• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, August 3, 2021

Consumers prefer email marketing about sales or promotions above other messaging. But many will drop you over sub-par personalization, judging by Audience of One: Consumer Expectations and the Power of Personalization, a study by Movable Ink. 

Of the consumers polled, 26% will unsubscribe from emails when the personalization is wrong or inaccurate. And 27% will call customer service and explain the experience.  

In addition, 15% will cancel the service or will not buy from the company again. And 9% will tell family and friends.  

Another 9% will delete the brand’s app from their phone, while 8% will switch over to a competitor’s brand, 5% will post a bad review and 5% will gripe about it on social media. The remainder will do nothing.   

Gen Z is the most susceptible to personalization — 73% are likely to buy goods or services when a brand has created a personal experience, vs. 67% of millennials, 67% of Gen Xers, 50% of those in the 55-64 age cohort and 45% of those over 65. 

But here’s another grim statistic: 71% will abandon shopping carts while shopping online, while 47% will do so sometimes, 22% often and 2% always.

What types of information are most useful to consumers mulling possible purchases? They include:  

• Email marketing about sales or promotions — 58% 
• Email marketing to tell you of new products or services — 37%
• Email marketing to remind you of products you previously browsed or carted but never purchased — 26% 
• In-app notifications or reminders to tell you of new products or services — 17% 
• Email marketing reminding you to re-purchase products or services that you’ve purchased in the past that you could be running low on — 16% 
• In-app notifications or reminders to highlight products you previously browed or carted but never purchased — 16%
• Social media posts announcing new releases of products or services on social media — 15% 
• In-app notifications or reminders for you to re-purchase products or services that you’ve purchased in the past that you could be running low on — 13%

Here’s what consumers seek in a brand before buying:

• Quality of service — 84% 
• Rewards program (benefits to being local customer) — 67%
• Creates a feeling of trust and security in the product/service you are receiving — 49%
• Brand values — 47%
• Sense of caring/being valued as a customer — 44% 

And here are the characteristics that convince shoppers to trust a company:

• Consistency of the customer experience — 78%
• Helpful customer service — 78%
• Strong reputation/positive reviews — 63% 
• Personalized customer experience or relevant communication — 54%
• Positive culture (i.e., a company’s values, ethics, behaviors and work environment, etc. — 42%
• Strong leadership/CEO — 15%
• Strong social media presence — 7%

When consumers do like a product, 33% are very likely to recommend it, 27% are some so and 25% are extremely likely.  

Here are two more stats of note:  

• 68% will remain loyal to a brand if they’re engaging and building personal relationships with them.  
• 61% are likely to buy when a firm has created a personalized experience in their branded content.  

Movable Ink surveyed 1,000 U.S. consumers from May 17 to June 3, 2021.