One-to-one, personalized marketing dates back to the early days of commerce. General store owners modeled this approach effectively as they would remember details about their customers and shopping preferences. As a result, customers felt seen, heard and became loyal to that particular business. Overtime, however, the concept of personalization waned.

As technology advanced, the art of offering customers a personalized experience became rare. The ease of mass standardized communication marketing was seductive and many businesses began to utilize it as their main mode of customer communication. Different people with unique circumstances were all receiving the same messages.

Commonly used brands such as Amazon and Netflix have renewed consumers’ desire for personalization by offering individualized experiences and personalized recommendations on their platforms. Consumers are now demanding personalization from every other company that interacts with them.

A recent study by McKinsey revealed that personalized brand experiences and interactions are expected by 71% of consumers, indicating a clear preference for brands who tailor their communications to each individual customer.

The value one-to-one messaging brings to personalized marketing

The onset of the pandemic ushered in a rise in the use of smartphones with 85% of U.S. consumers owning a smartphone in 2021. One-to-one messaging leverages the growing relevance of smartphones while addressing consumer desires for more personalized interactions with brands. It provides businesses with the ability to engage in tailored customer outreach through direct messaging to customers’ smartphones.

Businesses who have adopted a personalized approach in their digital strategy have excelled in managing and monetizing their customer experience, while those who haven’t are placing their customer lifetime value at risk; a decision that ultimately affects the bottom line. The personalized nature of one-to-one messaging allows businesses to maintain open lines of communication with their customers at every touch point during the customer journey.

How one-to-one messaging can facilitate each stage of the customer journey

One-to-one messaging allows brands to manage and guide existing customers through each stage of their buying journey, while addressing common pain points. Companies can demonstrate their commitment to their customers by using their preferred channel of communication as needed, and connecting them with representatives who possess the specific expertise required to answer their questions or resolve their issues.

1. Awareness - preventing missed opportunities for both the customer and the business

Awareness starts from communication. Many customers lack awareness or are unwilling or lack the motivation to seek out information from brands. For example, Telecom customers may not be aware of their status or eligibility, whether their contract ends soon, or if they are due for an upgrade. Without a reason to actively seek out this information, customers are missing out on key business offerings that could enhance their experience with the product or service and telecom businesses are missing an opportunity to drive sales and increase their revenue.

Brand awareness campaigns can help cultivate leads, increase website traffic, and improve brand identity and equity. One-to-one messaging helps you interact with your customers on their preferred channel while building brand awareness on a personal level.

With knowledge and historical data on their customer base, businesses can create awareness around unique promotions for specific customers and notify them through one-to-one messaging. This leaves less room for missed opportunities on both the customer’s end and the businesses end.

2. Acquisition - real people and real conversations

Businesses that use mass standardized outreach to communicate with their customers are less likely to receive action than those who don’t. Even when given the opportunity, customers often won’t act themselves. It is up to each brand to nurture prospective deals and ensure they close. Unless the consumer has an outside motivation, it is up to the business to nourish that sale.

One-to-one messaging offers businesses a way to reach customers in a meaningful and impactful way. Studies have shown that 90% of messages are read within the first three minutes of being received. Businesses can use real people to reach customers and nurture and close out deals. Communicating with a real person allows customers to ask pressing questions and get timely answers without the hassle of inquiring about an automated deal that isn’t attached to an accessible employee.

3. Onboarding - deliver value to customers as quickly as possible

‍Following sign up, customers are typically greeted with a welcome message. However, brand communications tend to fall off afterward, leaving the customer to fend for themselves. A lack of guidance from brands can negatively impact the customer journey and lead to feelings of resentment, as well as, difficulty satisfying the next stages of the customer journey.

Onboarding is often the trickiest part of the customer journey for the financial services industry. New customers can be quick to judge if the onboarding process isn’t smooth and supportive. A frequent change of regulations is one of the many challenges banks face; occurring on a weekly or monthly basis sometimes. Therefore banks must continually adapt their systems to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. This can pose a challenge to banks as they are also required to inform clients about these changes and ensure the onboarding process is updated accordingly. One-to-one messaging can be leveraged in this instance by following up with customers in the onboarding process in a timely manner and communicating next steps.

Text messaging can also be used to expedite lead response time for new and onboarding clients, for example, in online banking set up, sending paycheck stub to confirm loan, upgrading internet bundles etc. The faster a business is able to respond to leads, the more likely they can send them further down the sales funnel to covert. Conversions increase by 391% for businesses who respond to leads within the first minute and smartphone users drive 45% of web leads.

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4. Engagement - build meaningful relationships with relevant messages

‍Along with abandoning the majority of conversation following the initial welcome message, most subsequent brand interactions tend to be transactional and impersonal. Customers are increasingly seeking relationships with brands and when brands don’t fulfill this desire they risk being forgotten or losing customers to their competitors.

Businesses can use one-to-one messaging to create ties with customers that aren’t solely transactional. This taps into the consumer desire to have personal interactions with brands and builds brand trust, the backbone of long term loyalty. Personalized messages such as wishing customers a happy birthday, offering refinancing to homeowners on mortgage anniversaries or upgrading home phones needs to a growing family indicates a brand that is knowledgeable about a customer’s needs.

5. Retention - happy customers generate repeat business

‍Retaining customers begins with understanding them. It is common knowledge that businesses collect data about their customers which makes it very disheartening to recognize that the brands do not fully understand them. These disparities in brand offerings and customer needs can be detrimental to long term customer relationships.

One-to-one messaging allows businesses to leverage the contextual history of their customer relationship to create personalized and meaningful messages that apply to each individual customer. According to the McKinsey study, 66% of customers attribute value to businesses who tailor messages to their needs.

Also, customers who are interested in making a purchase or who are unhappy with their purchase or service may need to get in touch with the brand for numerous reasons. People easily get frustrated when they can't reach anyone or are met with generic automated responses. One-to-one messaging brings the humanity back into customer support. People want to talk to humans, not machines.

6. Advocacy - turn satisfied customers into brand advocates

‍Without personalization, it can be difficult to convert customers into brand ambassadors or advocates. As prone as customers are to switching brands, some undecidedly stay put, but it's only a matter of time. Reaching advocacy means going beyond your customers expectations and not simply meeting their needs.

One-to-one messaging can help you go beyond simply meeting your customers’ needs and expectations. McKinsey found that 78% of consumers are more likely to refer their friends and family to brands who personalize. By personalizing your brand communications through direct one-to-one messaging, such as addressing customers by name and remembering details about their life and their customer file, you can contribute to positive interactions that form greater advocacy among customers.

The future of CX lies in direct personalized one-to-one messaging

Direct messaging can be implemented at every stage of the customer journey, from awareness to brand advocacy. Not only can it improve customer experience, it can also build brand loyalty. Consumers are increasingly seeking brands who offer personalized interactions and offerings while abandoning those who don’t. Utilizing one-to-one messaging platforms like Statflo, offers Financial Institutions and Telecommunications the opportunity to address their customers’ personalization needs on a large scale.
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