Personalization. It’s one of the biggest trends right now. And it’s no secret. Consumers love personalized content. The simple act of having something curated to you is one of life’s greatest pleasures and conveniences.

But don’t just take my word for it.

Allegra Burnette, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, Inc., found in a study that 77% of consumers surveyed recommended or paid more for a brand with personalized experiences, or specifically went out of their way to select these companies because of their personalized services. Not only that, Burnette continued, saying that 58% of companies surveyed said that addressing the desire from consumers for higher levels of personalization was a “critical business priority for the year.”

There’s even a science to the way personalization works. According to a study from the University of Texas, referenced in a blog post over at HubSpot, our desire for personalized experiences draws from two key factors – the desire for control and information overload. Essentially, the reason we like personalized content is because it provides us with the illusion of control over that content, despite the fact that the content was curated for us in the first place! Not only that, but in today’s society, with all the information overload constantly going on, it psychologically feels good to have the perception of overload reduced by something that was personalized for you.

Consumers like personalized content, and you should definitely get on board with it, if you haven’t already. Let’s take a look at a few easy ways to get you going.

Market Segmentation

Personalizing your content or services is much easier once you’ve segmented your audiences. Even if you’re not offering deep-level personalization, having your customers segmented into different demographic groups will go a long way. Once you’ve done this, you can send messages and content to specific groups of people in different tones of voice, offers, and even dates and time – like special birthday deals!

Deliver a Personal Touch to your Messaging

The personal touch stems from real-life interpersonal communications. Think about the way you interact with an employee when you go to a store, or the waiter at a restaurant – you’re speaking with a real human, and having a real experience. Adding a little personality to your marketing messages humanizes the brand, the company, and the message itself. It gives the consumer the impression that they’re being talked to directly, even if 100 other people received nearly the same message.

Invest in Technology – Like CoGoBuzz

By far, the easiest way to deliver personalized content on a large scale (especially if you’re strapped for time), is to invest in technology that can help you automate, refine, and deliver your message with little effort.

Sounds expensive, right? Turns out, not so much! Take CoGoBuzz for example. Our extremely affordable solution uses in-business WiFi to collect profile information from guests when they log in via Facebook, Email Address or Phone Number. From there, we develop a full customer profile, store it, and automatically send it to your Marketing List of choice, like HubSpot, MailChimp, and Constant Contact. Our service is packed with digital loyalty programs, personalized advertisements, and more! Check out the rest of our website to learn more about how CoGoBuzz personalizes your brand digitally, and keeps you engaged with your customers.

What does your business do to personalize the customer experience? Sound off in the comments!