Creating a Personalized Customer Experience for Retail

As we move further into 2021, it's clear that there has been a significant acceleration in the expectation of personalization for customers through digital channels. Modern customers now expect a unified and seamless experience across all touchpoints with a brand. The differentiation is in how to personalize this omnichannel experience to create the same connection they would have at their favorite local business. So the question is, how do brands create a unique and personalized experience at scale that retains their best customers but also attracts new ones — especially if they're physically disconnected? 

Data is the key to personalization

In order to create a leading customer experience, we often start the conversation by asking brands the following questions: 

• Who is your best customer?
• Why are they your best customer?
• What behaviors are they performing to make them your best customer?
• How do you convert your good customers into best customers?

These are fundamental questions that need to be addressed in order to provide a personalized customer experience and drive incremental revenue growth. By leveraging the data across the different customer channels, you will be able to start stitching together the story and answers to the questions above with new clarity.  However, the common disconnect we often see with companies is that they don't have the appropriate technology platforms in place to capture their customers' behavioral data and allow marketing strategies to be implemented. 

Building a "Golden Stack"

As referenced in our recent partnership article, WWT Digital is helping guide our clients by helping them develop a Golden Stack utilizing our preferred MarTech partners. In order to build this Golden Stack to capture the holistic data picture of customer behavior, we recommend the following implementation of tools that seamlessly integrate together:

• Customer Data Platform (CDP) - mParticle consolidates all data, inputs into a single point of collection and provides high-quality data unification. Think of this platform as the "Nervous System" that funnels all of the data to the other tools.
• Product Analytics Platform - Amplitude, as a tool, helps teams understand customer behavior. Think of this platform as the "brains" of the operation that tells the story.
• Engagement Platform - Braze gives marketers and product teams the ability to use what was learned from the product analytics platform to convert ideas into well-orchestrated and personalized outreach at optimal times to the right customers. Think of this platform as the "hands" of the operation that acts on what the "brain" has told them. 

Personalization 2.0

Once these foundational technology platforms have been implemented to tell the customer story through data, brands can then leverage more specific tools to build an even deeper personalized experience.

• Loyalty Platform - SessionM provides a loyalty platform that helps build a deeper connection between the brand and the customer. Our team recently published an article on the Key 3 Steps to the Best Loyalty Program.
• Deep Linking Platform - Branch uses this technology to send their customers directly to a specific location within an app or website with as little friction as possible. Deep links use built-in attribution to understand how distinct experiences impact down-funnel engagement and optimize the customer's digital journey. 
• Location Services Platform - Radar helps enterprises build location-based experiences faster.  This includes real-time tracking of the customer for delivery, curbside pickup and real-time geolocation marketing.

Use this opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of who your best customers are through a data-driven approach, and in turn, create a best-in-class, personalized customer experience. Feel free to leave any questions or comments below and reach out to us directly to start the conversation about your organization's needs.