Have you seen this old saying? Even if it’s not top of mind, there’s a good chance you’ve crossed paths with it, especially since you’re the type to be interested in a white paper dedicated to digging deep into marketing strategy 😉.

If you’re anything like us, it’s safe to say you need a refresher. What McLuhan (the grandfather of modern communication theory, btw) meant by “the medium is the message” is that the medium through which a message is communicated holds as much, if not more, value as the message itself. Kind of confusing on its surface, but it’s actually pretty simple. Think of it this way: In an SMS, the medium is the channel itself (SMS). The message is the content of the transmission—a text, photo, video, etc.

The medium (SMS) influences how the message (the text) is received and perceived by the audience. Obvious stuff for any marketer, really—this idea is ingrained so thoroughly in our strategies that it’s become a cliché. From social media platforms to enterprise-level channels, the medium reigns supreme today—and perhaps for good reason. In fact, according to Customer.io’s The State of Messaging report, 54% of brands plan to explore new messaging channels in 2024, with 63% of these same brands achieving better performance with a multichannel approach vs. single-channel.

So, yeah, there’s a great reason why so much of marketing strategy takes inspiration from the channel, or as McLuhan put it, the medium.

But what if thinking deep about mediums is only half the puzzle? What if the message is actually the medium? We’re not just playing with word order here. Think about it: Marketers spend so much time and energy cooking up auspicious channel strategies that deep thought surrounding the message itself sometimes gets tossed to the back burner. But a top-notch personalized messaging strategy (yes, your messaging really needs to connect with your audience these days—more on this below) gives you a concrete blueprint for ongoing engagement and invites customers to make themselves at home with your brand. In short, the message is everything.

We teamed up with Customer.io, leading innovator in the customer engagement game, to give you everything you need to know about the message. How exactly can personalized messaging create customer journeys that engage and convert? How can brands create meaningful messaging that genuinely resonates with their audience? What does personalized messaging actually look like? And, of course: What’s the deal with the medium? Which channels are best?

Let’s dive in.

What is personalized marketing, anyway?

First things first: When we talk about personalized marketing, we’re talking about the practice of delivering uber-relevant, highly targeted content to your customers that keeps ’em coming back for more. How does it work? Marketers use an assortment of segmentation tools to comb through customer data and build out super-relevant customer profiles that can then be used to personalize messaging. (And just a li’l sidenote: With Customer.io, the segmentation tool is part of the platform.)

Y’know when you receive messages from your favorite brands that feel tailored just to you, when it seems like the brand is actually your best friend who knows your favorite styles, sizing, and shopping habits? Well, that’s personalized marketing, and it’s arguably the No. 1 key to creating successful campaigns. In fact, according to a blog post by Customer.io, 80% of people say they’re more likely to buy from companies that provide personalized experiences. That’s a huge number.

What are some examples?

While personalization can mean lots of things within different facets of marketing, here are some classic, tried-and-true examples:

• Welcome emails customers receive after signing up for an app, newsletter, or service
• Targeted social media ads based on browsing history, interests, and demographics
• SMS campaigns deliver exclusive offers via text messages to customers
• Loyalty programs that offer goodies like birthday discounts and access to private sales
• interactive content that gives your customers personalized quizzes, assessments, or gamified content that provides tailored results

Above all, personalization is about getting real with your customers.

Okay, got it. But does it drive results?

The answer is a resounding, unequivocal “yes.” Personalized marketing not only drives the numbers, but it’s also what every brand is doing these days to stay at the forefront of consumers’ hearts and minds.

In fact, 81% of brands say personalization is important in their messaging strategies, and a whopping 75% of brands cite personalization as effective for improving email engagement, according to Customer.io’s messaging report. That’s why it’s imperative to build a concrete, successful personalization strategy for your brand.

So, how to get personal?

We’ve reached the million-dollar question, and the answer lies in messaging. Here’s the No. 1 rule: If you send your audience messages that are highly tailored to their needs, preferences, and desires, you will crush the numbers. But you need to know how to do it well. Customers are bombarded with messages, and most go ignored. To cut through the noise, you need to understand the nuts and bolts of personalized messaging. Let’s dive in.

First, collect and analyze your data with a top-notch CDP.

Effective personalization quite literally hinges on customer data. You can’t tailor messages to your audience without knowing them, after all. Before you get started crushing the personalization game, you gotta gather your customer data and give it a good once-over. Easier said than done, sure. But the first step is choosing a strong Customer Data Platform (CDP) to optimize customer data management and analysis.

What’s a CDP? A CDP is a kind of software that gathers customer data from every touchpoint to create a single view of the customer. That’s right: The right CDP gives you accurate, unified data about your customers that can be harnessed for personalization. You’ve probably heard the modern cliché, “Data is the new oil.” In the world of personalized messaging, it couldn’t be more true.

For example, Customer.io offers Data Pipelines, a CDP that makes it super easy to connect your data sources to the destinations where you activate your data—so you don’t have to spend precious time and resources maintaining your own integrations.

But here’s the catch: you gotta pick a good CDP. Keep your eyes peeled for platforms that:

• Easily integrate with other tools and systems in your martech stack.
• Provide intuitive accessibility to its users.
• Follow compliance with privacy regulations.
• Resolve customer identities across a wide variety of platforms and devices.

60% of brands cite data-quality issues as a challenge in using customer data for personalization. That’s why selecting the right CDP for your biz can give you a serious edge in the competition.

Once you’ve got your data game down, it’s time to create.

And by create, we mean create relevant, tailored content based on your segmentation and data-profiling results. Why’s this step so important? Targeted, personalized messaging not only engages customers on high levels but also elevates the entire customer journey—i.e., the process that customers travel through when engaging with your brand from discovery to purchase.

When creating wow-worthy content, consider these three key points (the three R’s, if you will) identified by Customer.io in their blog post on personalization:

• Right time. Catching customers at the perfect moment is key. Whether you’re celebrating milestone achievements or sending a reminder about an abandoned cart, an overdue invoice, a reward waiting to be claimed, or a course that needs to be completed, real-time personalization ensures your brand is top of mind when it really matters.
• Right content. Remember: Relevance is powered by accurate data. Use your customer data to create content that establishes meaningful relationships with your audience. For example, consider an in-app loyalty program that rewards customers based on spending history. You can use dynamic content like real-time progress charts and congratulatory messages to build loyalty and increase engagement.
• Right channel. We’re going to spill the deets on this in the next section, but selecting the right channel for your messaging is crucial to hooking your audience. Your data can tell you where the message belongs, whether it’s email, SMS, social media, in-app messages, push notifications, etc.

Let’s take a look at the best personalization tactics that brands are using to boost ROI and drive engagement. Peep these numbers:

✋ 63% of brands point to behavioral triggers as yielding high ROI.

📫 41% suggest subject lines raise the numbers.

🚀 40% say dynamic content helps them succeed.

📦 37% swear by product recommendations to increase ROI.

Let’s talk about those mediums.

When it comes to acing the channel game, there is one golden rule: Multi-channel > single-channel. In other words, your brand should take advantage of more than one channel in your messaging strategies to boost the numbers. According to Customer.io’s messaging report, brands that used three channels produced 244% better conversion rates than brands using single-channel approaches. HUGE numbers. So, which channels are the best? Good question—let’s take a look at the top three.

Email

Ahh, ol’ reliable. Email is always a top channel, and brands show no sign of slowing down when it comes to lighting up inboxes. In fact, November 2023 saw an all-time high in the number of emails sent using Customer.io’s Journeys solution. Wanna know the number? 3B🤯. Huge stuff. Not to mention there’s a 26% increase in email volume, with 2.7x more emails sent by SaaS companies than other industries. SaaS and email just get along.

SMS

We all know that the smartphone rules all these days. Everybody is on their phone, and brands entered the chat some time ago. SMS usage has surged by 47% year over year, with the fintech industry leading the way in leveraging this channel. Brands that do not have an app to leverage push notifications or in-app messaging can use SMS to engage their customers in meaningful ways and build strong loyalty.

Push Notifications

Brands are all about apps—and yours should be too. No, really. 49% of brands adopted push notifications in 2023, suggesting a strong embrace of application-based channels. The industries most eager to push? SaaS and fintech, which both use push notifications to provide users with real-time updates, personalized messaging, and loyalty perks that drive conversions and boost the numbers.

In-App Messaging

Say hi to the fastest growing channel of 2023: in-app messaging. Not only did the number of brands using in-app absolutely boom, but the quantity of sends increased by 793% throughout 2023. In-app is so popular because it allows brands to deepen and increase in-the-moment engagement; you can place the most important messages directly in front of your customers. Plus, combining push notifications with in-app messaging is an absolute game changer.

There you have it—the ins and outs of personalized messaging. It’s a tricky game, without a doubt, but you can succeed with a little know-how and a lot of determination. From choosing the perfect CDP to selecting the right channel to carry your content, messaging strategy requires careful planning, trial and error, and evaluation. But once you pin down a formula that works for your team, the numbers can skyrocket. Personalized messaging isn’t just a trend—it’s the future of effective communication.