Make Consumer Holiday Wishes Come True With Personalized Engagement

Whether you anxiously wait all year or dread the first sign of festive decorations, it’s inevitable: the holiday season is approaching and with it, the shopping rush.

As consumer preferences and behaviors continue to evolve, brands and retailers need to work harder to keep up — constantly adapting marketing strategies to win over shoppers.

So, what’s on holiday shoppers’ wish lists this year? To find out, RedPoint recently surveyed 1,000 U.S. consumers. Take note, retailers, here’s what consumers had to say.

Irrelevant Offers Prompt Resentment

Anger over inappropriate or ill-timed marketing messages is growing. In fact, one-third of all consumers surveyed said that receiving irrelevant offers is their top frustration during the holiday season.

When brands bombard shoppers with too many irrelevant offers, it introduces friction and frustration into the relationship. To eliminate this friction (or avoid it altogether), retailers must build a single, holistic profile of every customer. This is what arms marketers with the deep understanding needed to deliver hyperpersonalized messages, offers and actions that gradually help close the gap between customer expectations and the actual experience.

To gain this single customer view, all data must be cleansed, unified and integrated to create an up-to-date and fully accurate profile of each customer, including online and offline behavior, preferences, and purchase history. When used in tandem with machine learning capabilities, these customer profiles will enable brands to deliver intelligent and timely offers, no matter the channel.

Centralize Data to Delight, Not Overwhelm, Consumers

Consumers get overwhelmed during the holidays. Almost half of all consumers feel this way.

This underscores the importance of brands capitalizing on the moment of intent. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done.

Why? When customer data is siloed in various systems, marketing teams are simply unable to communicate efficiently or work together, leading to missed opportunities to delight customers, and instead sending them conflicting or repeat messages.

This holiday season, brands must unify customer data from all sources, in every format, to form a 360-degree view of each customer. Armed with this data, they can then deliver the intelligent recommendations consumers want.

Keep the Tradition Alive

Shoppers are exceedingly loyal to their “go-to” brands for holiday shopping. More than 35 percent of respondents indicated that they exclusively purchase from retailers that they've shopped with in the past.

Brands must nourish these relationships and ensure they’re leveraging all historic knowledge to customize offers for them during the hectic holiday season.

The truth is that 75 percent of consumers wish retailers better understood their preferences and shopping history. Therefore, brands have work to do in ensuring every customer is treated as a unique individual. Simply demonstrating that you “know” and “see” them goes a long way towards building a long-lasting relationship.

With Personalization, Turn Consumers Into Lifelong Fans

Now, this is powerful: According to survey findings, 60 percent of consumers are more likely to purchase from retailers that send personalized offers. This proves the importance of a brand’s ability to reach the consumer with personalized content wherever, whenever and however they choose. This is what creates a true connection.

When brands target customers as a segment of one through orchestrated interactions, they improve campaign performance metrics, reduce the cost of customer interaction, and increase customer lifetime value. The potential for growth here is huge: The National Retail Federation expects 2019 holiday retail sales to increase by approximately 4 percent over last year’s record of $850 billion.

However, brands must remember, it’s not just the holiday season that matters; they must deliver this deep level of personalization year-round.

John Nash is the chief marketing and strategy officer at RedPoint Global, a customer data platform and engagement hub. Reach him at john.nash@redpointglobal.com.