Meaningfulness eats Personalization for Breakfast

The difference between personalized, relevant, and meaningful communication. 

Imagine your inbox for a moment. It's likely packed with personalized messages, but how many of these messages truly matter to you? 

While personalization and relevance are important, achieving true meaningfulness is what sets effective customer communication apart.  
So, what are the differences between personalized, relevant, and meaningful communication, and how do we best achieve meaningfulness in our automated customer communications?   

The best way to explain the differences is by sharing some real-life examples:  

Personalized communication - Breakdown:

Personalized communication - Example:

A bank sends an automated email to a customer acknowledging their recent savings goal achievement. The email congratulates the customer on reaching their milestone and offers personalized suggestions for further financial planning based on their savings habits and goals. 

Relevant communication - Breakdown:

The message or experience is applicable to you in your current situation.
Often leveraging your current context, timing and channel.

Relevant communication - Example:

A bank sends an automated email to mortgage customers with adjustable rates, informing them of a potential increase in interest rates and offering fixed rates or a free 30-minute consulting session. This email provides insights and advice to a specific group of customers in a particular situation, triggered by macroeconomic trends.

Meaningful communication - Breakdown:

Can be, but doesn’t have to be personalized.
Makes the receiver care, think and even behave in a certain way.

Meaningful communication - example:

A bank sends an automated email to a customer, informing them of the current risk in the customer's individual investment account. The advice given is to lower the risk by adding up to ten different stocks or shifting some of the holdings into funds with limited risk. The email emphasizes the bank's commitment to the customer, and the communication is based on individual information.

Getting started: 

At the heart of meaningful automated customer communication lies insight and data. Personalization is important, but it’s just the start. To really connect with customers, businesses need to understand them deeply.

Meaningful communication requires a continuous learning dialogue with customers. This means paying attention to things like survey responses, online behavior, and purchase history. To achieve meaningful automated customer communication, adopt a structured approach rooted in clear objectives and real customer insight.

Methodical approach: 
Align your communication strategies with your primary business goals and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). 
Identify your core customer segments and map out their journeys, pinpointing crucial decision-making moments along the way. 

Measure and identify gaps: 
Utilize data analysis tools as well as other more hands-on approaches to evaluate the effectiveness of your current communication methods. 
Identify areas for improvement and uncover any obstacles hindering your progress, allowing you to direct your efforts more effectively. 

Actionable insights:

Engage your customers for feedback through surveys and other channels to gain deeper insights into their preferences and needs. 
Craft questions that results in specific, actionable responses, empowering you to make informed decisions regarding your communication strategies. 

Would you like a helping hand? 
If you need assistance in getting started or assessing your current customer journeys, explore our packaged solutions, MA playbook, or  CX impact Kit, or schedule a meeting with us!