A wise person once said, “failure to plan is planning to fail.”  That could not be more true with your personalization and individualization initiatives. In fact, Monetate’s 2017 Personalization Development Study, which surveyed over 100 companies, found that 79% of those that exceeded revenue goals had a documented personalization strategy in place. Contrast that to the fact that only 31% of those that met their goals, and only 8% of those that missed their goals, had a documented strategy.

Planning makes the difference. It forces action. Companies that exceeded their revenue goals reported that their personalization strategy was further along in its implementation than those that only met, or missed, their revenue goals. 80% of revenue exceeders report that their strategy is in process or in advanced stages, whereas those that merely met their goals report this only 44% of the time.  

To get the most out of your personalization strategy, your plan should:

1. Set financial goals – Highest performing brands set specific financial goals for their personalization practices.
2. Allocate dedicated budget – It takes resources to fulfill personalization objectives. Be sure to dedicate budget for the necessary tools, third party data and additional creative demands.
3. Build measurement systems – Moving forward with personalization efforts is good for your bottom line, but it will be difficult to sustain if you can’t measure the impact of your efforts. Be sure measurement systems are in place to track progress over time.
4. Structure a solid data architecture – Personalization is all about interpreting the intent of your visitors. To be most effective you want to leverage every data point available. The right data architecture makes it feasible to do so at scale.
5. Trigger actions across channels – Don’t forget to set triggers across your digital and even in-store channels. Determine what actions you will personalize, and make sure you have a solid decision engine pushing actions to key customer touchpoints. Your website and email are a great place to start, but don’t forget to think about call center interactions, in-store kiosks, and mobile applications.

Including these principles in your plan will set you up for the best possible success. To learn more about what over 100 marketers are doing to reach their goals, check out Monetate’s 2017 Personalization Development Study.