Published on the 22/07/2014 | Written by Newsdesk
Clear evidence has been uncovered of the benefits of personalising marketing campaigns for individual clients and customers – but most A/NZ marketing executives stall after adding a name to an email…
More than 70 percent of A/NZ marketing executives claim they are able to personalise email communications – but quizzed about the extent of that personalisation, most of them admit that they stall after adding a name.
A survey of Australian and New Zealand marketers has revealed a corporate appetite for personalisation, and a recognition of the benefits that can be delivered, but very little progress in anything beyond very basic first steps. Jane Briggs, principal of First Point Research & Consulting, which conducted the survey of 148 A/NZ marketers said that “if we do this well, and it’s more than ‘dear Jane’ on an email, companies are seeing benefits”.
Twenty two percent of survey respondents said that there were significantly improved results from personalised campaigns, and a further 52 percent said that there were slightly improved results. No respondents at all reported a negative impact on results.
The major benefits accrue to those organisations which are able to match purchasing history with individual clients and use that in their marketing communications – yet only around two in four organisations are currently able to do this.
The research, which was commissioned by customer experience management specialist, Sitecore, found that 57 percent of marketers were disappointed with the level of personalisation that they had managed to achieve.
While many blamed a lack of technology for the problem, a significant number were also overwhelmed by the amount of data, and number of data sets that they would have to sift in order to personalise their marketing efforts. This was seen as a particular challenge for large organisations.
Briggs however said that the whole concept of personalisation was generally not well understood by marketing executives beyond adding a personal salutation in an email. While 71 percent of organisations said they personalised emails, in most cases the personalisation ran only to location and name.
She said most marketers were still far too simplistic when thinking about personalization, in spite of the benefits that could be accrued from more sophisticated efforts.
Only one in five organisations had personalisation as a high priority, and in those organisations which did have a personalisation strategy only 41 percent used purchase history to personalise campaigns or offers.
