We think something very unusual is going on in retail marketing today. There’s broad consensus that retailers should be putting resources toward personalization across web, email, and mobile apps. But few are walking the walk.

1. Theweird,frustrating
andinsanelyshort-sighted
thingaboutpersonalization.
An unseemly tirade by,
for, and about retailers
with ambition.

2. Youknowwhat’sfrustrating?
Watching someone do something even
when they know it’s going to end badly…
and (sure enough) it does.

3. Well,ifthat’sfrustrating,howabout
watchinganentireindustrydosomething
counter-productiveevenwheneveryone
knowsforafactthatit’swrongandeven
agreesonthesmartthingtodo.
That’s retail right now.

4. Today, as you’re
reading this,
everysingleretailer
knowsthatapersonalized
experienceisbetterthan
ageneric,same-thing-for-
everyoneexperience.

5. And the biggest news?
Customersknowittoo.
Theyexpectyoutotakeaccount
ofwhatyouknowaboutthem.
Whythehellwouldn’tyou?

6. Five years ago, some people would have
argued that personalization isn’t worth it.
But today, it’s an accepted fact:
Ifyoucantakewhatyouknowabout
someoneanduseitinyourinteractions,
you’llgetbetterresultsthanifyouignore
whatyouknowandtreatthemlike
everybodyelse.

7. Retailersalsoknowthatpersonalization
ismuchmorethanaproductrecohere
anda“HiSophie”there.
Every part of the customer experience
can now be personalized.
Any web page. Every email.
All interactions on mobile sites.
Anything and everything can
be personalized (and even linked
across channels). There’s no excuse
for delivering the generic version.

8. Everyretaileralsoknowsthat
theGreatGodofOptimization
isactuallyamyth.
And that if you test and tweak
for ten years to ‘optimize’ that
onelandingpageforallaudience
segments what you’re actually
doing is making it sub-optimal
for every specific segment.

9. Whenyousegmentyouraudience,
andtreatthesegmentsdifferently,
youimproveeverymetricthatmatters:
Whetherit’sengagement,traffic,conversion
or loyalty. That idea is not even debated
any more in retailing circles (yes, we hang
out in circles).

10. Everyretaileralsogetsthatyoucan’tjust
personalizeinonechannel,likeemail.
They know that customers just don’t think
ofyourbrandasabunchofspecialistteams
that never talk to each other (even if that’s
true) (which we really hope it isn’t).
Your customers see you as one brand.
One thing. Oneentityandpersonality
andorganization.And you should return
the favor.
But if you get all chummy and personal in
an email then treat a person like a stranger
when they hit the website, it feels kind of…
eerily fake.

11. Sookay.
Remember that frustration you
feel when you see a smart person
do a not-so-smart thing?
Now you know what it feels like
to watch the online retail industry
put their fingers in their collective
ears and hum the theme tune to
Gilligan’s Island.

12. 6%
areactually
doingit.
96%
ofretailerssay
personalizationisawesome
butonly
Because,eventhoughevery(andwe
meanevery)retailerknowsthepower
oftruemulti-channelpersonalization,
onlythefew,thebestareactuallydoing
anythingaboutit.
A statistic from Econsultancy:

13. 6%
areactually
doingit.
96%
ofretailerssay
personalizationisawesome
butonly
Because,eventhoughevery(andwe
meanevery)retailerknowsthepower
oftruemulti-channelpersonalization,
onlythefew,thebestareactuallydoing
anythingaboutit.
A statistic from Econsultancy:
Shortpauseforthatdepressingrealitytosettlein.

14. Nowlet’ssnapoutofit.

15. Becausetheexasperatinggapbetween
whatretailersknowandwhattheydois
actuallyabig,fat,shinyandawesomely
lucrativeopportunityforanybraveretailer
willingtoclosethatgap.
(We’re thinking of youhere).

16. Because, here’s the thing:
Thereasonretailersaredelaying
theirpersonalizationeffortsis
basedontwototalmisconceptions.
(Misconceptions that the
vendor community has
actually helped propagate).

17. The first misconception:
“Personalizationishard.”

18. “Itwillcreatemoreworkforateamthatcan
hardlyhandletheworkit’salreadygot.
Themoresegmentswecreate,themore
specialexperienceswe’llhavetodesign
anddeployandtestandmeasure.
That’sscary.”
(Well, if we believed this,
we’d hold off too.)

19. The second misconception:
“Personalizationiscomplex”

20. “One-experience-fits-alliscomplicated
enough.Shatteringourcustomerjourney
intolotsofsegmentedcustomerjourneys
isgoingtobehellishlymessy.Thiscallsfor
amulti-yearresearchproject,withmaybe
consultantsandmodelsanddata
warehousesandroadmapsandstuff.”
(Yikes.)

21. Theweirdthingisthatboth
ofthesemisconceptionsare
actuallytrueifyouapproach
personalizationlikeatypical
datawarehousere-platforming
orITmigration.
Done the old-school,
IT-driven way, it’s gonna hurt.
And take forever.
And, let’s face it, probably fail.

22. But here’s the tragicomedy of it all:
PersonalizationisWAYeasierand
farsimplerthanretailersthinkitis.

23. ItdoesNOTtakeateamoften
tocreateanddeploypersonalized
experiencesforafewdozen
meaningfulaudiencesegments.
It doesn’t even take a team of five.
It takes a team of you.
Over a few lunch breaks.

24. AnditdoesNOTtakeyearsofresearchandasnafu
ofsystemsintegrators(ooh:anewcollectivenoun)
withanewdatawarehouseandsixcoderstolink
toyourecommerceplatform.
You can actually get going in a week or so. And once
you’re up to speed, you can deploy new experiences
for new segments in minutes. Without bothering the
very talented but very overworked IT dudes.

25. Thisisn’tsomethingwewishtobetrue.
Thisissomethingweknowtobetrue.
We’ve seen dozens of retailers do it every day.
We help them do it better every day.
And, yes, we give them the platform that makes
it almost embarrassingly easy to do it every day.
(No, we’re not going to get all salesy on you. Yet.)

26. Solet’swrap
thissuckerup:

27. Solet’swrapthissuckerup:
Everyretailerknowsthat
personalizationistheway
togo.Butmostretailers
thinkit’stoohardandtoo
complextotackle.
A
dis
am
on
to

28. Afewhavealready
discoveredthisis
amythandareacting
onthisknowledge
totheiradvantage.
Solet’swrapthissuckerup:
An
su
on
An
An
t
ay
o

29. Solet’swrapthissuckerup:
Andonehasjuststartedto
suspectthere’sawayforward
onthispersonalizationthing.
Andthatit’sgoingtobegood.
Andthatoneisyou.

30. Wecan’twaittotalk.

31. Monetatepowersmulti-channel
personalizationfortheworld’s
bestbrands.
We do it with a powerful personalization
platform that works with your technology
stack to deliver real-time customized
experiences to an unlimited number
of audience segments.
And it’s all ready to help you personalize
now: with whatever data silos you have
and whatever marketing tools you love.
Dropinandseeus.
The perfect place
to start is exactly
where you are.
And the best time…
is right now.
Monetate.
Personalize now.
Aboutus.