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Here is what consumers repeat to themselves when faced with the abundance of supply on the market.
For a long time, the product marketing strategy of companies has been devoted to standardization at all costs… More efficient from an economic point of view, clearer from a consumer point of view, standardized products have offered their share of benefits to companies such as to customers.
But now, consumer expectations are changing. Today, they want products and services that look like them, that adapt to their particular conditions.
When we combine personalization and product marketing, we encompass 3 levels of personalization:
- mass customization : the company produces different variations of its product to better adapt to the individual needs of customers.
- mass customization : the company gives its customers the means to be able to personalize a product or service so that it becomes as unique as possible, according to pre-defined criteria.
- tailor -made: the company manufactures a good or service completely adapted to the buyer, according to completely personalized specifications.
In this article, you will discover 10 reasons to revisit your product marketing with a touch of personalization. Let’s start.
1 / A personalized product meets your customers’ need for uniqueness
In our society, people claim to be unique. Why shouldn’t the products they buy be?
Increasingly, consumers want products that embody their lifestyle and personality. Moreover, offering personalized products will resonate particularly well with the generation of millennials who today represent the majority of the population, and the economy.
In fact, according to a Deloitte study, 36% of consumers are interested in purchasing a personalized product. Your product marketing must take this opportunity into account, and adapt accordingly.
2 / Including personalization in your product marketing differentiates you from the competition
In increasingly competitive markets, brands must work together to gain market share. They are constantly on the lookout for what could set them apart.
However, personalization is a weapon of differentiation.
For example, take the iPad. One might think that when buying an iPad, it is “natural” for consumers to also buy the Apple case that goes with it directly from the brand, and that entering such a market would remain complicated… And yet!
Where newcomers manage to impose themselves is when they offer more personalized products, with cases that will embody the personality of iPad users!
When we look at the “official” offer from Apple, only a few models of cases are offered, with different colors. By way of comparison, this site specializing in iPad covers (CoqueDirect) offers funnier, more original versions than the Apple brand… And it’s thanks to this that the brand manages to carve out a share in this market which could have been entirely dominated by the Californian giant.
3/ Customers are willing to pay more for a personalized product
A report published a few years ago by the firm Deloitte revealed that 20% of consumers were ready to pay a personalized product 20% more expensive than its “standardized” version.
Imagine that your average basket increases by 20% on 1/5 of your sales; what impact would this have on your overall turnover? This would certainly not be anecdotal!
Thus, without changing anything strictly speaking in your marketing strategy, just by offering a personalization option to your customers, you could already increase your sales significantly.
4 / Product marketing that plays on personalization allows you to better position yourself on the “gift” purchase occasion
People like to give personalized gifts to their loved ones.
We all have at home a t-shirt, a mug, a photo book… which attests to it. And this is completely normal: personalization transforms an ordinary item into a thoughtful gift!
If your marketing strategy offers customization options, then it’s obvious that you’ll more easily curry favor with buyers looking to give a gift.
The “gift” occasion is a real entry point into the world of personalized products. A Deloitte study probed the motivations of buyers of personalized products; in 50% of cases, the primary motivation was the desire to offer someone a memorable gift.
Do not neglect this market segment which can pay off big. For example, a survey of 1,043 people published in 2017 states that in the United States, 80% of Americans were considering giving a personalized gift to their family members for the holidays.
5 / Adopting personalized product marketing means generating better customer knowledge
In an era where data has become the new black gold, learning more and more about your customers is priceless…
With product marketing that focuses on personalization, your customer knowledge will gradually be enriched by all the “unique” requests from your customers.
This will give you a better idea of their expectations and tastes. This will help you better manage your operations, imagine new products, additional services, personalized communications… which will improve the return on investment of your business strategy.
It is also an excellent strategic maneuver when you think about the future. With the exponential growth of artificial intelligence in marketing, all that customer information emanating from their personalized orders will be valuable fuel to run the algorithms that will automatically optimize every interaction with your audiences.
6 / It is easier to retain customers with personalized products
One of the main benefits of product personalization is that it builds customer loyalty. Why ?
First, because the customer is (normally) more satisfied with a unique product that looks like him rather than with a standardized version.
This will also have a positive impact on return rates. Indeed, by definition, personalized products are less returned than standardized goods.
Personalization also makes it possible to establish a different connection with consumers. It makes it easier for the brand to stay in the minds of customers and to be more appreciated than those of competitors.
Ultimately, this will facilitate re-purchases.
In the same way, product marketing that plays on personalization facilitates word of mouth. A survey conducted by Deloitte in the UK showed that a customer’s predisposition to recommend a product increased by +47% when it was a product or service that could be personalized.
7 / Since most personalized products are purchased online, this will maximize your e-commerce sales
More and more, personalized products are purchased online. And that aligns well with consumer expectations: According to Accenture, nearly 60% of people want personalized promotions and offers while browsing your website.
Offering fully personalized products transforms buying online into a unique experience, and gives a real reason to buy through this channel.
By adapting your online store to the interests of each customer, you will also see an increase in your conversion rate. By personalizing the shopping experience simply with behavioral triggers, you can experience a +20% to +50% increase in your conversion rate.
And if ever your products are already resold by distributors, wanting to boost your direct e-commerce sales can lead to friction with your partners… But if you offer a customizable offer online, you will maintain good relations with your resellers who, on the other hand, will will continue to market standardized versions of your products.
8 / Produce after you have already sold, not before
Selling a personalized product (tailor-made, or in mass customization) often requires finalizing production “after” receiving the customer’s specifications. And even if you don’t produce everything “on demand”, selling custom products can be good for your company’s finances.
First on your BFR: if you receive the money for an order before you have finalized the manufacture of the product, then your BFR decreases which means that you do not need to keep so much money in the bank to ensure the operations of your business.
You will also better adjust your storage and purchasing policy, which will release pressure on cash tied up in a warehouse, or in supplier debt.
And as your BFR decreases, your working capital will also improve. In short, you will be able to run your business serenely, without having to provide a large “security cushion” in cash.
9 / Offering personalized products allows you to take advantage of the long tail business
In strategy, there is a business model that relies on the long tail. Concretely, this consists of offering a large number of references, although each of them is sold relatively rarely. That’s exactly the idea when embracing personalization in your product marketing.
With the advent of the Internet and the democratization of production tools, more and more companies have adopted this economic model. Because where the approach can prove to be more fruitful than selling standardized products, it is when the aggregate income of all the products sold “rarely” (because personalized) exceeds the income generated by the “best sellers”.
Take Amazon : the biggest e-retailer owes its original success to a large selection of books, sometimes even “obscure”, but which were not found elsewhere. Even if each book in itself did not bring much to the firm, it was the accumulation of income from these niche books that allowed it to establish itself as the largest bookseller in the world (before finally becoming the most largest e-merchant in the world).
10 / Product marketing that plays on personalization is an opportunity to re-imagine your production process and improve your margins
Behind the marketing strategy can hide a real transformation of your business. With a view to optimizing costs, reducing the carbon footprint and industrial waste, improving service and customer satisfaction… you can decide to produce much more “on demand”, and therefore – invent some of your business processes.
And this is how the simple fact of offering personalized products can allow you to find new ways of producing, and save on your production and logistics costs.
More and more companies are using 3D printing, for example, and are shaking up the production paradigm in certain sectors. The orthopedic brand Dr Scholl’s, for example, offers custom insoles, produced on demand using 3D printing. This innovative production process makes it possible to offer customers truly unique soles, and to produce only what is necessary.
