“Today, companies leverage data from a multitude of sources to create highly personalized experiences for their customers and differentiate themselves from the competition”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
CX personalization marks a departure from the era of mass marketing that dominated the 20th century, where brands sought to leverage the newest mass media available \u2013 radio, television, print \u2013 to reach an audience as large as possible with standardized messaging. It ended in the same way it was started \u2013 with another wave of technological innovation. The 1990s saw the rise of digital technologies and, suddenly, companies could gather and analyze customer data consistently on a scale that hadn\u2019t been possible before.<\/p>\n
The trend of personalized customer experiences<\/a> continued to evolve over the years, and as companies embraced new technologies like marketing automation and CRM systems, customers’ expectations of personalized experiences rose, too. Gone are the days of generic approaches. Today, companies leverage data from a multitude of sources (website behavior, customer queries, surveys, etc.) to create highly personalized experiences for their customers and differentiate themselves from the competition.<\/p>\n Learn how Intercom can give you key insights into customer behavior so you can create personalized experiences at scale<\/a><\/p>\n Customization and personalization are similar concepts, but there is a difference between the two. Customization empowers the user to alter certain aspects of a product or service to fit their individual preferences and needs. On the other hand, personalization refers to the process of creating a tailored experience for a customer based on their unique context. Personalization is done for, not by, you.<\/p>\n In today’s increasingly competitive and rapidly changing business landscape, personalized CX is becoming ever more important to create competitive advantage, increase customer loyalty, and drive business growth<\/a>. That’s especially true in the B2B space, where customers expect a partner who truly understands their business and helps them succeed. Customer experience personalization is a surefire way to keep your customers engaged and loyal for the long haul \u2013 each interaction generates more data that can be used to improve the overall experience, creating a flywheel effect that leads to increased customer lifetime value.<\/p>\n “71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions, and 76% get frustrated when this doesn\u2019t happen”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n From web and mobile to in-person engagement, research shows customers want businesses to know who they are, what past interactions they\u2019ve had, and what issues they\u2019ve experienced. In The Intercom Customer Service Trends Report for 2023<\/em><\/a>, we surveyed 1,700+ support leaders in multiple countries to find out the top five trends transforming the world of customer service, and the results are in: 82% of them say customer expectations for personalized support have grown over the last 12 months. For 89%, it\u2019s a key competitive differentiator. By adding a personalization layer into the mix, teams are two times more likely to report an increase in customer satisfaction and nearly two times more likely to report an increase in customer retention and loyalty.<\/p>\n Not only that, a 2021 McKinsey report<\/a> showed that 71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions, and 76% get frustrated when this doesn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n Source: McKinsey & Company<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n But it\u2019s easier said than done. Surely we can all recall an experience that hit the mark, and, perhaps even more likely, one that failed miserably \u2013 from the more innocuous, like having to repeat information as you\u2019re moved along support agents, to the more serious. With that in mind, how can you make sure you step up your personalization game in the right way?<\/p>\n Unlock the full potential of your audience with first-party data<\/a>, directly collected from Custom Bots<\/a>, surveys, or sign-up forms. By establishing a direct connection with your customers, you’ll create dynamic and robust customer profiles that grow and evolve as they do. First-party data is highly reliable and dependable, and as it turns out, your customers are often happy to share it with you \u2013 a recent Salesforce study shows that 79% of customers are willing to provide relevant information about themselves<\/a> in return for interactions that acknowledge and understand them, and it increases to 88% if the outcome of the data sharing is personalized offers.<\/p>\n By leveraging this rich, contextual data<\/a>, you can gain more profound insights and trigger highly targeted messages or events based on business type, conversation subject, or actions taken. Plus, these insights can be used throughout the entire organization to create more personalized customer journeys.<\/p>\n To build your personalization strategy, you need the right foundation, and that foundation is only as strong as your tech stack. When you start integrating first-party data with other tools in your stack, like marketing automation platforms or CRM systems, you can gather insights from a single customer record to create a seamless, relevant customer experience.<\/p>\n “85% of business respondents stated that their customers prefer to have their context follow them from channel to channel”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n With a unified platform<\/a> across marketing, sales, and support, every conversation and interaction expands your understanding of your customers\u2019 or prospects\u2019 needs and helps you build a meaningful relationship with them. Your teams can get a comprehensive view of who the customer or prospect is without having to switch between platforms, which one, saves time, and two, drives customer satisfaction. In fact, 85% of business respondents stated<\/a> that their customers prefer to have their context follow them from channel to channel.<\/p>\n So, you\u2019ve built your unified tech stack and are collecting first-party data. Now what? With all that customer information centralized, you should be able to define segments and personas according to who they are, where they are, what feedback they\u2019ve given, or what actions they have or haven\u2019t taken.<\/p>\n By building a deep understanding of customer personas \u2013 their needs, wants, and pain points \u2013 you\u2019re able to identify patterns and opportunities and trigger targeted messages to ensure each customer is following a specific product journey. More, you can use those insights to provide clarity and transparency on decisions to stakeholders across the organization.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s face it \u2013 most questions arise when your customers are using your product. With in-product messaging, you can reach your customers precisely when it\u2019s most effective: when they\u2019re already engaging with your product. It\u2019s a convenient and time-saving solution that delivers immediate answers right at their fingertips. Say goodbye to disruptive channel-switching, and hello to a seamless and frictionless customer experience.<\/p>\n “In-product messaging can drive 3-4x higher engagement rates than traditional channels like email”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n At Intercom, we found that in-product messaging can drive 3-4x higher engagement rates than traditional channels like email. If you want to take the most of every opportunity and make sure each interaction has the potential to drive growth, take a look at our newest guide on unlocking customer engagement with in\u2011product messaging<\/a>.<\/p>\n With all the pieces of the system set up, you\u2019re now able to trigger and orchestrate multi-channel campaigns based on where customers are in their experience with your product.<\/p>\n For example, for a \u201cpayment failed\u201d event, you can trigger a personal message that informs the customer of the payment failure and encourages them to check out an article on how to update their payment method.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve already touched on this, but it bears repeating \u2013 leveraging automation and AI is critical for delivering effective CX personalization at scale. Automated systems continuously track and analyze customer data and adjust experiences in real time, ensuring that the customer always receives the most relevant and personalized experience possible.<\/p>\n For example, you can set up a bot to capture custom data about your customers \u2013 like what plan they\u2019re on, the type of query they have, and how urgent their issue is \u2013 and then route their query to the right team. This is where bots excel: answering repetitive questions such as \u201chow do I update my billing details\u201d quickly, reducing hold times, and quick routing to the right place. Some bots \u2013 like Intercom\u2019s Resolution Bot<\/a> \u2013 can even answer your customers\u2019 questions before they even finish typing. This frees up your support team to handle the more complex and critical queries<\/a> that need that personal touch.<\/p>\n A truly personalized customer experience needs to hit every stage in the customer journey, which means one team can\u2019t single-handedly own all personalization efforts. You need cross-functional alignment between teams so that everyone is collaborating and is invested in providing the best experience possible to your customers.<\/p>\n “By bringing together a diverse range of skills and expertise, cross-functional teams can create a more holistic and effective approach to CX”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Imagine support helping sales identify upsell and cross-sell opportunities, customer success teams tailoring onboarding flows based on initial sales data, or product managers improving feature adoption in low-activation customers. By bringing together a diverse range of skills and expertise, cross-functional teams can create a more holistic and effective approach to CX.<\/p>\n Last but not least, a personalized customer experience isn\u2019t done the moment you build communication flows. Markets are always changing and customer expectations are constantly evolving, so you should too \u2013 as you keep measuring and iterating your personalization efforts, you can stay ahead of these changes and ensure that you are providing a relevant experience for your customers.<\/p>\n Use customer feedback, performance data, and other key performance indicators to measure which areas of your strategy aren\u2019t delivering the desired results and tweak as you go to increase effectiveness.<\/p>\n If there’s one company that popularized the notion of a personalized customer experience, it\u2019s Amazon. By the early 2000s<\/a>, the world\u2019s largest retailer was already collecting a vast amount of data on its customers to create highly personalized experiences for each customer, including product recommendations based on purchase history and browsing behavior, and tailored discounts or promotional offers.<\/p>\n Source: Amazon<\/em><\/p>\n And it seems to be working: 35% of its revenue comes from its recommendation engine<\/a>. When it comes to streaming giant Netflix, the numbers are even higher \u2013 75% of what people watch on Netflix comes from recommendations<\/a>. Talk about a value proposition.<\/p>\n December brings many things \u2013 chillier weather, festive decor, and the global phenomenon that is Spotify Wrapped, Spotify\u2019s hit annual campaign that gives users an in-depth look at what they listened to that year, highlighting their listening habits, favorite artists, musical tastes, and more.<\/p>\n Not all data is created equal. Fortunately, Spotify was dealt a winning hand \u2013 it collects data users actually want to share. In 2020, over 90 million people engaged with the campaign<\/a>. It\u2019s fun, it\u2019s exciting, and a great example of how companies can use personalization to create meaningful experiences for their customers.<\/p>\n Source: Spotify<\/em><\/p>\n All-in-one doc Coda offers a highly customizable product that varies in complexity depending on the use case, which makes it difficult to provide a contextual experience. To effectively personalize experiences and cater to the specific needs of its customers, they must have a deep understanding of their user base.<\/p>\n One way to do that is by collecting customer feedback at the precise moment they experience something. Coda uses Intercom Surveys<\/a> during the onboarding process and to measure NPS to contextualize customers\u2019 experiences and direct actions based on real-time feedback. If someone has a not-so-great experience on their onboarding journey, Coda can get that information and step in with support in that moment of need, potentially turning a moment of frustration into a delightful experience.<\/p>\n Amplitude is a product analytics solution that specializes in customer behavioral data and digital experience. As a product-led growth organization, it needs product, marketing, and customer success collaborating in order to grow and deliver great experiences across the customer lifecycle.<\/p>\n At Amplitude, the customer success team uses Intercom\u2019s visual campaign builder, Series<\/a>, to create personalized messaging flows designed to set customers up for success; the support team uses the Intercom Messenger<\/a> to provide real-time support and manage customer conversations through the Inbox<\/a>, reducing costs and responsive times and increasing CSAT to almost 98%; the product team shares important product announcements and enables customers to submit feature requests in-product in a quick, seamless way.<\/p>\nWhat is the difference between personalization and customization?<\/h2>\n
Why is CX personalization important?<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Screenshot-2023-03-14-at-10.15.04.jpg\")
<\/p>\n8 steps to personalize customer experiences at scale<\/h2>\n
1. Collect first-party data<\/h3>\n
2. Build a unified customer platform<\/h3>\n
3. Create user personas<\/h3>\n
4. Help customers where and when they need it<\/h3>\n
5. Design personalized communication flows<\/h3>\n
6. Boost personalization efforts with automation and AI<\/h3>\n
7. Assemble cross-functional, customer-centric teams<\/h3>\n
8. Iterate, iterate, iterate<\/h3>\n
Examples of great personalized CX<\/h2>\n
Recommendation algorithms<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Screenshot-2023-03-14-at-10.09.02.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPersonalized marketing done right<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Spotify-wrapped-example.jpg\")
<\/p>\nUsing customer feedback to fuel growth<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Inline2_760x787_Coda_2x.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBuilding integrated experiences<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Inline-2-2x-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n