B2B hyper-personalisation: mere hype or hyper good?

61% of consumers feel better about a company that delivers custom content and are more likely to buy – Demand Metric

The traditional four Ps of marketing might seem pretty basic but never have they been so important. New technology means that, as consumers, our lives have become more cluttered. Often, companies that offer a solution to a problem that isn’t imminent will be ignored and email makes this so much easier – simply hit delete. Therefore, we have to provide leads with information that’s:

• Relevant
• Timely
• Personalised

As marketers we are succeeding at this to some extent. No doubt you’re already using first names in email lists and including the prospect’s company name in copy. While this covers the basic personalisation criterion, we need to do more to engage readers if we want our emails, direct mails etc. to stand out from the crowd. Our prospect’s behaviour is just as important as the demographic.

To harness this, we need to use hyper-personalisation.

Okay, so it does sound a bit like yet another marketing buzzword but the reality is that it represents the next generation of marketing; a call-to-arms for marketers to take personalisation further.

The concept uses highly informed data and new technologies – such as advanced CRMs and automation software – to empower marketers with the combined familiarity of a one-to-one communication and unlimited distribution of batch email.

Now we can collect, analyse, draw accurate conclusions from, and distribute content on a large scale. By understanding the behaviour of our prospects, we can offer customers the right product with an appropriate offer, at the right time and with the most suitable medium, all while using personalisation to stand out from our noisy competitors.

While the process generates proven results, it isn’t without its challenges. Accurate hyper-personalisation requires technology and manpower – which all boils down to money. For this reason, many brands are struggling to implement hyper-personalisation in their campaigns.

92% of B2B marketers segment their market data but just 38% carry out needs-based segmentation to make true personalisation possible – The B2B Barometer Report by the BMC and IDM

Another key aspect to successful hyper-personalisation is knowing where to draw the line. Customers don’t want to know that companies are monitoring their every action – distribution must be subtle and timed appropriately.

And, despite its benefits, marketers cannot solely rely on hyper-personalisation either. It should be employed alongside widely cast marketing nets to ensure hot and cold leads are nurtured through the sales process, therefore maximising the chances of marketers converting the highest number of leads and increasing the average order value. If you need more information about B2B lead nurturing, please feel free to download our complimentary B2B lead nurturing manual.