Brand is Relationship: Let’s Get Personal
November 7, 2024
written by
300FeetOut
Personalization in Brand Marketing
Getting great brand loyalty means doing more than listening. Everyone wants to feel seen and understood and in the digital landscape, this means a personalized brand experience driven by data. Makes sense right? Clearly, the more you know about your customers, the more you’re able to individualize their interactions with your brand. And when you do it well, that personalization leads your customers to have a greater connection with your product or service, drives higher engagement, more conversions, and the coveted holy grail of metrics, great brand loyalty.
In order to get there, let’s get real and talk about feelings. Personalization in branding taps into our fundamental human need for recognition, relevance, and a sense of belonging. It’s only natural — we want to be known. Here are several ways personalization can help create the right emotional connections with your brand tribe:
Feeling Understood and Valued
Show your customers that their preferences and needs are important with personalized content, messaging, or product offerings. Think NetFlix curating recommendations based on your past viewing. It’s often things like a simple name acknowledgement or product retargeting that create a sense of value and appreciation. This feeling of value fosters loyalty and a deeper connection with your brand.
Feeling a Sense of Belonging
When personalization is done well, it creates a feeling of belonging by aligning your brand’s messaging or experience with your customer’s identity or interests. Maybe your brand cares about the environment and so do your customers. Think Patagonia. By highlighting overconsumption and encouraging customers to repair their clothing before purchasing new, they make a distinct stand stating their ethics. When customers align with this perspective, they feel like part of a larger community and in turn feel like shopping at Patagonia reflects their values.
Feeling Trust through Relevance
When your brand delivers personalized experiences that are timely and relevant (yes both!),it demonstrates an understanding of your customers’ needs. This attentiveness builds trust — a key emotion in any relationship. And customers rely on brands they trust for helpful or pertinent information, offers, or the products that make up their everyday lives. Starbucks fosters this trust by using personal offers in their app, which in turn increases repeat purchases.
Feeling Positive Emotional Associations
Personalized interactions, whether it’s a perfectly timed discount, a fun birthday message, or a just-right product recommendation also evoke positive emotions. Many clothing brands such as The Gap and J. Crew offer a discount or a bonus on your birthday. Over time, these small but meaningful interactions leads to customers associating your brand with happiness, excitement, or gratitude.
Feeling Pampered or Special
Everyone wants to be special once in a while (you know you do) and personalization makes customers feel like they receive something that is just for them. This uniqueness creates an aura of exclusivity. It’s why loyalty brand-based clubs or points programs work so well. Whether it’s through personalized offers, curated product suggestions, or distinct experiences, being treated as an individual makes customers feel important, which can turn buyers into loyal customers.
Feeling Curious and Engaged
Engaging experiences created by personalization draws in customers. Tailoring messages and content to their interests maintains engagement, leads to stronger brand loyalty and a greater emotional investment in your brand’s success. Amazon, for example, triggers curiosity and engagement with personalized product recommendations.
Feeling Less Stress and More Comfort
We make so many choices in a day. What to wear, how to drive to work, what’s for dinner? By providing relevant and personalized experiences, your brand reduces cognitive overload, decision fatigue, and the hair-pulling frustrations that can come with irrelevant marketing or poorly targeted ads. When your customers enjoy smoother, more intuitive interactions, it makes them more likely to return in the future. Why wouldn’t they? You’re reducing their stress and driving even more trust in your brand. And once a customer has you as their go-to brand, it’s going to take a lot to move them away.
In essence, personalization creates a meaningful emotional connection between your brand and customers by fostering feelings of recognition, relevance, and trust. These positive emotions are critical for building the long-term brand loyalty you want and ensuring that customers not only return but become your valued brand advocates.