What Makes Personalized Content Powerful?
Personalization is the expectation.
Personalized content isn’t just extra value, it’s quickly becoming the norm. A 2021 report by McKinsey & Company found that 71% of consumers expect personalization. In a time of curated social media feeds, people want every piece of content they see to meet their immediate and specific needs.
When it doesn’t, they’re bored (if not annoyed). According to a 2022 Twilio Segment report, 62% of consumers say a brand will lose their loyalty if it doesn’t deliver a personalized experience.
But when they get something personalized, they feel appreciated, building a deeper connection to a brand that seems to understand them. They’re excited to engage, act and spend.
Asking what audiences really want.
When audiences aren’t concrete, personalized content acts as both an effective entry point and filter. It also avoids the targeting bias that might’ve stopped potential customers from ever seeing you.
Instead of assuming everything about your audiences, digital personalization encourages and rewards them for sharing their needs. A variety of messages and touchpoints engage audiences and entice them to ‘tell’ us what they want and where they are in their buying journey. With this strategy, content ranges from broad interests to specific, even differing, pain points. Users are flagged based on which messages they interacted with, sorted in-platform and retargeted with content that is more deeply personalized and relevant.
Our multi-channel digital campaign for NK Seeds is a prime example of this. We retargeted growers who engaged with our wide variety of content and served them deeper, more personalized messaging, including ads for seed varieties that did best in their specific area and local reps they could connect with for more recommendations.
You can learn more about how we used digital personalization to increase campaign’s click-through rate and conversions, all while greatly reducing cost per acquisition, here.
With digital personalization, you’re not leaving them canned answers and walking away, you’re engaging in a conversation. You’re simultaneously building loyalty and reducing ad fatigue by giving customers a variety of content rather than desensitizing them to the exact same message and creative.
That honest connection and enthusiastic engagement is what digital personalization uses to drive success.
On top of that effectiveness, ads that get more engagement (including clicks, comments and shares) are known to achieve lower CPC and CPM, bringing in more business at a lower cost.
Offering what they’ve been asking for.
For some niche and B2B audiences, more direct callouts can grab attention effectively, targeting these established customers with specialized solutions and very specific pain points. For example, a geotechnical engineer is most likely to engage with content made solely for their industry, especially on platforms like LinkedIn. Few else would know, notice or care.
These touchpoints aren’t just focused on paid advertising: effective personalization is multichannel for both B2B and B2C audiences. Alongside paid ads, you might provide free how-to videos on your website, post organically on social media, send custom messages, or offer downloadable checklists; all to meet and engage audiences at different points in their experience. This helps ensure your brand stays top of mind and shines as an ideal solution whenever they’re ready to buy. That’s especially important when your B2B sales cycle lasts longer. Could you really give your full attention to the exact same ad every week for three years?
Giving them the tools to get closer.
Free tools are one of the most engaging and exciting examples of personalized content. An effective tool, like a calculator, quiz or checklist, can attract, sort and sell to your audience all in one place.