#WAWLondon: The Power of Personalisation

Apr 21, 2017 10:34:59 AM

The latest Web Analytics Wednesday was a great success! On the 20th April, the analytics community gathered once more to enjoy a beverage, chat with their peers and listen to some pretty great speakers.

What was the topic of the evening?

The theme for #WAWLondon this time was personalisation; from the practicalities of creating a personalised experience to how other companies are performing when it comes to a personalised customer journey.

Leading the discussion was Matt Lovell, who has recently joined Jack Wills as Head of Customer Insight after four years as the Group Head of Analytics and Digital Insight at Thomas Cook. Here are a few of our key takeaways from Matt’s presentation:

  • Many retail fashion brands choose not to attempt personalisation…they prefer not to do it at all than trying it and getting it wrong. Is this really the best approach to personalisation? Probably not…the key to streamlining the process is to reduce quantity of emails and improve the quality of email offerings.
  • Matt signed up to 32 competitor newsletters to monitor personalisation tactics. Six weeks and many emails later, not one competitor personalised any of the communications.
  • Even a slightly irrelevant message to a customer can damage reputation…just ask Matt, who recently received an email offering him pregnancy tests!
  • Start with the smallest of personalisation tactics, for example male and female audience splits. The best way to mould a personalised customer journey is to start small and analyse what works rather than aiming big straight away.
  • Have a good balance of images and text as not all customers will choose to display images.
  • Capturing customer data is all well and good, but what is it in it for them? If the data is not being used to create a fantastic customer journey then personalisation will be hard to achieve.
  • The next step in personalisation is to conquer the homepage, allowing customers to log in and have a home page specifically for them.
  • This is just a quick snapshot of what was a fascinating and very well received presentation.

Keep your eyes open for the next #WAWLondon meetup

If you missed #WAWLondon this time, don’t fear…the next event will be here before you know it. Check out our events page for all the latest digital events and the lowdown on the next Web Analytics Wednesday date. In the meantime, check out the #WAWLondon Twitter feed for all the gossip from the #WAWLondon attendees.

What do you think?

Share your thoughts on this post - whether you agree, disagree or have your own insight to share, we want to hear from you!

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