When looking at the customer journey from a brand perspective, it’s common knowledge that personalization factors heavily into the customer experience – which is an increasingly common buzzword in today’s business strategies. With higher-than-ever expectations, the consumer is in the driver’s seat and organizations are scrambling to deliver. And let’s face it – being able to provide your customer with those highly personalized interactions sounds good – doesn’t it?
It turns out, however, that many brands aren’t quite getting it right – maybe they’re not listening to their customers. The service they deliver to their customers differs – at times vastly – from what people say they want. The reality is that customers desire varying degrees of personalization across the scope of the consumer lifecycle. Just as you likely wouldn’t share everything about yourself when you start dating someone, many consumers prefer not to reveal more personal information at the beginning of the customer relationship. That said, the personalization initiative tends to be inconsistent, in that the tendency is for organizations to go overboard prepurchase. This can lead to intrusive – even invasive – customer/brand interactions which can actually work to drive potential customers away.
Research reveals that the average consumer is much more receptive to personalization in the post-purchase stage – in fact, while only 38% seek personalized experience at the outset of the customer/brand relationship, 47% enjoy personalized experiences post-purchase. The same research shows, however, that most organizations engage in the opposite type of personalization, focusing instead on the pre-purchase and at-purchase stages. 66% of brands try to deliver personalization when customers are researching a product or service, and 62% during the purchase.
It turns out that companies still have some work to do when executing a successful personalization strategy. Even though personalized interactions can occur before, during and after a purchase, brands should be building the intensity of individualized moments as people advance through the customer life cycle. It’s important to not just “know” the customer (name, rank, serial number) but “understand” them (preferences, habits, needs). Even down to the “preference centers” that are gaining in popularity, enabling customers to control the degree of their communication sharing and personal data, brands can put their audience in control. It’s time to come to terms with the fact that while personalization is a critical tool for organizations to master, the 360 view is both unrealistic and unnecessary, and may even be counterproductive.
Where should your business be looking when developing a successful personalization platform? To answer that question, look no further than one of the leading BPO outsourcing companies. Winner of multiple business awards in the business process outsourcing field, Anexa has two decades of expertise and dedicated teams of business process specialists. Whether your needs are sales or customer-centric with tech support, social media management or marketing campaigns, or non-core business processes that include back-office solutions, Anexa has a team for that. We also consider the critical personality traits of sales and service pros when curating our teams. These bi-lingual (English and Spanish) agents understand the critical importance of consistently delivering a great customer experience. They provide knowledgeable, personalized service and solve problems quickly.
Have questions? Reach out today for information on how Anexa can support your personalization initiative.