Marketers Failing to Personalize Content
- By winstonthomas
- January 09, 2018
Different age groups want to read different content. In some cases, they even read the same content differently. So, it makes marketing sense to personalize content for different age groups.
According to A Blueprint for Using Audience Insights in Marketing Strategies this is not occurring. The new study by Yes Lifecycle Marketing showed that two in five marketers do not personalize their initiatives to different age groups. Essentially, they are missing out on engagement opportunities as consumers demand customized content.
The report uses an annual survey of 300 marketers online and during Shop.org to determine the conclusions. The survey saw 11% of marketers claiming that they can personalize all content in real time, "indicating that nine out of 10 can improve their personalization efforts."
The Yes Lifecycle Marketing's study found 27% of marketers can execute basic personalization tactics, such as using a customer's name or birthday. Another 26% can personalize based on browsing or purchase history, but found it tedious. Another 17% pointed to problems in collecting and analyzing data as the reason for the lack of personalization.
"Personalization isn't limited to a customer's name; and marketers who go beyond this simple data point in order to customize communications will reap the benefits," Michael Fisher, president of Yes Lifecycle Marketing said in a press release.
"Marketers should tailor content to their customers' habits and demographics. Fairly easy-to-implement adjustments, such as triggered campaigns and lifecycle messaging, will go far," he added.
Younger consumers are especially wary of the lack of personalization. Nearly half of centennials, age 18-21, (45%) and millennials, age 22-37, (49%) make purchases because of the level of personalization within a brand's email content, meaning that personalization translates into revenue.
Those brands that do personalize predominantly (two-thirds) use emails. Some brands already practice personalization. Social media (38%) and website (35%) are the other popular channels for personalizing the content based on age.
"The takeaway from the data is obvious: consumers want marketers to personalize the content based on their characteristics and attributes, and marketers still struggle to do so," Michael Iaccarino, CEO, and chairman of Infogroup, the parent company of Yes Lifecycle Marketing said in the same press release.
"To alleviate personalization woes, marketers need a partner that can help them enhance and leverage their customer data in order to improve personalization, and as a result, increase revenue,” he added.