The consumer is at the core of everything we do as marketers and yet our human attention span has dropped to 8 seconds – which is less than a goldfish’s attention span! Because of this, we also know that capturing a consumer’s time and attention is a privilege, and with rising prices and inflation, consumers are also having to rethink not only their time but their dollars.

So, how can we effectively reach the price-conscious, time-sensitive consumer?

Understanding the consumer on a deeper level is one of the most important things marketers can do today. Knowing the consumer’s likes and interests and delivering value in moments of receptivity can help foster stronger relationships and build brand preference.

The need for connection applies now more than ever as consumers are looking for a personal touch after 2 years of isolation. The good news is that personalization helps humanize brands.

The result of this effort is increased consumer trust, but this takes work to build. Below are 5 factors that can help build trust and give you the brand narrative of your dreams.

#1. Recognize the consumer as human

Firstly, recognize the consumer as a human. Again, their time and attention is a privilege. A survey by Inmar Intelligence found that 71% of people switched brands last year, and that was before all the inflation woes.

So, how do you hold their attention?

We’ve seen tremendous success in engagement and driving qualified add to cart metrics with the use of Inmar’s Shoppersync™ 1st party data.

1P data enables an authentic connection and opens new avenues of understanding the consumers’ shopping behaviors. I know it may be counterintuitive to use data to understand a human, but it enables us to see the buyer holistically. If we know a person buys healthy products online vs more guilty pleasure products in store, that matters in the advertisement delivery.

Even if your brand doesn’t have a CDP or RMS capabilities, utilizing partners with established practices in collecting loyalty card activity and purchase data can help significantly.

#2. Be transparent about data usage

Once you understand how consumers interact and what they’re buying, you can then begin to add value in a way that’s meaningful to them.

With that said, be transparent about your data usage and provide consumers with an improved shopping experience. More and more people are getting smarter about managing their data and 59% of consumers are comfortable with brands using their purchase history to make their rewards more relevant.

Through the use of API and an understanding of the unique buyers, Aki delivered in-market dynamic circulars. For one campaign, we drove $13.7M in incremental sales by leveraging weekly offers specific to users’ primary retail location. We served over 35K different creative variants with the use of our dynamic personalization technology. This was done to deliver the most relevant product offer based on data.

#3. Empathize through context

Knowing who and what is only part of the story. Brands have to begin to build trust by empathizing through context.

With the imminent diminishment of cookies and the increase in privacy regulations,  context will begin to play a larger role. At Aki, we have developed MomentsAI technology for this precise reason. For years, we’ve been investing in sophisticated technology that  leverages proprietary, high-quality data sets which inform probabilistic modeling. We’ve seen that utilizing these tactics drives strong results across digital marketing campaigns.

In fact, we saw a 5.8% lift in purchase intent among Crown Royal consumers after utilizing this technology. There were two approaches to this campaign. On a macro-level, creatives matched local football team colors. On a micro-level, recipes were sent if you were home vs a store locator if you were out vs Add to Cart for gameday prep,  and respective products for each setting were highlighted. This further adds layers to the idea of context.

#4. Meet consumers where they are at

Brands can reach consumers at the right time and place by leveraging personalization. Personalization has been a buzzword for the past decade in advertising and there seems to be no standard definition of what personalization is.

However, 86% of consumers are likely to enjoy personalized offers based on their interest and previous browsing and purchase history. What are they really saying? Deliver me convenience!

Altering personalization variables based on the needs of the consumer ensures that the creative does more than inform them – it serves them. Aki’s personalization technology does all the heavy lifting by combining these factors together in a dynamic execution, which was evident in our award-winning campaign with Primal Kitchen.

#5. Open the conversation

Lastly, leave the consumer better off than when you met them. Open the conversation with conversational intelligence that brings value and creates a feedback loop that marketers can’t get from shopper behavior alone.

More consumers are becoming comfortable with AI tools, and 49% have used these tools to engage with brands over the past year, according to an Inmar Intelligence survey. This makes advertising no longer a one-way street and delivers value in a truly 1:1 way.

The above 5 factors are key to effectively leveraging personalization and ultimately capturing and converting consumers.

If you’d like to discuss these factors in more detail, feel free to email me at chc@a.ki.

Caroline Capungcol, Product Marketing Manager at Aki