ones.
To sum it up, personalization is the creation of an experience that is tailor-made for a customer based on their preferences. When a company has adequate information on a customer, they can offer them services that are a perfect fit for the individual.
Data personalization helps in improving the customer experience and gives a strong boost to visitor engagement. People gravitate toward a company that understands them and allows them to design their own experience.
Various types of data used in personalization
Various kinds of data are used to create personalized content.
Contextual data
A customer can use different kinds of devices (laptops, smartphones, tablets) to search for a product or whenever they open an email or visit a website. By doing so, some companies acquire information, including the user’s location and even the browser that was used. This process helps in creating a personalized experience.
Demographic data
Using demographic data can be tricky, but can prove to be very useful. This data comprises the user’s age, gender, and location. These pieces of information are collected because not everyone in the same area has the same buying preferences, so they use the data to study. Demographic data is useful for marketing campaign segmentation.
Behavioural data
Behavioural data is a goldmine of information for a business as it gives you users’ preferences and habits. This data type includes everything from search keywords to purchase history and even abandoned cart data.
Data from websites
Oftentimes, shoppers don’t log into their accounts while browsing. To study the web behaviour of such customers, cookies are used to trace users’ previous browsing and purchasing history. This gives a good insight into what the customer is looking for and how their choices have evolved.
Data from apps
Along with mobile internet browsing, a lot of useful data can be picked up from an app’s browsing behaviour. Businesses that have their own apps can use users’ information to study consumer behaviour and organize marketing strategies accordingly.
Data from email
Some of the data included in users’ email accounts can provide a good insight into their interests and products that they keep track of. For example, you can know if they are getting mails about a sale announcement from a clothing brand or if they get weekly newsletters from a wellness magazine. This will help you understand your target market better and help you create more personalized experiences.
How using the right customer data helps personalization
Data and personalization tie in together to create a one-of-a-kind experience for each individual customer. However, as a business, you have to be mindful about using the correct data.
Technology has revolutionized exponentially, resulting in a giant amount of data being produced every day. According to research, in specific numbers, it would be 1.145 trillion MB per day. Businesses have to be specific about using safe, updated, and relevant data that will give real-time information on the customer.
Also, if you truly want to understand the end-to-end customer journey, then data from all touchpoints, which start from the point of interaction between the customer and the business, needs to be collected.
Ensure that the data contains valuable information. Simply knowing which websites the consumers visit won’t do any good if you are not aware of the products frequently visited or purchased by them.
By utilizing such essential information, a business can create a more personalized experience. They can introduce a potential customer to specific products catered to their interests, send them eye-catching email blasts, and apply a direct marketing approach that hits the mark.
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