What’s The Hype Around ‘Hyper-Personalization’?

By now we have all heard the importance of personalization and how companies can cater their marketing efforts to the individual requirements of their customers. The latest trend however, seems to be focused around hyper-personalization.

But what is the difference between hyper-personalization and just plain ol’ regular personalization?

What is Hyper-Personalization?

Well for starters hyper-personalization is defined as:

The use of data to provide more personalized and targeted products, services, and content.

Before the advent of technology and the ‘social boom’, companies utilized customized messaging based on profile data and other attributes on customers collected from third party list providers. But the rapid growth of social and newer digital channels has created an opportunity to collect even more pertinent customer data, thereby helping companies provide a personalized outreach.

Companies are paying more attention to customer profiles and interactions as they begin to chart out ideal buyer personas for future engagement. This allows marketing teams to send out the right message at the right time to the right person, which leads to better and higher conversions.

So how can companies utilize the power of hyper-personalization?

How to leverage Hyper-Personalization?

There are three broad areas that companies need to focus on to leverage hyper-personalization:

1. Social Listening

You can begin your path to hyper personalization by actively listening to and understanding your audience.

Focus on defining your customers, their likes / dislikes, and most importantly their issues and challenges. By understanding these intricate details about your audience, you can get an in-depth look at the pain points in a customer’s purchasing cycle, and also the factors that affect their buying decisions.

Begin listening to conversations taking place around your industry / space, competitors, and products. Identify the context of each conversation and participate in these conversations at the right time. Do not sell your products, but rather aim to build trust with your customers. Companies can also engage with top influencers and thought leaders to help build engagement around their brand.

2. Data Analysis

A natural progression from listening to your audience is capturing the data around it. From profile information to social interactions, companies can collect vast amounts of data to create and enhance the quality of information on their customers and leads.

While there is some debate as to which is better: collecting data on an individual-level vs. collecting data by segment, capturing insights from data is an integral step in the hyper-personalization process. For example, if a customer searches for flights to a particular location, then travel agencies could use this info to target that customer with relevant travel packages.

3. Content and Context

Once you have listened to your audience and grouped them into the right customer segments, you can begin to create personalized content, deliver it in a targeted way, and help drive engagement. This allows you to nurture high quality leads.

Sharing personalized content in the context of a customer’s needs and location increases the relevancy of the message. Companies should focus on driving socially engaging content and deliver it across different devices so that it can translate into positive experiences for the customer.

Hyper-personalization is all about maximizing opportunities to customize content that fits your customers’ needs. Companies should use these opportunities to consistently target the right audience throughout the customer lifecycle. Creating meaningful connections and driving engagement among your audience allows for more leads and better conversions.

---

This was cross-posted on IntegrateBusiness.

Read more: Personalized Content For More Effective Content Marketing