At Gainsight, we’ve recently been driving the strategy of personalization at scale for our digital customer success motions. Just last week, I had the opportunity to take a deep dive into this topic, sharing some of what we’ve learned as part of a webinar. If you weren't able to join, don't worry - you can check out the recording here.
Demystifying Personalization
Before I delve into "how", it's important to understand "why" large-scale personalization is critical, and mastering digital customer success requires orchestrating a seamless blend of hyper-personalization, automation, and scalability, all while preserving genuine human connections. We often refer of these moments of connection as "off-ramps" – a chance for customers to interact with us directly, even in a scaled environment.
Lessons from the Titans of the B2C World
We’ve been drawing knowledge and inspiration from B2C giants like Amazon, Netflix, Spotify, and YouTube. Their approach to unlocking the puzzle of successful personalization has been brilliant. Take Amazon, for instance. Their preemptive recommendations and timely reminders are a testament to the power of understanding customer needs at a granular level.
Bridging Over to the B2B World
Carrying the torch from triumphant B2C strategies to the B2B realm, I place a high emphasis on highlighting benchmarks and success stories. Creating a convincing narrative by showcasing what other customers are accomplishing, has proved to be a compelling strategy.
Our Approach to Personalization
At the heart of our strategy, you'll find a somewhat familiar approach to data collection. Starting from new users, we leverage in-app engagements to ask about their roles and product usage intentions which we later use to shape subsequent personalization efforts. Originally an optional practice, this data collection process had received a remarkable 75% participation rate, leading to its now being mandatory every six months, allowing us to track changes in our customer's intentions and roles.
Mastering the Onboarding Journey
Crafting nuanced communication during the onboarding process has been a significant game-changer. By creating personalized onboarding messaging in-app, specifically crafted to have common vernacular, we saw an impressive 84% surge in new user return rate, proving the significance of user-friendly features.
The Never-Ending Journey to Perfection
I firmly believe that perfection is a continuous journey, not a destination. Thus, iteration is at the heart of everything we do. This became evident when webinar invitations, tailored to recipients' roles, resulted in a 400% leap in registrations and a staggering 300% increase in open rates for invitation emails.
Personal Touches Throughout the Journey
Personal touches don’t just belong in customer onboarding, but instead, throughout the entire customer journey, from onboarding, adoption, renewal, and expansions. Each phase holds unique opportunities for customized communication.
Conclusion
In conclusion, our approach to scaling personalization at Gainsight combines a strategic fusion of automation, scalability, and human warmth. This journey of continuous learning from B2C successes and adapting to ever-evolving user needs is one I invite you to join.
To gain a more intimate understanding of our victories, lessons learned, and further insights, I encourage you to visit the webinar recording.