Solve to Sell: The Commercial Case for Hyperpersonalisation

Hyperpersonalisation can be a tricky subject to approach for Providers. The desire to get closer to customers and service them more effectively is present, but what are the commercial benefits of hyperpersonalisation when compared to a less personalised approach? A recent report by Econsultancy and Decibel showed that almost half (49%) of business executives surveyed described their customers’ overall digital experience as “critical” to the success of the organisation. The same report shows that the number of companies running a fully automated solution delivering hyperpersonalised experiences translating to commercial benefits has risen from 11% in 2019 to 16% in 2021 (The State of Digital Experience and Conversion in 2021 – Decibel & Econsultancy).

almost half (49%) of business executives surveyed described their customers’ overall digital experience as “critical” to the success of the organisation.

So if brands, in general, are getting on board with moving from personalisation to hyperpersonalisation, how can this help service providers? By focusing on solving for the customer through digital channels and building trust, providers are uniquely positioned to make recommendations and upsell products and services based on real-time, contextually led data. A McKinsey article showed that improving personalisation increased revenue between 5-15% and improved marketing spend efficiency, predominantly by deploying product recommendations and triggered communications. The challenge being that what actually drives true commercial efficiencies is not at the point of marketing but, in fact, the mode, method and means of customer servicing.

hyperpersonalised experiences translating to commercial benefits has risen from 11% in 2019 to 16% in 2021

What is Hyperpersonalisation at the Point of Solving, and How Does it Lead to Selling?

Research shows us that a customer who optimises their existing product and services trusts the brand that is providing them those services, and is fully engaged in their experience, is more likely to consider new products cross-sold to them. So, we must ‘solve to sell’. The next generation of personalisation for service providers is more than just adding a first name or plan name to communications. Just as we apply intent data to our marketing efforts and consider customers’ existing packages before selling them a new one, it’s about gaining deep knowledge of the customer and applying it to every point of engagement with them, as well as proactively using those insights to service them more effectively.

If we consider the most effective and timeless sales methodologies, all rely upon the real-time application of psychology and behaviour, context and environment and the customer’s history and relationship with the brand. Take Huthwaite International’s SPIN Selling as an example. The principle is that we must first understand the customer Situation, think about the Pains they experience, the Implication of those pains, and the Need/Payoff of the proposed solution. Considering this in the traditional context of digital marketing and cross-selling, it is rare that such a hyperpersonalised approach is taken. Quite often, we see customers being put into persona buckets via a CRM. The sales and marketing messages may well be based on intent data, social watching or next best action, but that is only a small part of what will influence the customers buying process, not to mention that they often are stuck in those persona buckets throughout their relationship with us.

If we then imagine a world where we apply the customers frequently asked questions to the logic of their favourite OTT service, we understand their digital aptitude and how they prefer to receive self-care, understand the real-time diagnostic data of their home and use such insight to tailor automated digital conversation with them. Not only are they experiencing a superior service, but we are applying the situation, pain, impact and need to the decisioning logic of our cross-sales automated messages to them.

Andrew asks us why his Google Hangout is freezing three times in 14 days. The resolution pathways he has previously taken shows him to have a high digital aptitude, and the speed test that was run on his home network shows that the problem may persist. Andrew is the perfect candidate to be sold a “WiFi Guarantee” service or an Extender pack. The language and content of the automated communication are dynamically tailored to his aptitude and sent to him at a time of day when it’s known he displays the most digital enthusiasm. He trusts the digital channel because the experience was hyperpersonalised, and the cross-sell effort is individualised to his needs.

Naturally customers who are dazzled by the “above and beyond’ approach of hyperpersonalised digital customer care are far more positively inclined than those engaging with, or rejecting, a generic chat bot.

How does getting closer to my customer translate to commercial growth?

Naturally, customers who are dazzled by the ‘above and beyond’ approach of hyperpersonalised digital customer care are far more positively inclined than those engaging with or rejecting a generic chat bot. Digital channel containment means an increased opportunity to learn about customers and, in turn, those additional data points enable an ever-increasing ability to apply hyperpersonalisation. But how does more data break our customers out of their static persona buckets?

Customers’ attitude, context, environment and enthusiasm change from minute to minute, day-to-day, and won’t remain static in a persona. Their digital patience may increase between one interaction and another, their network speed may drop or improve, their preferred OTT service may change over time. The key to delivering hyperpersonalised digital customer experiences isn’t only about the amount of data held on each customer, but how that data is used to dynamically apply to decisioning logic and journey pathways in the experience based on ever-fluctuating data points.

providers are in a unique position to make recommendations and upsell products and services based on real-time, contextually led data,

Solving to Sell

Service providers are already armed with far more meaningful data points about their customers than most brands. Furthermore, observing customers’ behaviour during care interactions enables a deeper understanding. To achieve an increase in cross-sales via digitally automated channels, providers must now invest resources in a platform capable of integrating with other components in the organisation’s ecosystem, that is able to weave together all the data that is already available to them whilst also observing essential customer context and behaviours during care interactions.

All of this data combined must then be used to create decisioning pathways and content that, in turn, are dynamically applied to all customer experiences. This will achieve truly hyperpersonalised customer experiences, emulating the feeling of a human conversation in an automated transaction. The result? Improving the moment of ‘solve’, increasing engagement in digital channels, identifying and reducing churn, and improving digital cross-sales.

Book a tour to discover how Sweepr’s 7 Principles of Personalisation help CSPs hyperpersonalise digital customer care experiences.