Originally posted on January 22, 2018 by Peter Roesler on Inc. Magazine

As anyone with a smartphone can tell you, the modern world is filled with automatic messages. Whether it’s a notification via text, email or app, many brands used automated systems to stay in contact with consumers. These technologies are time saving, but they may lack something that is keeping customers from engaging. According to a recent analysis from Liveclicker, personalization may be the missing element from many automated marketing tactics.

Liveclicker, a company that provides personalization services, recently released their The Value of Personalization report. They conducted a survey of more than 300 professionals and incorporated data from millions of email metrics to see which tactics worked the best. Since most marketers know that using a customer’s name boosts engagement, that action was used as a baseline to measure the effectiveness of the other tactics.

The study shows the value high-level personalization tactics. These methods use big data from the customer’s shopping history and algorithms to make personalized recommendations. Many people have seen these tactics used by retailers like Amazon, eBay or WalMart. It takes time and effort to integrate this technology into a site and to create emails that automatically generate personalized recommendations. But the data shows that it’s worth it.

According to their research, behavioral targeting delivers an almost eight percent increase in email revenue. Real-time targeting based on native open-time and live business-context data delivers a 13 percent improvement. And machine learning personalization delivers a 21 percent revenue increase.

At times, it’s easy to overlook the value of personalization because it either seems too simple or too complex to bother. However, these tiny touches can improve the brand experience. The paper’s author cite research that show almost half (47 percent) of consumers say the customer experience as the driver of which brands they decide to purchase from, beyond the quality of goods and price. Similarly, more than half (55 percent) state that they like email marketing offers that include relevant products and offers.

“With the continued competition for consumers’ attention and their demand for relevant experiences in the inbox, more than ever marketers need to leverage data to reach recipients and influence brand selection,” shared David Daniels, CEO and founder of the market research firm, The Relevancy Group. “To make emails more relevant for consumers, marketers must make personalization investments that leverage live data readily available at the moment of open to optimize the customer experience and advance results.”

Although the ability to personalize marketing emails has existed for while, using advanced personalization techniques can help a brand standout. To illustrate, the authors cited data which shows only one in four (26 percent) of marketers utilize email click-through behavior and even fewer use website click path behavior as data points for message personalization.

Technology may make it harder for retailers to know their customers on an individual basis, but that same technology can bridge the gap in little ways. Email personalization is a great example of way to make something that seems disconnected seem more relevant to the consumer. If your email marketing or triggered notifications aren’t getting the response you want, it’s worth it to consider using personalization to increase engagement.

For more recent research that can help marketers, read this article on how consumers truly respond to brand posts on social media about important issues.