Personalization is No Longer an Option

Demand for personalized experiences from consumers with brands are increasing. 76% of consumers get frustrated when their interactions are not personalized and 71% expect it (McKinsey & Co.).  Personalization is a topic that we have written about before but its importance is ever increasing and cannot be denied. Purchasing decisions are now progressively being motivated by it. It can increase brand loyalty, customer retention, engagement and overall ROI. Turns out, it can even increase revenue if companies exercise the opportunity to approach personalization properly with the long term in mind. Here are some things that top performers of personalization do.

1.     Look at personalization as an opportunity. This is where you can determine where there is the most value using insights from customer behaviors. Use 1st party data to collect this information.

2.     Agile operating business model. Employ teams to handle each specific step of the personalization journey of your customers. Divide them into groups such as marketing, products, tech, etc.

3.     Balance of privacy and personalization. 48% of consumers say they trust brands to keep their personal data secure and use their info responsibly (State of Personalization Report Twilio, 2022). Using 1st party data to get information about your consumers is the safest and most responsible way to collect. It’s also easier to manage because the brand owns it and it provides higher quality data.

People now expect their interactions with brands they love to be personal. Brands must rise to the occasion to ensure that each individual feels as if they are being catered to, no matter how large-scale the company may be. Failure to do so can result in loss of consumers and overall revenue. Stay ahead of the curve and treat your audience like they’re business is important to you because it is. There is a person behind every purchase, behind every screen. Fostering these relationships is the way to building a successful brand.   

The Rise of Interactive Advertising

Did you know that there is a term called ad blindness? It is a term to explain the phenomenon in response to how people have begun to cope with being subject to constant advertising. People have developed a coping mechanism to subconsciously and sometimes consciously tune out advertisements. In fact, 82% of Gen Z skip or ignore ads completely according to A List Daily. You can check out our article from yesterday on tips to make your advertisements more engaging but there is another kind of ad emerging that seems to increase engagement; interactive advertising. Actually, interactive advertisements have been shown to increase consumer attention by 47% and 32% more memorable according to a study conducted by Magna Global. So, let’s talk about some different types of interactive advertisements.

1.     Playable ads. This type lets the viewer get a taste of what it is like to use their product. Examples can be viewed HERE.

2.     Interactive films. A few movies on Netflix have done this now. It gives the users the options to make certain choices for the narrative giving them control of the how they experience it. Bandersnatch is a great example. We have actually participated in this interactive film.

3.     Interactive display. These expand when clicking or rolling over when viewed on a website. When it is expanded it will reveal the interactive advertisement. Visit this website for some examples.

4.     Augmented reality. Think of filters in social media apps. A great example of this is Taco Bell’s Cinco de Mayo lens on Snapchat that allowed users to turn their heads into tacos. Here’s an interesting take on it.

5.     Interactive voice. These literally speak to the user and engage with them verbally. It allows the user to respond to their voice activated device. You can read more on this HERE.

6.     Interactive video. This can be prompted through polls or trivia, such as on Facebook and allows for real time interaction with the brand audience. People love trivia and they love answering questions about themselves. Wieden + Kennedy created a beautiful ad in this type of interactive space.

Interactive ads might be the advertising of the future. With this new and creative way to engage consumers, marketers have unlimited possibilities to generate higher brand recall, increased engagement and ultimately generation of conversion rates will go up. These ads will keep your audience guessing what type of crazy ad you will come up with next. Encourage your creative team to expand their minds in order to create interactive advertisements that will keep your target audience coming back for more for years to come!

Personalized Advertising

We all know the eerie ad that pops up while scrolling through the gram based on a conversation you just had with a friend. This is what is called a personalized advertisement. Companies are investing a lot in this type of advertising now but should they be? Personalized advertising works by using online user data to target users with relevant advertising based on their searches, purchasing history, and now even face recognition to determine the users age, race, gender, etc. Let’s face it, we know that our phones are listening to every conversation that we have. That is definitely some Big Brother stuff. So, what do the numbers say about these types of ads? Well, “companies that use advanced personalization see returns of $20 per 1 cent!” according to a statistic on Startup Bonsai. Therefore, from an advertising standpoint it does have great ROI. However, people do find it creepy when they see a retargeting ad on social sites for items that they have browsed, 35% to be exact (Startup Bonsai). And according to Pew Research, “68% of people view online targeted advertising negatively; they’re averse to targeted ads because they don’t like having their online behavior tracked and analyzed.” BUT, in that same breath, people do want their consumer experience to be somewhat personal and actually, “60% of Millennials said that they would not hesitate from sharing personal information to suit their personal interests” (RRD). It seems to be more of an issue of having their personal information taken without consent in order to tailor their consumer ad experience. Let’s look to Netflix as an example. Users have the option to thumbs up or down the shows that they watch in order to receive a more personalized recommendation to their likes and dislikes. Consumers like this feature because it is of their own accord. That being said, Google has a strict policy regarding personalized advertisements that restricts the use of sensitive interests, clinical trial recruitment, gambling, and more. What is the solution here then? We honestly don’t know but personalized ads do seem to have more ROI than non-targeted advertisements. Although people don’t seem to love the idea of their data being taken and analyzed, they do prefer a more personalized approach when it comes to brand advertising. Seems that some middle ground should be determined in order to please consumers and advertisers alike. We may not know what that looks like just yet but hope to see some compromises in the coming years surrounding privacy.