If you were to believe that personalisation is just another way for retailers to influence the actions of their customers, you’d be wrong.
Findings from Infosys reveal that 31% of consumers wish for their shopping experience to be more personalised than it is at present. Meanwhile, 44% claim that they’re more likely to become a repeat buyer if their experience is personalised.
The challenge for retailers is in delivering personalisation at scale – an issue that has sparked huge debate among brands, agencies and tech providers. While some have had no issue with targeting their shoppers on a one-to-one level, others have been discouraged by rumour and conjecture.
As a company which helps retailers deliver personalised offers to their customer base, RevLifter has heard plenty of the talk surrounding our practice. With a view to setting the record straight, we’ve decided to tackle some of the most common myths once and for all.
“One-to-one personalisation is too costly”
The financial implications of personalisation at scale revolve largely around the price of your chosen platform. If you invest in something that charges a sizeable upfront fee, plus monthly costs, the investment might be hard to justify.
We appreciate that retailers want to avoid taking risks with their finances. That’s why our own solution, RevLifter, is paid only on the results it drives. We charge zero setup fees and work on the basis of commission, which is made affordable for retailers small and large. This way, if a customer interacts with our solution on the way to the checkout, it’s a win for everyone involved.
“Personalisation will sap my time”
If you’re concerned about the hours required to make personalisation work for your business, just remember that many platforms can operate without supervision. RevLifter, for example, uses a bespoke algorithm to dictate when it serves an offer and to whom. Everything is handled by your very own account manager. Your entire workload can be limited to a weekly call to monitor its progress.
Not only this but when you see the sheer impact delivered by personalisation at scale, any investment of time will be justified – and then some!
“One-to-one personalisation is too complicated”
Some marketers will believe that relatively new concepts like personalisation are too complex for them to understand. In truth, they’re only as complicated as the technology that powers them. The approach at RevLifter is to clarify our processes and shift as much of the technical strain away from our clients and onto our team and platform.
Tech providers also have a duty to supply their users with information that can inform their decision-making process. The data isn’t always easy to break down, but we like to empower our clients with the same knowledge that we have in-house. It provides room for greater collaboration, trust, and better results.
“Too much personalisation makes people nervous”
We’ve written at length about the tipping point between useful and creepy advertising on this very platform. In truth, it’s an extremely thin line to toe.
The conservative answer is that personalisation is not creepy when it’s useful. Some brands stick to Experian’s advice, which is to reward (a discount, cashback), remind (e.g. a price tracker for flights), recognise (a £5 gift card for a customer spending £100), support (an online mortgage calculator) or recommend (offer product suggestions). Each of these tactics rely on data and personalisation to work.
When the user either doesn’t know who the advertiser is or if the message doesn’t reflect who they are (e.g. irrelevant product recommendations), things start to unravel. Imagine someone coming up to you on the street, calling you by your first name and insisting you’ll be interested in what they have. The approach is strange, not useful.
Personalisation does not “freak people out”. Done correctly, it helps them, as seen by the 86% of shoppers who claim that personalisation has a noticeable influence on what they purchase.
“Personalisation is difficult to implement
Good tech providers will understand the importance of a quick and seamless route to adoption; in most cases, it powers their growth. Lengthy delays, big technical changes and a sizeable workload for your IT staff would imply that you’re using the wrong platform.
RevLifter’s own implementation requires the injection of just a few lines of code into your web pages. That enables us to collect the data we need to serve personalised deals on your website. The whole process takes just a few days to complete, and it’s even quicker via the Awin and Rakuten master tags.
Some solutions will take much longer to implement, although most providers know that their introduction is one of the more important points to get right.
“Customers are worried about the implications to their privacy”
To use personalisation you need data. That brings us onto the topic of consumer privacy, and people’s receptiveness to advertising that knows who they are.
A few stats to consider. For one, research from SalesForce indicates that 57% of consumers are content with sharing personal data, so long as they receive personalised offers or discounts in return. The majority would do the same for product recommendations (52%) and personalised shopping experiences (53%). Customers appreciate that their data is like a currency, which can be traded for rewards and better experiences.
It’s true that personalisation is at the epicenter of discussions around online privacy. Yet, what we cannot do is assume that because certain companies are flouting rules over data protection, all personalised advertising is bad.
“We’re doing fine without personalisation”
Myth un-busted; businesses can survive without personalisation but can they thrive without it?
We’d like to believe that most retailers have dreams of expansion, whether that’s related to their customer base, product line or global footprint. Personalised experiences can drive huge uplift across conversion rates, AOV, engagement and revenue, allowing you to compete in ways you couldn’t before.
Even a personalised call to action performs 202% better than a basic message, so why wouldn’t you like to see the difference personalisation makes for you?
Need another myth-busting? Contact RevLifter to learn more about personalisation and how it can assist retailers of all backgrounds.
