Customers love feeling known and appreciated by the companies and brands that have earned their business and loyalty. In today’s marketing environment, forging that bond is more important than ever before. When companies miss the mark on personalizing their offerings, this incredibly important value proposition becomes muted.

Not long ago, personalization as a marketing strategy was limited to luxury goods and experiences. After all, it took considerable time and resources for a company to remember individual preferences the way a local restaurant remembers food allergies or your favorite table. According to several recent studies, upwards of 70% of current marketers see increased ROI through leveraging Account Based Marketing (ABM); this has nearly doubled in the last 5 years. The good thing is that today’s data-and technology-driven ABM landscape makes dynamic acts of personalization within reach for marketers.

Personalization is More Than “Knowing Your Name”

Everyone remembers the first time they received a personalized credit card offer. Remember feeling wowed to see your name not only on the letter but already embossed on the card. It didn’t matter that you hadn’t applied for a credit card. They knew your name! Today, if you call customer service or even order a pizza, they know your name. They also know the last time you called and what you last ordered. Suddenly, you get a digital coupon for your favorite order. We expect this level of personalization. And you might be surprised by how many companies don’t pass this simple standard.

According to a recent Gitnux report, within B2B marketing, personalization can lead to a 20% increase in user engagement. Technology and data science have transformed personalization with ABM from a novelty to a highly refined value proposition; designed to match customers with their ideal set or choices, not simply a consideration set of all products and services. Moreover, recent studies show that 76% of B2B marketers say ABM-based approaches deliver a higher ROI than other marketing efforts. Moreover, high-performing marketers are 1.5x more likely than underperformers to collaborate with sales teams on ABM programs.

With advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), businesses are increasingly able to personalize their marketing efforts at scale. AI-driven algorithms can analyze vast amounts of data to predict customer preferences, personalize content recommendations, and automate the delivery of personalized messages across various touch points.

The ”Wow” Factor

Not only does personalization impact marketing messages and strategies, it can also influence attractive product features and “extras” that appeal to personal preferences. Consider the automobile industry, for example. Remember the first time you bought a car, and it was a big deal that it had heated seats? That felt luxurious – a personal comfort. But today, we have cars that allow us to select what time we want the seat to be heated and for how long. We have dashboards that say “Hello” and an avatar we’ve chosen. If someone else drives your car, they get a different icon and have different presets for climate, seat position, and more. As customers, we expect to be “wowed,” and if a car doesn't have these options, suddenly it's an inferior product. Companies can deliver that level of personalization on the product level because they have the technology and data to identify, prioritize, and build it.

The Evolution of Personalization

The evolution toward greater personalization in ABM has been driven by both the sophistication of available tools and the increasing expectations of customers. But personalization isn’t simply an exercise in harvesting data or using AI to predict customer behavior. The key to successful ABM through personalization is truly understanding your customer base and their needs. This goes beyond simply knowing their names, ages, and the places they live.

Segmentation used to be seen as a “good enough” proxy for personalized marketing. Companies could drive customers to local retailers or distributors while offering targeted discounts and outreach to progress from consideration to sales. As noted in a recent Forbes article, as marketing techniques evolved, and businesses began segmenting across common characteristics, the task of personalization became more complicated – especially within B2B and B2B2C organizations. This type of segmentation allowed for more targeted marketing efforts but lacked the level of personalization seen in modern ABM strategies.

Today, you have targeted fashion marketing campaigns focused on the colors, styles, and fabrics you have purchased in the past. Customers are exposed to remarketing initiatives that track e-commerce activity and “remember” preferences across platforms and websites. Cookies track your internet searches and website visits, which help marketers cross-sell similar products and services based on your past purchases, open shopping carts, and more. Now, personalization doesn’t just appeal to ego or rely on brand affinity alone for results; it gives customers enhanced choice through refined messaging and targeting.

The Future of Personalization

The future of personalization in ABM doesn’t necessarily mean more personalization. After all, technology tools and innovative data-gathering strategies available to marketers are vast and are arguably not being used to their full potential by most companies – especially those without a comprehensive personalization strategy.

The future of personalization is the ability to have greater optionality across different platforms, mediums, companies, and outlets. It’s not just “What color boot do I want to buy?” It’s “I want this look and feel, and that can come in a boot, or it can come in a shoe, or it can come in a sandal. Wow!” For consumers or clients, greater optionality means that the world is their oyster. And today’s marketers should be hyper-aware of individual tastes, whether you’re reaching customers online, in a brick-and-mortar environment, or at a reseller.

The future lies in leveraging technology to provide more optionality and customization for consumers. It's not about inundating customers with more personalized messages, rather it’s refining targeting efforts to offer the right choices at the right time. By embracing personalization as a core strategy, businesses can build stronger customer connections, drive loyalty, and achieve outsized success in today's competitive marketplace.