- Growth Waves by Daphne Tideman
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- The Three Dragons of Personalisationđ
Hi there đ,
Itâs time to learn about a very special fairytale, one from the magical world of Growth.
A place where King Google rules over everyone, and the citizens (founders and Heads of Growth) live in fear of monsters like the Spam Filter, the Stakeholder and the Bounce Rate.
In this mystical land, there live three dragons that destroy the way we approach personalisation to drive growth.
The dragons are:
1. The Stubborn Dragon: Where we focus on needing all the right technology and data before personalisation.
2. The Golden Dragon: Where we only look at the immediate ROI when evaluating personalisation.
3. The Deepfake Dragon: Where people get in the way of personalisation.
These dragons make them feel like personalisation doesnât work, so the citizens give up and accept things the way they are.
But these dragons can be defeated, and once they are, the impact of personalisation will shock you.
Because the truth is that you donât need fancy tech or big changes to drive impact with personalisation.
So how can we use personalisation effectively as a D2C startup and get that fairytale ending?
We need to get back to the purpose of personalisation.
Why should we use personalisation?
I canât put it better than David Mannheim, who wrote an entire book on the subject. So letâs see what he has to say on the matter:
âThe purpose of personalisation is a system of beliefs held by the brand. Any brand that wants to create a deeper relationship with their customers based on mutual trust should personalise. Period.
As long as they have a clear understanding of this purpose â and the costs associated â they are well on their way to defeating the Golden Dragon.â
Too many brands treat personalisation as a way to make a quick ROI, like the Golden Dragon heâs referring to.
They see personalisation as something to be tackled, a hurdle to overcome, rather than a possibility.
I asked David about this, and explained why itâs crucial to take the time for this:
âPersonalisation is just a form of communication designed to build a relationship.
By flipping the questions to be more about their needs, not yours, your approach to personalisation will by authentic.
Sure, the upside will come. It might be delayed in the form of loyalty, retention, and warm, fuzzy feelings.
But by asking what the purpose of personalisation is for your customers first, you will ensure that your approach will not be tactical, inauthentic, or a waste of time.â
How do you uncover their needs?
I wasnât satisfied with this, and you wonât be surprised to learn that I bugged David further to provide Growth Waves readers with specifics.
How can you uncover the needs of personalisation?
How can you find where itâs currently lacking?
David said that you can find the answer by discussing the following as a team:
What purpose does being more personal with our customers serve?
How does it make our customers feel, and will our customers want us to be more personal with them?
Are there certain segments of customers that would want us to be more personal than others?
Once youâve figured this out, ideas will naturally flow about where and how you can personalise.
For example:
When you push for a reorder - tools like Relo can help with this
Emails sent post-purchase to get the most out of their orders
Quizzes to understand this and impact which emails they get
How the website looks depending on their intent - tools like Made With Intent can help with this)
Recommendation
In every edition of Growth Waves, I also share a related book, individual or newsletter to check out related to the week's topic.
Almost one year ago, David Mannheim reached out to ask my thoughts on personalisation for his book.
What followed was basically a 30-minute rant about personalisation, by yours truly.
But David managed to achieve the impossible and completely transform my views on personalisation.
I had been utterly disappointed in the industry, until I learned how he was changing it.
He turned hundreds of interviews and likely thousands of hours of research into a hilarious book that tells you exactly how to defeat those dragons.
âThe Person in Personalisationâ is one of the most engaging, actionable and witty non-fiction books Iâve ever read.
But thatâs not all.
David has also built Made With Intent, a company dedicated to providing personalisation to e-commerce businesses.
So make sure to check out Made With Intent, as I guarantee that there is something to learn from them.
If you had asked me one year ago whether Personalisation fell under Growth, I wouldnât have hesitated to say it did.
There are just so many incredible experiments we can run around personalisation.
After speaking with David, Iâm not so sure; I think it might also fall under Brand, particularly brand loyalty.
Whoever is responsible, I agree with David that every business needs to think about personalising.
Whether thatâs just segmenting your communication to meet their needs, or going all-in with Netflix-level personalisation.
It may look different on every level, but the value remains throughout, as weâre always selling to humans.
Time to do some personalisation research by bingeing recommended shows⌠I feel inspired to rewatch âHouse of the DragonââŚ
Daphne
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