In conversation with Sarah Cascone, Bluecore’s Vice President of Marketing, we explore ways to address common challenges marketers encounter while implementing personalization strategies.
WHAT’S THIS STORY ABOUT?
Personalization is a top marketing priority, but strategy execution can be challenging. We asked an expert about how to overcome the barriers to personalization.
- We don’t have the right data
- Which are the right metrics to show success?
- Managing inconsistent channel experiences
- How can we maximize ROI on marketing technology investments?
Ask any marketer, and personalization will be one of their top priorities for 2023. But are they able to deliver on this promise?
In fact, according to an Adobe report, 94% of brands want to deliver personalized experiences at scale. Yet, the same cohort admitted they’re only personalizing between 25% and 50% of marketing content versus a target of 50 to 75%.
Where does the gap lie, and how can marketers overcome barriers preventing them from offering true value to consumers? We asked Sarah Cascone, VP of Marketing at Bluecore, a retail marketing technology firm, about the best way to navigate the sticky bits;
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‘We don’t have the right data’
Sarah: The data challenge that marketers face isn’t as much that they don’t have the right data – it’s that they don’t have access to it. In every industry, businesses and brands sit on mountains of data, such as consumer behavioral and product data, but it is all siloed in different places. This forces marketers to pull it together from these separate sources for every campaign, resulting in the dreaded batch and blast method – creating a single email with a single message and sending it to as many people as possible.
Doing this manually restricts brands to slow and static campaigns. To release dynamic campaigns that reach consumers wherever they are, marketers need a tech platform to pull the company’s relevant vertical-specific data directly into the campaign workflows and templates so marketers can easily create one-to-one communications.
Which are the right metrics to show success?
Many digital-specific marketers make the mistake of trying to measure success through metrics such as click and open rates. However, click and open rates can be high while conversion is still low. Marketers need to emphasize tracking how often consumers are buying and if they are increasing their Average Order Value (AOV). Those are the metrics to put weight behind since that will result in revenue gain and growth for the company.
Managing inconsistent channel experiences
Most of the time, different channels are managed on different platforms, so it can be hard to view their efficacy holistically. The best technology solution marketers can implement is a platform that allows them to consolidate the different channels for more visibility.
It’s also good for marketers to track which channels are performing best with their customers and spend more on that channel. Going in, marketers aren’t sure which channel will generate the most revenue, so it helps to implement a solution with a flexible pricing model. Instead of being locked into the amount of money spent on each channel, marketers should be able to move around their dollars to ensure their budget is placed in the most beneficial area.
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How can we maximize ROI on marketing technology investments?
Any technology solution a marketer buys needs to have clear and provable outcomes. Analytics and test-and-learn systems should be built into the platform so that marketers can see incremental revenue gains. Most marketers are spending money on technology to convert more shoppers.
However, marketers need to ensure that the technology they invest in isn’t just converting shoppers who already would have converted. Efforts and money should be directed towards converting shoppers who would not have otherwise converted or, more importantly, retaining the customers the company already has.
