Brands experiencing the highest return on personalisation are twice as likely to cite customer lifetime value as their primary goal, according to new research.
Personalisation marketing firm Monetate, has published its third annual Personalisation Development Study that explores success factors in how brands create more loyal and lasting customer relationships.
Together with third-party researcher WBR Research, the study examines what has the greatest positive or negative impact on a brand’s ability to execute a customised marketing strategy and why certain marketers met or fell short of revenue and growth goals.
For companies that exceeded ROI goals in 2018, the research found a direct correlation between a brand’s willingness to invest in personalisation and its embedded technology and expertise within its organisational structure and culture.
In this global study, Monetate surveyed 600 senior marketers in Europe and North America within retail, travel & hospitality and insurance. Highlights include:
- Customer Lifetime Value Drives ROI: Companies getting the highest ROI from personalisation (3X or more) are twice as likely to name customer lifetime value as a primary business objective than companies getting low ROI (1X or less).
- Data Architecture Emerges as Top Challenge: “Building a sustainable data architecture” overtakes “data quality” this year as the number one obstacle to performing true 1-to-1 personalisation.
- Higher Investments Equal Better Returns: 86% of companies getting high ROI reported that personalisation made up 21% or more of their marketing budget.
- Formalised Intentions Influence Outcomes: 74% of businesses that exceeded revenue goals in 2018 have a dedicated budget for personalisation, and 77% have a documented personalisation strategy. In contrast, only half of those who missed revenue expectations had a dedicated budget or a documented strategy.
- Incentives Matter: Brands that exceeded revenue expectations in 2018 set personalisation-specific financial incentives nearly 50% more often than those that fell short of goals.
- North America Maintains Lead…For Now: North American businesses get more return from their personalisation efforts than European counterparts, but the gap is closing.
“Monetate’s growth, our customers’ growth and industry research demonstrate time-after-time that brands who focus on prioritising customer loyalty and customer lifetime value experience immediate and long-term success,” said Stephen Collins, CEO, Monetate. “Many businesses struggle with tunnel vision, performing one-off tactics aimed to achieve short-term goals. While this may show a temporary lift in their metrics, the brands that are meeting and exceeding revenue targets are the ones that take a serious customer-centric approach to drive pervasive and persistent customer experiences.”
The complete 2019 Personalisation Development Study and its methodology is available for download.