There’s no denying the rise in demand for personalized experiences. However, along with this increased demand come many challenges facing marketers in their efforts to keep up with ever-evolving trends and remain truly impactful.

Through a combination of the use of innovative AI-driven technologies and a continued focus on developing and implementing exceptional CX strategies, marketers can successfully pave the path to building the perfectly personalized consumer experience.

There are numerous exciting developments at the forefront of personalization. Technologies incorporating dynamic optimization make the process of identifying winning variations far more efficient. We’re seeing personalization engines that are able to compile vast sets of data to deliver highly tailored experiences to website visitors, providing us with unparalleled possibilities for engagement and conversions.

The continued trend focusing on mobile users presents us with opportunities to leverage location-based services on a wider scale to pinpoint consumers and their various stages in the process in a more precise and effective manner. Delivering multi-channel personalized experiences in real time is becoming increasingly essential to our success.

However, there are still several challenges agencies are facing today when it comes to building an outstanding consumer experience. For one, many of the underlying technologies being developed to further propel advancements in personalization are still in their infancy.

Many of us also still find ourselves struggling to deliver real-time personalization at scale. We have more access to data now than ever before; however, being able to effectively organize and extrapolate this information into actionable insights, especially when multiple devices come into play, remains a challenge for most.

Furthermore, the industry faces several challenges posed by data harvesting for the purposes of providing personalized experiences and ensuring adequate security measures are taken to protect an individual’s valuable information.

But enough about technology. While advancements in fields such as AI serve to provide us with a world of opportunity in the arena of personalization, the implementation of this technology alone in the absence of the right CX strategy is insufficient

So, what exactly defines a good CX strategy, and how can we as marketers better prepare ourselves to meet the demands of our modern consumers?

By focusing on solid customer research using qualitative methods to get to the emotive center of the problems that face us so that we can find the right solutions to the right problems through personalization. Qualitative data should, of course, always be supported with a certain level of quantitative data. However, too much of this can muddle the process, resulting in the loss of valuable insights.

A good CX strategy involves a company-wide commitment and needs ideation through co-design workshops and rigorous processes around the problem to ensure that the creative processes drive true innovation.

Then and only then can we begin to focus on persona development in order to connect with the desires of our real customers. Segmentation that merely looks at demographic data does not give us the level of insight that we need to be truly impactful.

A focus on choosing the right platform technology to solve the dilemmas we face is also crucial. Choosing a platform for the sake of choosing a platform won’t cut it. We need to find solutions that can streamline operations and create seamless individualized experiences across multiple channels, enabling us to radically transform how we interact with our customers and prospects.

Embracing appropriate CMS options and identity resolution is essential in our efforts to stay current and effective. Effectively mapping these personas into our platforms of choice and relentlessly optimizing and refining our processes for maximum effectiveness over time is also vital to success.

Furthermore, we need to improve our measures for ensuring the security of the personal data that we harvest for personalization. Growing concerns over the exploitation of valuable consumer information have prompted the implementation of new policies such as the GDPR to grant individuals greater protections. If we want to provide our audiences with the best experiences possible, we must start by taking steps to ensure their well-being and reduce the risks of data being compromised.

Conclusion

Delivering exceptional consumer experiences through personalization continues to lie at the forefront of our minds. While there are still several challenges that face marketers in this arena, the prospects that the rapidly evolving technological climate presents us with are exciting.

As developments continue to progress, we as marketers must do our best to focus on preparing ourselves by developing and implementing effective CX strategies to best meet the needs of our customers. Once we’ve done this, we’ll be able to create positive change by designing the perfectly personalized consumer experience.