The Power of Personalization: Consumers Increasingly Seek Customized Offers

It seems everyone today boasts a public profile on social networks from Facebook and Twitter to LinkedIn. And in the e-commerce space, consumers have become armchair critics, commenting on retailers, products and services via customer reviews. In turn, notions of privacy have been upended in the era of social sharing.

So it’s not surprising that most shoppers (74%), are willing to share some level of personal information with retailers, such as their age, likes, dislikes and purchasing history. As a bargain never goes out of style, those shoppers reluctant to share are swayed most by discount offers to provide their personal information. But they expect personalized product and sales offers in return.

One-size-fits-all retail promotions and blanket sale offers, like a diaper coupon emailed to a woman without children, seem woefully archaic today.

Shoppers prefer receiving personalized offers, for example, before leaving home via email rather than in the store so they can plan ahead. That’s because consumers often research products online, or “webroom,” before heading to the store to make a purchase. By contrast, once consumers are near a store or shopping its aisles, a relevant text offer is preferred, shoppers surveyed said.Retailers now make product recommendations based on shoppers’ purchasing patterns. That’s helped condition consumers to expect offers targeted directly at them.But while consumers increasingly expect retailers to be clued in to their needs with customized offers, they want to determine themselves how they get those offers. Once they’ve set the agenda, they’re open to a variety of marketing tactics.
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