Let’s get real: Why CX leads and tech follows in the world of personalisation

The term "personalisation" is thrown around a lot, but let's face it, not everyone is doing it right. Many claim they personalise by tweaking a website banner or sending an abandoned cart email, but truth be told, these are just the basics.

Personalisation, done right, is a sophisticated dance across multiple channels with orchestrated data. However, not many companies dive into this world because, well, it gets complicated. Disparate systems, siloed data, and promises of all-in-one solutions that quickly turn into add-ons — a chaotic scenario indeed.

Imagine this: your customer service team on one floor, sales on another, website and app teams doing their own thing — all with different KPIs and zero collaboration. Fragmented data everywhere, making it nearly impossible to have a clear view of the customer or the ability to deliver a consistent customer journey. And let's be real, personalisation is all about relevance. In this era of CX, customer expectations are sky-high, and irrelevant experiences won't cut it.

This is where a Customer Data Platform (CDP) steps in.
CDP’s are the unsung hero, acting as the central hub to standardise and unify data from web, app, social media, CRM, and more. Yep, the Single Customer View! Once set up, you can go ahead and create custom audience groups or segments and push those downstream to your activation platforms.

 

What can you personalise?

Everything! Websites, mobile apps, notifications, emails, experience, SMS, paid media—name it. The real magic? Personalising these touch-points along a customer journey, across-channel, in real-time.

Picture this: a customer, let’s call her Candice, is logged in to her favourite sneaker store online and has been looking at the latest pair of fancy sneakers - she’s really into them…and you know this..well, because she keeps looking at them. The next time Candice comes back to the website, the homepage has been personalised based on her profile, preference and viewing data. Featured products and recommendations have been tailored and yep, front and centre are those sexy sneakers. As Candice navigates around the site, the featured products and recommendations adjust in real time.

Candice has signed up to receive marketing notifications from the brand, so when the sneakers go on sale, she’s excited to get notified via email and SMS, with links straight back to her favourite sneakers and with a couple of clicks, they’re on the way to her.

The brand is now thinking about launching an app and a loyalty program which they’ll also use to personalise the digital displays in-store with relevant products and offers when Candice comes into the store (thanks geo-location service!).

 

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CX must lead the way

The possibilities are endless, and this is just scratching the surface. The key? Enabling CX teams to create a vision for the cross channel customer experience. Technology no doubt is the enabler but without the CX vision and a deep understanding of your customer, personalisation will fall short.

At ECD, we pride ourselves on having our UX and CX teams working directly with the tech team and each knowing enough about what the other team does to make them dangerous when it comes to personalisation.

 

Get in touch and let’s get your business on the (right) personalisation journey.

 

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