Personalisation can streamline your marketing efforts, boost customer experience and increase sales. Want to see this in action? Here are some examples of manufacturers who are using personalisation and reaping the benefits.
- Coca Cola: Helping customers better connect with the brand
- Wiivv: Creating custom products to fit that customer and no-one else
- PepsiCo and Marvel Studios: Creating exclusive, limited edition products
- Cadbury: Immersing customers in your brand
- Nike: Allowing customers to take control of where and when they consume content
1. Coca Cola: Helping customers better connect with the brand
To date, 'Share a Coke' is one of the most successful campaigns for the drink manufacturer. Why? Because Coca-Cola empowered consumers to talk about the product on social media in a way that puts control back in their hands.
Not only did people really love finding bottles and cans with their names on, Coca-Cola encouraged them to reflect on their personal experiences. Consumers would find their names or other monikers that held meaning for them and share their individual stories, prompting non-controversial topics of conversation.
Watch one version of the ad below...
The campaign has evolved since then:
- The number of names available increased from 250 to 1,000 so even more people could find their names
- Song lyrics were added instead of names which enticed people to find the lyrics that meant the most to them
- Over 1,000 unique jingles dedicated to different names were released, persuading people to find a song with their name in it
All these actions helped consumers connect and engage with the brand on a personal level even more which then boosts sales, attracts interest and gets people talking. And the cycle starts again.
The key takeaway: Consider how you could offer personalised products/services that your customers can connect to on a personal level. What might invoke fond memories and hold meaning?
2. Wiivv: Creating custom products to fit that customer and no-one else
The epitome of personalisation, Canadian-American footwear company Wiivv prints custom-made sandals and insoles. Customers choose the styles they want, take foot scans with their smartphones via the Wiivv app and send these images to the manufacturer.
Watch the video below to see how it works...
The result? A completely personalised pair of sandals or insoles that are literally built for that customer. They’re even monogrammed with the customer’s name to make it more personal.
The key takeaway: How could you offer your customers 100% personalised service? It might be difficult to completely tailor a product to your individual customers but an experience could be simpler. Think along the lines of personalised recommendations and proactive service reports.
3. PepsiCo and Marvel Studios: Creating exclusive, limited edition products
In the lead-up to the Black Panther movie premiere, PepsiCo and Marvel Studios teamed up to create limited edition products, including:
- Five drinks cans representing the movie’s main characters
- Comic books
- Behind-the-scene photos
- A 3D printed Black Panther mask that fitted onto the corresponding can (in collaboration with Protolabs using HP Multi Jet Fusion technology)
The limited-edition nature of the products meant that customers were even more enticed to purchase the products (especially if they were die-hard Marvel/Black Panther fans). Fans simply didn’t want to miss out on getting their hands on this one-time-only product.
The key takeaway: Capitalise on the nature of limited-edition products like PepsiCo and Marvel. Think of how you could offer ‘one time only’ products/services. Try to revolve them around ‘big’, topical events where relevant, such as seasons.
4. Cadbury: Immersing customers in your brand
As part of their Cadbury Glow product launch, Cadbury wanted to encourage the idea of giving chocolate as a gift so they launched a social video marketing campaign which debuted first in India. Customers started by visiting the Cadbury Glow Facebook page, linked it with their profile and entered the phone number of the person they were sending the chocolate gift to.
Then, using the Idomoo PVaaS™ Platform (a video personalisation service), customers could create personalised videos that incorporated photos and names pulled from their Facebook profile. The gift recipient could then watch the video when they received their box of Cadbury Glow via a QR code or by entering their phone number on the Cadbury Glow page.
Watch an example video below…
The campaign was largely successful, with 90% of viewers watching their personalised video right to the end which suggests a high level of engagement and interest. Over 12% of people even shared their video with friends on social media, which spread the word even further.
The key takeaway: How can you make your customers feel like they’re part of your brand? Create emotionally engaging experiences and you’ll help your customers remember you.
5. Nike: Allowing customers to take control of where and when they consume content
Nike noticed how much the consumer landscape had evolved over the past few years. In particular, the teen media consumption patterns were no longer limited to just the traditional broadcast - instead, they preferred to use YouTube, Snapchat, WhatsApp and Instagram.
So, rather than creating a one-size-fits-all piece of content, Nike decided to be flexible in how this content was consumed. For the 2018 World Cup, they spread their ad campaign across paid and owned media - it was one integral storyline but optimised for different channels which catered to different audience demographics.
And it was easy for audiences to pick up the storyline on a different channel. For example, they could start on Instagram and then move over to YouTube. It creates a true multichannel, multiscreen narrative.
This meant that customers could consume content when and where they wanted, via the channel of their choice. By putting the power back into the customers’ hands, it boosted the customer experience, satisfaction and engagement.
The key takeaway: Create an omnichannel, connected strategy and don’t ignore the power of video, images and other multimedia content.
The short story? Customers love personalisation
You might think the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach works and it does, in some cases. However, despite all of their similarities, your customers are different and they want to feel like they’re your best customer. One of the ways to fulfil this need is with personalisation.
Find out more on how you can create a perfectly personalisation strategy
The key to successful personalisation (and the key to your subsequent eCommerce success) is to be customer-centric. In other words, you need to know your customers. What do they want? What do they not want? What will they want in the future?
This is what we cover in our guide. From the technological solutions you need to get to know your customers to easy tactics to inject personalisation into your commerce strategy, download the guide below.
