I’ve spent the last four years working in the world of data, machine learning and artificial intelligence helping large corporations solve the anonymous customer problem to better engage their customers. From banks to insurance companies and retailers, the race to deliver a personalized experience has been on for years. Businesses are continuing to increase their spending on data and refining it. They are ingesting both structured and unstructured forms of it to build accurate customer 360 profiles in pursuit of creating the perfect customer experience. And the investment has paid off.
Customers today want to feel acknowledged and they want you to cater to their specific needs. In turn, they will shop more, and refer more. According to a survey by Infosys, 86% of consumers say that personalization has some impact on what they purchase; and one quarter admits personalization ‘significantly influences’ their buying decisions. It's undeniable that personalized approaches to customer service increase customer sentiment, prevent churn and bring in more referral business.
The same tactic behind personalization that service providers and retailers are using is what is now driving the advertising industry in the right direction. Marketers are now taking a mobile-first approach in their advertising tactics to better connect with audiences. Brands that are investing in using location and mobile data are getting insight into what their target audience is interested in, where they live, where they shop, how they commute and what time they go to bed among many other things. With this data, brands are enabling themselves to deliver personalized and contextual advertisements leading to higher engagement. According to Google data, after seeing an ad on their smartphone, more than half of people either: perform a Google search and/or buy the product in a store, send a text about it, or go directly to the website and buy the product. This information from Google further drives the narrative that contextual ads driven by data create engagement, but how can marketers do better to entice a purchase decision at first sight? When a customer has no urgency to buy, they will take their time to do further research, which is great for awareness of your brand and offering, but in the end, the goal is always conversion.
The answer is in delivering your ad in a timely manner. Thanks to the leaps in big data and machine learning, ad agencies can do wonders at inferring next actions from audiences. The advancements in mobile tech and the user data it creates also enable marketers to propel ads to new heights. The result, advertisements delivered on mobile are now becoming things that people enjoy seeing and are getting value from because of their ability to solve a real time need for the consumer. As the industry continues to evolve, the real driving force behind conversion will be the ability to trigger feelings and fulfil a need in a moment, while creating value in real-time for the audience. The days of pesky intrusive ads will soon be a forgotten thing. Learn more about how businesses are using location intelligence to deliver contextual ads in a timely matter by reading our white paper.
Carlos Guevara is the Marketing Manager at APEX Mobile Media, previous host of the podcast "In Search of Good Data" and has helped various organizations in the private and non-profit sector to become more customer-centric with the use of enriched data.
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