PropertyGuru Group

Content has since long been declared the king. Its kingdom, though, is set to see some sweeping changes. A cookie-less world, for one, will transform how marketers shape and measure campaign success. And that is certain to positively impact the content and social media marketing. Primarily seen as top-funnel channels, the time is ripe for them to find their place in the spotlight and become the full-funnel channels they always had the potential to be.

As more brands jump onto the publishing bandwagon and businesses focus on first-party data collection, Personalisation will emerge as both an opportunity and a challenge. As McKinsey’s report highlights here, “Personalisation is not only a crucial capability, it’s one that punches above its weight, no matter whether the company is a digital native, a brick-and-mortar player, or a behind-the-scenes producer or supplier. Consumers don’t just want personalisation, they demand it. With store and product loyalty more elusive, getting it right matters. 71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions. And 76% get frustrated when this doesn’t happen.”

Let’s look at the opportunities first:

Personalized content, based on user journeys and product consumption, to impact customer acquisition and conversion: First-party data will open up a world of personalisation that will make serving consumers content most relevant to their buying journey much easier. The correct information at the right instant before purchase or during the decision-making process can go a long way in triggering a buy and building brand trust.

Relevant, first-party content can be a great tool to increase customer identification: As customers get swamped with triggers to identify themselves across the web, relevant content can be a great incentive for them to do so without feeling the compulsion or being pushed to do so.

Brand-led retention strategies will be most impactful: With no third-party cookies, retention will have to be brand and communication-led. Moving beyond transactional information around the product, benefits need to be highlighted.

“Consumers don’t just want personalisation, they demand it.”

Of course, all the efforts at personalization, which need to be consistent through the consumer lifecycle journey, face challenges around the efficacy of the process. And bring up the following questions.

How personal can the personalisation be? A debate that is raging and quite relevant, too. How many customer needs is it possible to know and cater to? According to a raging debate here in Marketing Week, in an academic study from MIT and Melbourne Business School, researchers decided to test the accuracy of third-party marketing data. So, how accurate is gender targeting? It’s accurate 42.3% of the time. How accurate is age targeting? It’s accurate between 4% and 44% of the time. And those are the numbers for the leading global data brokers.”

Personalisation is expensive: “Simply put, personalisation at scale is an oxymoron. Personalisation is an unscalable tactic that massively increases creative and media costs, which nullifies any so-called efficiencies.” Personalisation takes time, effort, and costs. And the verdict on its efficacy though established, has not truly been understood across sectors and consumer buying lifecycles.

However, customers’ need for being served uniquely has been established. And most importantly, businesses see the value in understanding their consumers and being empathetic to their needs while making a profit.

What is true is that personalisation, however difficult, is here to stay – in some form or shape.