New Statistics: Online Personalization Doesn’t Feel “Personal” – Untapped Potential for E-tailers to Build Increased Loyalty

Optimally, the leading digital experience platform (DXP), presents the results of a recent survey of UK consumers and marketing managers on online personalisation. Among consumers, the results are clear – two-thirds (71 percent) believe the digital experiences they receive online are “tailored” to them, but only a third (33 percent) feel the messages are “truly personalized.” The bottom line is that brands need to further strengthen personalization methods to create memorable, unique experiences for their customers.

report, “personalized”, Based on a survey of 100 UK marketing managers and 1,000 UK consumers. The report shows the difference between “targeted” and “truly personal” content, and that’s the key to success. In fact, two-thirds (63 percent) of consumers say they are more loyal to a brand if they know them on a personal level.

For marketing managers, the challenge is that many competing brands are also using personalization technology—74 percent believe it’s difficult to stand out when all competitors are working on personalization.

The report also shows that consumers are demanding more personalized content. Two-thirds (70 percent) say they are frustrated by targeted campaigns that are allegedly unrelated to their personal interests. While 73 percent of surveyed brands have invested in personalized content in the past three years or more, there’s clearly room for more.

– For more than a decade, personalization has been a staple of digital marketing, says Mårten Bokedal, product strategist at Optimizely. This means that many established methods are now more mature. Tailoring messages based on demographic assumptions is not enough to cut through the noise. Brands need to improve their current approach to personalization, which means experimenting to ensure the type of content the customer responds to in order to successfully treat each customer as an individual.

70 percent of marketers combine personalization techniques with testing techniques to ensure personalized content is truly personalized. 42 percent said they have invested in new technology to experiment with doing this effectively. Testing allows marketers to try new approaches, evaluate what works and change what doesn’t. By removing the guesswork, brands gain a better understanding of their customers and can engage with them in a way that makes them feel unique.

For more information:

Mårten Bokedal | 0704-106909 | [email protected]

About Optimizely: At Optimizely, we have a mission – to help people unlock their digital potential. We do this by reinventing how marketing and product teams work to create and optimize digital experiences across all channels. With our leading digital experience platform (DXP), we help companies around the world orchestrate their entire content lifecycle, monetize every digital experience and experiment with all kinds of customer touchpoints. Optimizely has 700+ partners and nearly 1,500 employees in our 21 offices around the world. We are proud to help over 10,000 companies including H&M, PayPal, Zoom, Toyota KLM, Mazda, Electrolux, 1177 Vårdguiden, LYKO and Red Cross. At Optimizely, we live by a simple philosophy every day: Big enough to serve, small enough to maintain. optimizely.com/se