Personalization is the buzzword these days with everything being personalized from search, emails, website preferences, advertisements and so on. Marketers have literally struck gold because targeted marketing has become simpler than before. Consumers have become smart when it comes to purchasing something, but even so it has been proved that personalization has increased sales quite a bit. For example, sending a random email will not garner much of a response as opposed to personalized ones which have been shown to get over 400% more responses.

So how can you use the parameters of personalization for your benefit? Work and research is the first step. You need to know who your customers are, what are their likes and dislikes, what technology can be utilized for personalization, how far can personalization be used without being invasive, and so on. Think from your audience’s perspective. What will they think and do when they look at your website? Will they be interested in what you offer? Are there ways to make the experience more personal? You also have to consider your budget.

The effort that you need to put in is massive when it comes to learning about your audience so that you can tap into the personalization opportunities that are now available. Budget constraints might prevent you from developing a responsive personalized website experience but you can learn a lot if you study the metrics of your website. Study their behavior as to how they respond as a while to your offers. Use this data to enhance your presence online so that you can benefit from personalization.

Personalization is about making your customer feel special when they deal with you. For instance, you feel good when someone remembers your birthday or calls on your anniversary. If you can afford the technology to get more personal, your clients will appreciate it. Use metrics from Google Analytics and your email marketing technology as there is a plethora of information you can gather from here. Some technologies are available that can find out what your audience is reading, what other sites they visit, and the ability to recognize a repeat visitor and make recommendations based on prior actions.

Don’t forget to take into account, the metrics from any advertising that you operate. Parameters like demographics are useful and you can even find out what kind of computer the person had who clicked through. All of this brings you a step closer to knowing your audience personally. Trends will be affected in a positive way once you master how to market products or services based on research. To put it in a nutshell, show your clients that you care about them, so that they form a long term liaison with you.