Movable Ink’s second annual Audience of One consumer survey has many takeaways. It continues to confirm what we’ve known for a long time: Consumers want you to market to an audience of one. But it has some other takeaways about customer loyalty and customer preferences related to product purchases that are just as important. Some of them are what we expect. Others not as much. So let’s take a look.

First, this study was conducted in three geographic regions: the United States, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. Findings are based on data collected from 3,000 responses across these regions and focused on the overall customer journey.

1. Personalization remains king, including in customer communications. Movable Ink’s survey is one of the few I’ve seen in a long time that specifically ask about personalization in customer communications (as opposed to online experiences like real-time online product recommendations). It found that 61% of consumers say they are likely to buy goods or services when a company has created a personalized experience in their customer communications.

This preference was highest in the United States (63%), and up from 61% last year. (For stat nerds, the margin of error for the survey was 1.7%, so this is just outside that margin.) Younger generations are the most likely to be responsive to personalized communications: 18–24 (78%), 25–34% (72%), and 35–44 (69%).

Why do consumers prefer more personalization? Movable Ink decided to ask. Here’s what respondents said:

• Feels like the brand/company cares more about my personal preferences and interests (31%)
• Feels like I have more of a relationship or connection with the brand/company (27%)
• Feels like I have more control over my online experiences (20%)

But it goes beyond simple preference: Personalization can directly influence consumers’ likelihood to make a purchase, too.

Over one in five consumers say personalization within branded marketing influences their relationship with the brand by making them more likely to purchase the same products / services from the brand (26%) or making them more likely to purchase new or different products from the brand (23%).

How likely would consumers be to purchase a product or service if they received the following types of personalized content? And the survey says…

• Email recommendations (54%)
• In-app recommendations (48%)
• Social media ad recommendations (38%)
• Banner/website ad recommendations (35%)
• SMS recommendations (30%)

Because the Movable Ink survey asked only about digital channels, we don’t get any insights into direct mail. I do recall a recent survey about personalization in marketing, and the percent of recipients who cared about seeing personalization in direct mail was a mere 5%. This doesn’t mean consumers don’t want personalized content. What they want is communications that are targeted and relevant, and if they don’t notice that they are based on data-driven rules, that’s just fine.

2. “Customers don’t experience data, they experience content.” It continues to be true that customers don’t care about seeing their names in print or online. They care about receiving clearly relevant information. It’s what’s driving the growth in digital subscriptions these days. Publishers who once had a very difficult time selling digital subscriptions are finding that this has now become their most important revenue stream. Why? Because readers only want what they want, and they don’t want what they don’t, and with digital subscriptions, they can create filters to make this happen. Marketing is no different.

Part of the challenge, of course, is that if we want customers to expand their horizons to new products and categories, and if personalization only follows only what shoppers think they are interested in, it becomes difficult to expose them to things they might be interested in but never get exposed to because those things are filtered out before they have a chance to see them. Complicated world we live in.

3. Customers—especially younger ones—crave brand relationship. More than two thirds (68%) of consumers said they are more likely to be a loyal customer or purchase more from a brand if that brand is “engaging and building personal relationships with them.” Although we think of older generations as the relationship generation (you know, the folks who hold up the line in the post office because they are exchanging pleasantries with the counter clerk). But when it comes to brand relationships, it’s the younger generation. The younger the demographic group, the more important brand relationship-building is to them.

The good news is, that level of personalization is easier than ever. Even a basic email marketing platform can create customer journeys these days—for example, newsletter promotes five products, and customer clicks on products A, C, and E, then that customer gets put into funnels for products A, C, and E. If customer clicks on products B and D, they get put into funnels for B and D. Or maybe they clicked on A, C, and E, but you really want to promote product D, so you send an email promoting product D to those viewers. “Don’t miss our latest widget! Check it out. You’ll be glad you did!” It all happens with if-then rules deployed through simple drop-down lists. When it’s this easy, there isn’t much excuse not to do it.

4. Some data is easier to gather than others. What’s the easiest data to gather? According to the survey, customers were most likely to offer up the following information in exchange for personalized experiences: gender (78%), age (69%), email address (66%), marital status (60%), and birthday (59%). This is a pretty good starting point. This is also where those customer journeys and personalized maps really help. Relevant content creates trust. Trust creates loyalty. Loyalty begets more data. (More than half [58%] of consumers surveyed say that they share more personal information with the brands to which they are loyal.)

This willingness to share goes beyond personal information. It also includes their attitudes related to products and services, including their satisfaction with past orders (68%), ideal price range (67%), and product categories of interest (65%). There is a lot of information to be learned, and companies that invest in customer trust are in the best position to mine it.

5. People matter. What are some of the qualities that customers typically look for in brands before deciding to make a purchase? People. Specifically, quality of customer service (74%). This is more important than even rewards programs (55%). Other top qualities valued by consumers include creating a feeling of trust and security (46%), brand values (43%), and brands giving them the sense that they care about them and value them as customers (41%). A strong brand reputation and positive customer reviews were cited as huge influencers, as well.

This leads to the final takeaway here:

6. Personalization matters, but it comes with trust. Get personalization wrong and you break trust, and customers don’t take that well. Movable Ink found that the biggest marketing communications turnoffs are when brands suggest products or services too often, when brands suggest products or services they are not interested in, and when product recommendations don’t fit their needs.

One in four (25%) consumers say they would delete or uninstall a brand’s app if the personalization is wrong, such as the wrong name or spelling, trying to sell them something they just bought, or the wrong location. [O]ver one in four (26%) consumers say they would unsubscribe from emails.

If You Personalize, Get It Right

So if you’re going to personalize, make sure you are getting it right.

To download a copy of the survey, click here.