Personalization is not a Business Goal and other Key Takeaways from The Lead
This week at The Lead event I had the good fortune to speak with Bennett Fox-Glassman about his journey at Macy's and his wisdom about incorporating personalization. Here are my top takeaways:
Is Personalization a Business Goal?
Personalization is not a business goal. It's barely even a strategy. It's an approach or tactic in service of relevancy to your customers. That relevancy needs to be measured by things that do matter -- engagement on your customer journeys, and ultimately improving your customer lifetime value.
Where Should You Start with Personalization?
If you are new to personalization, start with high-value journeys. Bennett suggested one place to start might be the customer's first to second purchase journey as one place that could be a high-value journey for the business, which is easily measurable.
Wins in this area could give your program more funding to broaden its scope.
How Important is Team Collaboration in Personalization?
Develop a cross-functional team to collaborate. Macy's has built a cross-functional Customer Journey team built from Customer, Marketing, and Digital team members whO all look at the same set of data and are focused on the same customer goals in their experimentation.
Can Technology Alone Solve Personalization Challenges?
Don't expect tech to solve all the problems. Your data has to be right first. In other words, all the non-sexy work to ensure your data is in one place, attributed, and accurate.
Furthermore, Bennett suggested that in the discussion of people, process, and technology -- people are the most impactful.
New tech will not save you alone.
Is Personalization Always the Best Strategy?
Sometimes personalization is not the play. Consistent messaging can be important because it creates familiarity and can help drive word of mouth. Think about Walmart's "Everyday Low Prices" as an example.
Imagine if everyone heard a slightly different message?
Who Should Be Thanked for Organizing the Discussion?
Thanks to Noah G. and Sonal Gandhi at The Lead for putting us together for this needed discussion!
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