Collecting Data for Effective Personalisation Is “A High Wire Balancing Act” — Here’s How to Toe the Line

The debate around how brands use customer data has been raging since the dawn of digital marketing. And whilst the creation of transnational data regulations, such as the GDPR, helped clarify how data can be used, a mere 34% of consumers feel companies are clear about how they use the data they collect, according to Deloitte. 

This has been further exacerbated by recent high-profile data breaches — like Ticketmaster’s leak of 560 million customers’ information and TFL’s ongoing cybersecurity attacks in the headlines.

Unsurprisingly, this has left businesses in a considerable quandary. Over 63% of consumers report increased trust in brands that provide personalised experiences, but with those same customers on high alert about their data privacy — what’s the right approach to gathering personal information?

To find out, we spoke to Cosmo Shield, Founder of B2B content marketing specialists Humanworks, and our very own Kulvinder Hari, Head of Solutions Engineering at Salesforce.

Building a full picture  

Where’s the best place to start? In Shield’s view, “the priority should be to use data to build as comprehensive a picture as possible of your customer.”  

Yet building this picture can be challenging as data comes from multiple sources across multiple touchpoints, from websites to apps to emails to in-store interactions. There are multiple versions of the same individual that exist in multiple systems. 

This is a huge problem for organisations across all industries because, as Hari explains, “businesses need to get closer to what their customers want which is impossible to do when data is siloed across different systems.”  

According to Hari, the solution lies in technology, “it’s not a task that businesses can do manually — technology is going to have to be the driver to bring that distributed data together.”  

With a unified data strategy that consolidates information from all customer touchpoints, you can “build the activation capabilities that you’re going to need to drive your journeys.” In practical terms, marketing teams and data engineers should work together to consolidate data across systems while IT leaders should implement the necessary technology to streamline this process for tailored, personalised experiences.  

Striking the balance  

Once brands have this data, it’s about striking the balance: over-personalise and you may push customers away; under-personalise and you may not even attract them in the first place. Understanding what your buyers want in terms of communication and interaction is key. As Shield explains, “Customers expect rich experiences as part of their buying journey, but personalisation is a high-wire balancing act.”  

He adds that many brands and businesses are concerned with getting the balance wrong and are therefore “too risk-averse with their personalisation strategies.”  

Hari agrees, stating, “It’s the over-doing it with generic, irrelevant messaging that needs winding back. What a consumer is looking for is assurance that the organisation they’re interacting with understands them — and you get to that by delivering tailored messaging and experiences based on your customer’s preferences.”  

The upshot? Marketing and customer experience teams should adjust communications based on customer preferences, while the C-suite should encourage bold, data-driven personalisation strategies that avoid being overly cautious to stay relevant and engaging.  

The perfect delivery   

Done right, efficient execution of personalisation can significantly increase customer retention and loyalty: the fastest-growing companies drive 40% more of their revenue from personalisation than slower-growing counterparts.  

It can also lead to a measurable uplift in conversion rates with 76% of consumers saying personalised communications are a key factor in prompting their consideration of a brand, and 78% saying such content made them more likely to repurchase.  

Hari explains that executing personalisation is about ensuring businesses have “data to be able to drive the right products, the right sales programmes, the right understanding of you as a consumer.”  

Shield develops on this point. “In 2024, personalisation has to be about more than just collecting data; it’s about using it thoughtfully and with integrity.” He continues, “That means not just collecting email addresses to fuel a generic nurture journey, but instead granting relevant teams access to granular data that they can use to activate truly rich and authentic experiences.”  

Sales and marketing teams should collaborate to leverage granular data, while data analysts ensure the right insights are available to create tailored customer experiences.  

• Marketing needs access to behavioural data to create targeted campaigns.    
• Sales needs access to customer intent signals to drive meaningful and relevant conversations.    
• Customer service needs access to a 360-customer view to deliver proactive support.

This is what makes the experiences you’re delivering feel truly personalised and authentic.  

Driving the personalisation journey  

To deliver effective personalisation, brands must unify customer data across all touchpoints, creating a 360-degree view powered by technology. This enables you to understand your customers and balance relevant personalisation without overwhelming them.  

Data must be used thoughtfully to create personalised, authentic experiences, and all departments — marketing, sales, and customer service — should access this unified view which drives trust and loyalty.  

As Hari concludes, “once you’ve brought your distributed data together, granting the right people access to activate that data will then allow businesses to build the capabilities that they’re going to need to drive the personalisation journey.”  

For more information on how Salesforce can help develop personalised, customer-centric experiences, head here.