The power of personalization: 5 trends that will shape marketing strategies in 2024

Companies around the world are waking up to the necessity of personalization. 71% of the customers do not only expect it, they also become frustrated when their experience is not personal. And as you might know, even the slightest amount of frustration can make a customer leave.

A personalized customer experience offers major benefits to both your company as to your customer. It is a win-win proposition. Which could well be the reason that the popularity of personalization is increasing exponentially.

Showing your customer the right content at the right time leads to higher conversion rates and increased sales. But it also works wonders for long-term customer loyalty. Because a customer who feels understood is more inclined to stay with your company. If your personalization is good enough, they might even become a fan.

The last decade has brought lots of innovations in personalization. But the speed of innovation is ramping up. In this blog, we’ll share the 5 most important personalization trends that we’re seeing right now. 5 trends that are bound to change the personalization game in 2024. Let’s dive in.

Trend 1: AI-powered hyper-personalization

We all know the regular tactics of recommending products based on past purchases. Or addressing your customer’s first name in an email campaign. Hyper-personalization goes a bit further than these simple practices.

Powered by AI, innovative software platforms are now able to create hyper-personalized experiences for their customers in real-time. Sitecore, our preferred platform for hyper-personalization, is one of them. Let’s look at an example from our founder Theo de Wolf:

“Say an anonymous customer is visiting your website. When he clicks on a pair of white Nike sneakers, Sitecore immediately knows what it should show next. Based on the expectation that you’re looking for sneakers, more specifically Nike and white ones, Sitecore automatically shows other pairs of sneakers matching this expectation. If a customer clicks on one of those recommendations, Sitecore builds on that strategy to gather more information. For example through A/B testing in real-time, which gives insights on what works and what doesn’t for each individual visitor.”

Trend 2: Cookieless and privacy-centric personalization

The rapid rise of technology also gives rise to concerns about data privacy. Google is stopping their support for third-party cookies in 2024, meaning that companies have to own customer data themselves. Cross-site tracking becomes a thing of the past, as companies have to find new ways to offer relevant ads and content. First-party data becomes more and more important for marketing and sales teams.

Sitecore fills this gap by offering cookieless personalization. As explained in the example above, Sitecore does not need any personal information to offer personalized experiences. It is now possible to infer a customer’s interests and preferences based on past and real-time behavior.

And if a customer decides to leave their information with your company, the data is owned by you. This ensures your company’s compliance to GDPR regulations and the transition towards first-party cookies.

Sitecore goes a step further in collecting first-party data. If a customer decides to leave their information, it is automatically linked to all the data Sitecore’s AI has already gathered. Out of this data, Sitecore creates an individual customer profile that contains all data of the particular customer. This data can include demographics, past behavior, preferences, activities and transaction history. These individual customer profiles allow you to create highly relevant customer journeys and ads. They let you truly understand your customer, while owning the first-party data yourself.

Trend 3: Omnichannel personalization

The online and offline world are quickly coming together. To create a truly personalized experience, your customer journey should include all dimensions. In the last couple of years, we have seen major physical companies make the transition towards the digital world.

Starbucks, for example, has started online deliveries and introduced an app that offers helpful services to customers. With the app, customers can now customize and order a cup of coffee up front. Starbucks leverages the data to personalize their customer’s experience, both online and in their physical stores.

To make the most out of omnichannel personalization, you need a platform that integrates all your channels. Sitecore does exactly that. It collects data from all of your channels. To then unify it into one platform. Out of the data, it automatically creates individual customer profiles. These profiles allow you to show highly relevant content across multiple channels at once.

Trend 4: Augmented Reality personalization

One of the tools that has the power to bridge the digital and physical worlds is Augmented Reality. Instead of showcasing enormous amounts of products in a physical store, augmented reality allows physical stores to now show their offerings digitally.

For ecommerce companies, augmented reality offers the possibility to simulate the experience of walking through a physical store. This allows you to create a lively brand experience that allows for more interaction with the customer.

But it also opens up a wide range of possibilities to personalize your customer’s experience even further. If the data shows that a specific customer always buys black sneakers, you could integrate this color in their physical augmented customer journey. It’s all about letting your customer feel understood.

Some examples of companies that have already integrated augmented reality in their strategy:

• Ikea’s Studio app lets you create 3D maps with your current furniture. With the app, you can easily swap all elements with Ikea’s products. You can even pick a new color for your walls.
• Online glasses manufacturer Charlie Temple uses augmented reality to let you fit a great variety of glasses.

Trend 5: Voice and chatbot personalization

With the release of ChatGPT, the definition of chatbot has changed in an instant. And the revolution has just started. By integrating individual customer profiles with AI-powered Chatbot technology, companies will be able to communicate with customers in a highly relevant way.

The same goes for voice personalization. Everybody knows Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa, but this technology is bound to be used for personalization purposes. Think about it. How helpful would it be if you could just ask your voice companion to look for a nice pair of sneakers? To then be offered a wide range specifically based on your unique preferences. Voice personalization makes it possible.

Sitecore lets you easily integrate the most modern AI-powered chatbots and voice features, such as Cognigy, into your preferred channel.

uxbee helps you personalize

The personalization capabilities of Sitecore are enormous. We are here to unlock the full potential of Sitecore and to integrate it into your marketing strategy.

Our goal is to let Sitecore work for you. To create the most satisfying personalized experiences for your customers, while increasing your conversion rates and sales.