Personalized marketing requires a 360-degree customer view
According to the survey, more than one-third of U.S. retailers consider its establishment of a usable set of data-backed customer insights a challenge. More than two-thirds were open to changing their personalized marketing and campaign management solution provider for faster, easier aggregation of customer data for targeting and analysis. Currently, retailers are focusing on developing a single, comprehensive view of each customer’s behavior in order to provide offers and promotions.
However, with the availability of omni-channel data, retailers struggle to collect the most valuable data from disparate business systems in a central repository. In addition, actionable analysis often requires extensive resources. Given the importance and complexity of this process, reducing the effort needed to manage marketing campaigns would be a reason for 44 percent of retailers to switch solution providers.
Marketing automation reaches customers with personalized offers in real time
To address this challenge, 60 percent of retailers named marketing automation as one of three essential personalized marketing initiatives. Marketing automation is emerging as a requirement for marketers, with 48 percent claiming that providing precise messages to consumers at exactly the right time based on their channel preferences is an approach marketers will use over the next two years.
In practice, the complexity and time requirement to manually sort through omni-channel data has led nearly half of the retailers surveyed to pursue turnkey solutions that push only the most relevant offers available through the optimal channel. Since retailers know who their best customers are, traditional systems and processes don’t provide the 360-degree view of behavior across all channels.
In fact, while 74 percent of retailers have become broadly adept at personalized digital marketing strategies such as social media or retargeting, only 18 percent claim an advanced ability to personalize mobile content. With mobile commerce on the rise and effective communications creating major impact on in-store sales conversions, leveraging this channel is essential to business goals.
Artificial intelligence optimizes value of customer data to support business goals
Machine learning foundations allow retailers to refine and optimize campaigns in real time to address evolving marketplace signals ranging from shifts in consumer attitudes to aggressive competitor promotions to fluctuating supplier collaboration and support. Creating more effective and responsive campaigns that protect and increase the value of investments in other parts of the business make personalized marketing a key component of driving margins and profitability in 2018 and beyond.
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