Fighting the Force that is One‑Size‑Fits‑All Marketing ‑ The Call to Action for Creating a 1:1 Marketing Culture

No customer wants to be treated like “just another number.” Every marketer knows this at heart, but the force is strong when it comes to sending batch and blast campaigns, seeing short-term gains and moving on to the next. Campaign-centric marketing is the path of least resistance. One-to-one marketing is the road less traveled, but it’s the trail that every marketer must blaze in order to create a long-term revenue asset out of existing customers.

Most marketers think 1:1 is just another buzz phrase, but the results are real. So let’s set the stage. Just look at the top 10 largest and the 10 fastest-growing online retailers and you’ll realize that they share at least one thing: personalization.

The only way to grow and compete with the ecommerce juggernauts is to customize each individual’s experience to fit their desires. Want to make it to the list of fastest growers, or eventually to the list of largest ecommerce companies? Well, then you need 1:1 personalization across all of your channels – email personalization, website personalization, mobile personalization, social personalization and even in-store personalization.

You can support this decision by the fact that over 80% of consumers report that personalization affects their purchasing decisions, with over a quarter stating that personalization is a significant influence, and over a third of consumers went on to purchase items in their previously abandoned shopping cart after a personalized email was sent. Ryan Bonifacino, Vice President of Digital Strategy at Alex and Ani, which has grown a whopping 249.7% in the past year, was quoted as saying that the jewelry retailer’s better use of customer data is a major factor behind their $45.7 million in online sales in 2013.

Today’s consumers are jaded when it comes to advertisements that resemble common online promotions (banners and pop-ups). They’re used to being constantly talked at, and have learned to tune out and determine quickly (even subconsciously) if a message is for them specifically, or if they’re just being lumped into a segment.

The bottom line for marketers who aren’t focused on a 1:1 approach is that their business’ bottom line will suffer today, and in the long-term. Which side do you choose?

 — Neil Capel, CEO & Founder of Sailthru