In today’s digital landscape, consumers expect personalised interactions with brands. In fact, 80 per cent of consumers consider personalised experiences important when making purchasing decisions. They want brands to remember their history, such as how long they’ve been a customer or their last purchase, and at the very least, receive emails that address them by name.
However, to meet and exceed these expectations, brands need advanced technology to scale personalisation efforts. Basic tactics are no longer sufficient to win brand loyalty and stand out in competitive markets. Brands must go above and beyond to differentiate their customer experience and genuinely engage their audience to earn their trust and loyalty. This requires ongoing data collection and using that data to personalise interactions on a one-on-one level.
For any brand, a personalisation engine is essential for business growth.
What is a personalisation engine?
A personalisation engine is a software that businesses use to collect and analyse customer data to create personalised experiences. A robust customer engagement platform with built-in AI-powered personalisation tools can serve as an effective personalisation engine.
For instance, tools like Braze Personalized Paths allow marketers to match each customer with the most engaging message copy, creative, channel, or offer in a given journey—all with a simple toggle.
How does a personalisation engine work?
A personalisation engine continuously learns from the data it collects and the human behaviors it analyses. Using AI and advanced automation capabilities, it suggests relevant content or predicts a user’s next action, allowing marketing teams to create content that matches the customer’s needs.
These engines gather behavioural data, such as purchase history and on-site interactions, alongside demographic information, brand loyalty metrics, and data from other departments like customer service or sales teams. The higher the quality and volume of data collected, the more effective the personalisation engine will be in leveraging that information for better outcomes.
A personalisation engine can predict when a customer is likely to make a purchase and send the right message at the right time on the right channel, encouraging them to complete the transaction. It can also identify when a customer is likely to churn and send messages that resonate with them, encouraging them to stay.
For example, with personalisation engines like BrazeAI™, brands can:
- Personalise experiences at scale
- Recommend the right items for every customer
- Automate routine tasks and drive greater value
- Feel confident in each campaign they send
- Test and optimise every step of every customer journey
By leveraging comprehensive first-party data, AI tools help marketers craft, scale, and adapt memorable experiences that foster stronger consumer-brand relationships, building trust and loyalty among customers.
Five business benefits of personalisation engines:
- Maximise profit with AI recommendations
AI makes personalisation possible at scale. It can predict customer preferences and suggest relevant and timely solutions, sometimes before the customer even realises they need them. AI helps brands truly understand their customers and provide for them in the best way possible. - Drive better experiences with your customers
Whether it’s email, text messages, WhatsApp, in-app messaging, push notifications, or on-site, being able to communicate with customers through various platforms and channels gives brands more opportunities to reach them. Sending relevant messages to the right channel at the right time is particularly impactful. For example, a location-based push notification for a special offer when customers are near a store represents true personalisation and creates a stronger bond with them. - Real-time data for smarter marketing decisions
A personalisation engine, when paired with the right tools and technologies, will not only collect and analyse customer data but do so continuously and track performance in real-time. This means that data is up to date when you need it, making decisions and adjusting your marketing plans much easier. Campaigns can be added, amended, and designed with access to the latest information to ensure they are particularly relevant. These can be sent to different customers to support increased relevancy, and this can all be implemented quickly and efficiently, allowing marketers to experiment at scale. - Unifying data to boost team efficiency
A common gripe of modern marketing teams is that departments work in silos, each with its own set of data and goals. A personalisation engine helps bring all the information together and, when used as part of a customer engagement platform, consolidates everything into one place for use in different ways and for different goals. This creates a single source of truth that can support a more aligned working process and leads to more cohesive experiences for customers, enhancing brand equity. - Optimise and automate customer journeys for higher conversions
Key moments in the customer journey can be automated to create a highly personalised experience. Using a personalisation engine and integrated tools, these key moments can be optimised. With ‘Personalized Paths’, for example, marketers can easily match each customer with the message copy, creative, or channel they are most likely to engage with at any step in a given journey. Marketers can also leverage Braze Canvas to build dynamic and responsive customer journeys—without having to write code. This is a way of orchestrating and visualising the conversation they’re having with each one of their customers.
By leveraging these business benefits, brands can create more meaningful and effective customer interactions, driving engagement, loyalty, and revenue.
For brands looking to keep up with the demands of today’s savvy consumers, embracing new technology and a future-focused mindset is essential. Personalisation engines like BrazeAI™ enable brands to tailor recommendations, unlock sophisticated personalisation, generate authentic content, and drive high-value actions from each customer.
To learn more about how Braze can help your brand, attend the Grow With Braze 2024 event on October 3, 2024 at the One&Only Royal Mirage in Dubai, or find out more at Braze.
By the Braze Team.
