Survey reveals brands must move from
communication to conversation to achieve greater
personalization
New research from Accenture (NYSE: ACN) finds consumers feel
that digital experiences are falling short of expectations, yet
they’re more likely to shop with a brand that treats them in a
personalized manner. According to the 2018 Personalization Pulse
Check from Accenture Interactive, 91
percent of consumers are more likely to shop with brands that
recognize, remember, and provide them with relevant offers and
recommendations.
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Expectations are outpacing experiences
(Graphic: Business Wire)
In last year’s Personalization Pulse Check report, Accenture
Interactive found the top challenge for businesses was the “burden
of choice” – meaning, learning how to uniquely serve everyone
without overwhelming anyone. This year’s data shows that the burden
of choice did not improve -- in fact, experiences are worse. The
report finds that nearly half (48 percent) of all consumers have
left a business’ website and made a purchase elsewhere because the
experience was poorly curated -- up from 40 percent last year.
The research offers practical solutions to help brands improve
performance when approaching personalization which include, provide
a two-way dialogue with customers, be trustworthy and transparent
when it comes to personal data and brands need to be cool, not
creepy with experiences.
Brands Need to Enable a Two-Way Dialogue
The report finds consumers aren’t looking for brands to define
their journeys; they want brands to design experiences that help
them create their own journeys. This fundamental shift away from
traditional communications modes to interactive conversations will
enable marketers to drive new levels of personalization, trust and
meaningful experiences.
Most brands have been focused on trying to predict a customer’s
journey in order to create personalized experiences but are now
realizing this approach is difficult to scale. The research found
that 75 percent of consumers say they would find it valuable to
create and manage a “style profile”, or a living
profile, that brands could use to
better curate experiences and make recommendations.
“Customers often find themselves overwhelmed by choices and
underwhelmed by poorly curated experiences when interacting with
brands. But there is a simple solution to solve this by creating a
continuous, two-way digital dialogue,” said Jeriad Zoghby, global
personalization lead, Accenture Interactive. “This shifts control
of the experience to the customer, enabling brands to more
effectively listen to the customer and enable them to buy and
consume what they want on their own terms. Not only does this
result in a significantly better experience for the individual, but
it is also the most effective way for brands to scale 1-to-1
personalized experiences.”
When It Comes to Data – Transparency and Trust are
Key
The report finds that consumers are willing to share their data
and rarely feel that companies are too personal – but they lose
trust if brands go outside the relationship. Nearly three-quarters
of consumers (73 percent) say that no retailer or service provider
has ever communicated with them in a way that felt too
personalized. And of the 27 percent who have felt it was too
personal or invasive, more than two-thirds (64 percent) reported
that they felt uncomfortable because they didn’t knowingly provide
the data the brand used. The net take-away? Transparency is
key.
“It is a natural tendency for brands to over-rotate on acquiring
as much data as possible, and, although data is critical to
enabling personalized experiences, they would be better served
focusing on designing great experiences and leveraging the data
provided directly by the customer,” said Zoghby.
Be Cool – Not Creepy
The survey asked consumers how creepy or cool they found certain
personalization approaches, such as apology emails after a poor
online experience or in-store associates armed with their purchase
histories. According to the data, the most invasive approach is
using consumer location to offer personalized deals.
- Forty-one percent of consumers find it
creepy when they receive a text from a brand or retailer as they
walk by a physical store
- Forty percent find it creepy when they
get a mobile notification after walking by a store
- Thirty-five percent find it creepy when
they get ads on social sites for items they’ve browsed on a brand’s
website
Respondents indicated that an appreciated tactic used by brands
is sending apology emails after offering poor in-store or online
experiences (45 percent) or an apology message on the brand website
(41 percent).
Methodology
Accenture Interactive surveyed 8,000 consumers from United
States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Sweden, Italy and
Spain about their preferences and expectations when it comes to
interacting with brands, retailers and service providers. The
survey was fielded in November 2017.
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company,
providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy,
consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched
experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries
and all business functions – underpinned by the world’s largest
delivery network – Accenture works at the intersection of business
and technology to help clients improve their performance and create
sustainable value for their stakeholders. With approximately
442,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries,
Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and
lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com.
Accenture Interactive helps the world’s leading brands transform
their customer experiences across the entire customer journey.
Through our connected offerings in design, marketing, content and
commerce, we create new ways to win in today’s experience-led
economy. Accenture Interactive is ranked the world’s largest
digital agency in the latest Ad Age Agency Report. To learn more,
follow us @AccentureACTIVE and
visit www.accentureinteractive.com.
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AccentureKelly Coffed,
+1-404-219-3100kelly.coffed@accenture.com
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