At this point just about every B2C brand understands the power of real-time personalisation to deliver impactful experiences that build trust, increase affinity, and ultimately drive commercial success. They recognise the need to read data signals so they can interact with consumers in a way that is relevant and valuable to the individual in that moment.  

This view is supported by” The future of personalisation in B2C marketing”, a research report by Acxiom, and sponsored by Sitecore, which reveals real-time personalisation is already part of digital CX strategy for nine-in-ten (88%) organisations. Looking ahead, a significant 79% of the senior marketing decision makers interviewed for the report say real-time personalisation will be very important over the next three years. 

The top four benefits identified in the report are pretty compelling in making the case for real-time personalisation:  

1. Enhanced lead nurturing  
2. Increased CTA conversion  
3. Heightened customer retention  
4. Increased customer trust   

While the benefits are clear, the same report reveals most organisations aren’t as far along as we might expect in selecting, implementing, and integrating the technologies needed to support data-driven marketing and personalisation. In fact, less than a quarter (24%) say they have fully implemented digital CX management capabilities. The rest are at various stages in the journey and are still figuring out how best to deliver their CX goals.  

Multiple factors could be contributing to this discrepancy. These include challenges around collecting data, as well as identifying the right technology for each brand’s specific use cases. And while the COVID-19 pandemic did accelerate investment in digital, operational technologies were often prioritised over marketing technologies when allocating squeezed budgets. This means the finer points of marketing such as personalisation may have actually taken a backwards step in many organisations.   

An ongoing learning journey    

If one realisation emerges loud and clear from the report, it’s that the path to personalisation is different for every organisation. It doesn’t necessarily have a final end point, but is an ongoing journey where the direction must continually be adjusted to account for market developments, evolving data privacy data privacy legislation, and changing marketing strategy.   

The report identifies three categories of B2C organisation based on (among other things) their use of real-time personalisation. These are “late adopters”, “improvers”, and “advanced”. But there will never be a fourth category for organisations that have nailed real-time personalisation and can just let it run smoothly in the background without ever giving it a second thought.  

No matter how advanced organisations become with digital CX and real-time personalisation, there will always be new data types, new channels, and new technologies to adapt to. Rather than a straight line to the finish, the personalisation journey is an ongoing cycle of learning and development, and of re-evaluating, adapting, optimising, or replacing marketing technology to meet their customers’ continually changing needs.  

There will always be more to do.  

• Late adopters will need to identify the right use cases and marketing technology to meet their objectives, and connect data from disparate sources.  
• Improvers will need to learn to use data more effectively to power a more relevant customer experience and ensure insights reach beyond the marketing department.  
• Advanced organisations will need to scale their tech stacks for more sophisticated and real-time future use cases to power growth. 

Whether your organisation is just setting off on the journey, or you’re already well into the cycle of learning and improvement, here are five things you need to know about the path to real-time personalisation.  

Five things you need to know about the path to personalisation  

1. All roads lead to CDPs: It’s not a matter of “if”, it’s a matter of “when” 

The report’s findings indicate customer-data platforms (CDPs) are one of the primary solutions marketing leaders are considering to enable real-time personalisation, alongside commerce experience platforms and marketing automation tools. Almost half (43%) of organisations already use a CDP, and a further 43% are considering doing so.  

And many organisations are particularly leaning towards CDPs thanks to the demise of the third-party cookie. An overwhelming 83% of marketing leaders believe CDPs can address all or most of the challenges around the deprecation of third-party cookies, which looks set to finally take place in 2024.  

While a variety of other cookie replacement technologies are being explored, first-party identity management within a CDP is the most frequently considered option, favoured by over half (55%) of organisations. Usefulness in the post-cookie era will inevitably drive adoption of this well-tested and well-respected technology.     

For the majority of B2C brands it’s really not a matter of if they adopt a CDP but when they adopt a CDP. Its ability to connect data across multiple different channels and systems to enable personalisation will soon be virtually impossible to manage without.  

“Marketers need to be more agile than ever to respond to the post-pandemic pace of change and the proliferation of channels. CDPs can bring data together and ingrain it in a process of continuous discovery, creation, measurement, and optimisation. CDPs allow us to listen constantly, work smarter, and iterate very quickly when we get things wrong, which inevitably we will.” 

— Jill Roberson

Senior Director, Product Marketing, Sitecore 

2. You’ll need to pack more than tech: CDPs can’t do it all   

While interest in CDPs is high, knowledge around their role and capabilities is still relatively low. The report reveals only 43% of marketing leaders have a good understanding of CDPs, with a further 39% just moderately familiar with the technology. And a number of specific misconceptions still surround CDPs, for example that they can replace databases, which is generally not the case.    

While CDPs are an increasingly vital piece of the real-time personalisation puzzle, it’s important to remember no single technology will deliver the results brands want unless they also have the right connections, enablement, and resources. 

Any marketing technology must be selected and implemented with the end goal in mind, which in this case is seamless, personalised digital experiences across as many touch points as possible. So, CDPs must be effectively integrated into the tech stack to centralise data from multiple sources, and augmented with robust identity resolution to prevent data gaps adding unwelcome friction to the customer’s journey.  

And then there’s the element of expertise. “Upskilling the team to use it effectively” is the most common challenge marketers face when using CDPs, which illustrates the knowledge and experience required to get the most out of the technology. After all, as we hear time and time again, having Microsoft Word installed on your laptop doesn’t necessarily make you a bestselling author.  

CDPs are extremely powerful, but they are just one component of personalised digital CX, and they must be wrapped with the right data and identity strategy as well as the necessary expertise.  

3. Everyone on the bus! Organisational alignment is a necessity 

The majority of organisations (53%) that have implemented CDPs are very satisfied, but there are still barriers to adopting CDPs, as well as challenges with using them.  

Getting stakeholder buy-in falls into both categories.  

To gain support for the use of any marketing technology, organisations need a clear view of objectives, use cases, and deliverables that the whole leadership team can understand and get behind. Because it’s not just the marketing team that needs to be involved in digital CX or real-time personalisation.  

“Whose problem is personalisation to solve? The reality is it takes multiple functions across an organisation to do it right. You need the customer service team, the digital team, the product team, and maybe the in-store team as well as the marketing team on board. Right now everyone is fighting their own fires and it’s a challenge to get alignment across all these functions.” 

— Michele Fitzpatrick  

VP, Strategy, retail and consumer brands, Acxiom  

The report reveals brands are using six different sources of first-party data on average and, from our own experience at Acxiom, we know many brands are using considerably more. This situation indicates organisations are still highly siloed, with different teams using different systems to collect different data points. A CDP provides an opportunity to break down these inter-departmental barriers, and for different parts of the organisation to work together to centralise their data.  

Interestingly, the report indicates marketing leaders who are using CDPs believe their organisations use data more effectively than those who are not. This positive trend isn’t just about the technology. It’s about the CDP necessitating a cultural shift where silos are broken, data is democratised across teams, and organisations work towards shared goals.  

4. No one should travel alone: Partnering makes the journey smoother 

Creating an in-house CDP is incredibly complex and requires a huge amount of resources, so it’s rarely a feasible option. And with over 150+ CDPs on the market globally it really doesn’t need to be.  

CDP providers can offer valuable support beyond just making the platform available, and organisations are most interested in: 

• getting help with utilising functionality 
• scaling CDP use across their business 
• understanding the benefits of CDPs 

But it’s not just technology providers who brands can look to for support. Seeking advice from consultants and partners is often useful to unleash the full capabilities of technologies, move along the personalisation path, and deliver exceptional digital CX. Even the most advanced marketing teams need help to optimise technology use. 

More than half of the marketing leaders surveyed feel they will need help from partners with: 

• implementing new marketing technologies 
• identifying the best tools to use  
• optimising the customer experience 

External partners can also compensate for a brand’s lack of internal expertise, which is a particular challenge at the current time. They can help brands demonstrate the benefits of technologies to stakeholders, identify new use cases, determine the best types of data to use, and operate within evolving privacy regulations. They can also help to break down those inter-departmental silos by facilitating potentially uncomfortable conversations, ensuring all parts of the business are aligned on CX goals.   

An environment of collaboration, with ongoing knowledge sharing between brands, providers, and partners will ensure continuous progress along the personalisation path.   

5. It’s time for your next step: Now is the moment to move  

Delivering seamless, personalised experiences is more challenging than ever in the post-pandemic world. Buyer journeys are all over the place, with a combination of anonymous, known, and pseudonymised signals making it tricky to know what people need and to engage with them in a relevant way. Consumers expect Amazon-style contextual relevance and, at the same time, are increasingly aware of the value they can get from sharing their personal data. Real-time, privacy-compliant individualisation at scale is becoming table stakes.  

And looking forward there’s still plenty of change to come. No one knows what shape current financial uncertainty will take, or how consumer needs will evolve. The overwhelming majority (83%) of marketing leaders expect technology budgets to increase over the next 12 months, so now is the time to invest in data, identity management, and the right tech to understand what individuals are prioritising in-the-moment and engage with them accordingly.  

For brands that are still exploring their options, a CDP is a great place to start. It enables marketers to understand what data and tech they already have, and more importantly what is actually useful – potentially righting the ship on any ill-advised tech investments made during the pandemic-related scramble for digitalisation. And, as mentioned earlier, a CDP will also be useful in a post-cookie environment.  

For those already further along with their digital CX strategy, now is the time to review existing tech investments to see if they are delivering on their objectives. Working with partners to ramp up the functionality of existing technologies, establish consistent use across the organisation, and explore potential new use cases will move these organisations further along the personalisation path.     

Prepare for your brand’s personalisation journey   

Whatever stage your organisation is at on the digital CX maturity curve, check out The Future of Personalisation in B2C Marketing. Explore the challenges faced by 400 senior marketing decision makers across the US and Europe, and discover how you can make better use of the marketing technology available to fulfil your CX ambitions.