Winners and Losers in a Troubled Economy
be interested in either via email or the on the website next time you visit it. Being able to capture, retain and act upon the knowledge your organisation has of customers sounds simple, but in many cases the ability to connect backend computer systems containing purchase records and other useful and insightful details can be much harder than expected. Despite the fact that Amazon has had this type of personalisation in place for over a decade it is still relatively rare to see it practiced by other companies. For many organisations the cost involved in planning and executing the sort of back end Customer Relationship Management (CRM) work that is required for extensive personalisation is a challenge at the best of times. In an economic downturn it becomes even more trying. However, this doesn’t mean that personalisation should in anyway be rejected out of hand. If anything, the importance of personalisation grows when the market is tougher. When customers are scarce, the importance of maintaining customer relationships becomes greater. At this point, then, personalisation can play a vital role in differentiating you from your competitors and building customer engagement.
The importance of personalisation grows when the market is tougher.
If a fully integrated eCRM system is an unobtainable for you, then don’t worry—there are many levels of personalisation that can deliver substantial results without the ultimate sacrifice of resources. Simply modelling you customers’ behaviour can enable you to personalise effectively. For example, one of the most productive models looks at your customers’ life-stage and changes your content to fit with their appropriate position. So, for first time visitors, show them content different to that shown to those who’ve visited your website before. If it’s the first time they’ve visited tell them properly who you are, explain what they can get from you that they can’t get elsewhere, and do this on more than just your home page—many people will be visiting pages deep in your site straight from search engines. Tell those who have previously visited your website what’s new. If they’re returning within a set time period, say a week, show them something related to what they looked at last time. This works on the assumption that they must have seen something vaguely interesting or they wouldn’t have returned. Other models can be based upon which website sections your customers might have previously visited or where your visitors have come from. Personalising small areas of landing pages based on the key words that visitors search on can dramatically improve both one-off conversions and long-term engagement. Getting interactive One of the great defining features of digital media is the ability to provide interactive experiences for customers. While many have moved on from flat marketing content online (like brochure ware), there is still some way to go before most companies are creating the sort of engaging experiences that are likely to drive customers to return or to tell their colleagues and friends about it. In the past few years, there has been a dramatic increase in 45