SECTION 3

Moving beyond the ad

What you say in an ad is important, of course—but brands that want to take their personalization strategy to the next level need to consider channel mix and frequency.

You've spent the time making sure your ads are relevant and personalized. Everything's good, right? Not so fast. The final piece to the puzzle is to think beyond the ad and consider how your messages are showing up—in what channel and how often.

FREQUENCY MATTERS

Consistency earns attention. Over-contact burns people out.

Consumers are paying closer attention to the whole experience than brands might think—77% say they notice when a brand’s personalization is consistent across channels, from the ad they see to the emails and texts that follow. But that attention cuts both ways. A remarkable 91% have pulled back from a brand that contacted them too often—muting, unsubscribing, opting-out or unfollowing—even when they felt the message was relevant, and 21% stopped buying over it.

WHEN IT BECOMES TOO MUCH

91%

have pulled back from a brand that contacted them too often.

LIMIT CONTACT

65%

muted notifications

58%

unsubscribed from email

32%

unfollowed on social

REJECT MESSAGES

64%

opted out of SMS

40%

marked messages as spam

21%

stopped buying from the brand

Good personalization can't outrun a frustrated consumer that's seen your ad five times in a day, or forgets to engage because they only get your emails.

CHANNEL MIX

People are paying attention to your channel strategy.

Where personalization matters most is in the channels consumers have opted into: it’s very or somewhat important in loyalty communications (82%) and email (70%), and far less so in ambient ad channels like audio (35%), connected TV (39%) and display (40%). The message for brands: earn the right to show up often by being consistent and useful—and remember that relevance won’t save you from the wrong frequency.

77%

notice when a brand's marketing is personalized across channels.

62%

think more highly of a brand when they personalize consistently across channels.

How important is it that a brand personalizes messages to you in each of the following channels?

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The takeaway

Personalization doesn't stop at the ad.

Relevance gets you noticed, but it won't save you from the wrong channel mix or one message too many. Consumers notice when a brand shows up consistently across channels—and they push back hard when it shows up too often, even when the message is spot-on. The brands that win think past the single ad to the whole experience: personalize in the channels people opted into, and earn the right to show up often by being useful, not just always there.

Next: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MARKETERS

Bridging the personalization gap with data and identity

You've seen the results. Now what?

In the next section, we explore how marketers can expand their personalization strategy and ensure their ads are meaningful, accurate and timely. The key is building a strong foundation of data and identity.

Next section