As the time is passing, something wonderful is happening in the online business world. Phoenix web design companies are beginning to realize that personalization is key in improving customer engagement. Especially small and medium sized businesses are now focusing on creating personalized customer solutions instead of one-size-fits-all.

As a website design company that is known for creating custom-made web solutions, we wanted to share our two cents about how you too can drive engagement and sales by doing one simple thing.

Connecting with your customers!

While it is not a viable option for larger corporations, small and mid-size businesses can gain unbelievable advantage over competition if they just take time to directly communicate with customers.

Taking it personally

So what exactly is personalization? In simple terms, it means interacting with your customers in such an effective way that helps you meet their needs more efficiently. This makes customers understand that their opinions are valuable to you, and in turn, they become your repeat customers.

Personalized solutions develop brand loyalty among customers. The most important part of personalization is meeting customer’s needs.

Now the thing to note here is personalization is very different from segmentation and yet many businesses fail to recognize that. Segmentation means targeting one specific segment out of the whole group of customers.

Let’s take an example for a better understanding.

When you send a 30% off coupon to a customer on her birthday, that’s personalized marketing. The customer is receiving the special offer because your business knows that day is her birthday and you want to give her something to celebrate.

But if you send the 30% off coupon to a customer because he has made a set number of purchases in the past year, that’s segmentation. You are sending the same coupon to all your customers who made X number of purchases in the last year. There is nothing personal about that.

What we are talking about here is very powerful once you get the hang of it. Everybody, especially the customers, love to feel special. They absolutely love it when a brand they purchased from sends them a personalized birthday message, an anniversary voucher, or anything similar.

You must have heard that saying a thousand times “treat people like you’d like to be treated” and it is 100% true for your customers too.  Something as small as a birthday email can turn a customer into a loyal follower that will bring you business for years to come.

A constant process

This isn’t achieved overnight, obviously. You need to work at it consistently; here are some tips that can be useful;

Learn more – Whatever step you take, try to utilize personalization everywhere. The data you collect from the customers could be very useful in determining factors like how they like to be communicated with. Keep close track of this information and use it to recognize the perfect opportunities for personalizing the website as well as the services.

Personalized value – Earlier, we were stressing on personalization being a concept that focuses on meeting customers’ needs. Always remember that while trying to engage with them. What can you do for them? What would they appreciate the most?

For example, when you are sending them the birthday email, make it all about them. Wish them a happy birthday and offer them something specific they’d find useful – free samples, important information, discounts, etc.

Catch their attention – The hardest part of any deal is to capture the attention of your target. Every personalization technique you use, it should be focused to achieve that. It doesn’t end with sales either; your communication strategies should be focused on building relationships with them. Show your customers that you genuinely want to help them.

Also, there is no tried-and-tested way to achieve this. Make strategies and conduct experiments with what works and what doesn’t. As you learn more about your customers, you will automatically develop a connection with them.