Personalisation, individualisation treasure trove for brands and consumers – report

The report Me, Myself & I: The Individualisation Imperative, identifies customer experience pain-points and attitudes to data sharing and how brands are faring in the UK, US and Australia. With 69% of consumers wanting an individualised experience, and two-thirds expecting it, only 40% of brands actually offer one nowadays.

Personalised marketing campaigns have been an important influence on online purchases, but consumers have unsubscribed from brand mailing lists because they get too many emails (81%), were frustrated over offers that expire too quickly (36%), had to add more information (29%) and even cited irrelevance (one third).

Cloud IQ’s research illustrates that personalisation is not enough to satisfy consumers but it should be accompanied by speed (94%), seamlessness (92%) and a sense of control (91%), combined with an individualised experience (83%). Consumers define being treated as an individual as: being rewarded with highly relevant offers (77%), being remembered (60%), being listened to and understood (59%) and feeling in control (57%).

Almost two-thirds of people (64%) recognise the value of their personal data as currency in exchange for a more individualised experience. However, 26% were “reluctant” and one-fifth were “enthusiastic” about brands using information they hold on them to create the best possible online experience. The research identified 28% as “brand selective” - allowing a few brands to use their information - and 26% as “data selective”, whereby they would like to control the amount of data that brands use.

Once GDPR comes into force in May 2018, 53% of consumers say they would opt out selectively based on brands they trust. However, in the UK, only 1 in 10 is aware of GDPR and what this means for them as a consumer. Two-thirds say they were unaware until now and 26% say they were aware but don’t understand what this means for them as a consumer.

For brands, the cost of not being transparent is high: 75% of consumers tend to give brands one chance and if trust is broken they will go elsewhere. If a brand was to use personal data in a way that was deemed inappropriate, almost half (47%) say they would never trust that brand again and one in five say it would take more than a year to regain that trust.

Over half of consumers (52%) saying they trust online retailers completely or mostly. This is followed by banks, insurance and financial service providers (49%). The least trusted are travel / holidays / airlines (37%) and mobile, broadband or media providers (38%).

Consumers would feel more valued as a customer (71%), say more positive things about the brand to others (70%), be more likely to buy from them (70%), trust them more (64%) and spend more money with that brand (61%) if retailers provide meaningful experiences, individualised content and real-time, relevant offers.

Types of data that people are most happy for brands to use to get a great online experience are product preferences (85%), whilst people are least happy for brands to use identity data (44%).

Cloud IQ’s commerce platform is based on real-time behavioural and inventory-driven data to enable brands to engage with consumers tracking over 400 million ecommerce customer interactions every month.