Engaging Customers Through Personalization

A few days ago, we had a small celebration at home with family for my daughter's 6 month birthday. For the sake of convenience, we turned to Zomato for a big food order. The order must’ve caught their attention because shortly after, I got a call from their team. They asked if we were having a party and after I confirmed, they said, “We’d love to send you a cake for the occasion!” Fast forward an hour later and they sent over a Theobroma cake, accompanied by a personalized birthday card. All of this organized through their app. Zomato didn’t just deliver food that day, they delivered an experience that goes beyond a mere transaction. Here's what marketers can learn from this moment of personalization: 📌 Customer Delight Is the New Loyalty Program Zomato didn’t have to send the cake since it wasn’t part of their service but by doing so, they turned a transaction into a memory. They’ve now created an emotional connection with me as a customer, something discounts and coupons can never replicate. 📌 Hyper-Personalization Wins They paid attention to my order size, made an educated guess about the occasion and added a personalized touch. In an age where AI can assist with data insights, these little human interventions make all the difference. 📌 The Power of Word of Mouth By going the extra mile, Zomato has not only retained me as a customer but also turned me into a brand advocate. Personalization + customer delight = organic marketing. As marketers, it’s easy to focus on scaling strategies, optimizing campaigns or driving ROI. But let’s not forget the basics: 👉 Listen to your customers 👉 Understand their context 👉 Show them you care It’s the little things that often make the biggest impact. What’s one example of a brand that went above and beyond for you? #Marketing #CustomerExperience #Personalization #CustomerDelight

ABM and ABX. Two terms that get thrown around a lot. But what do they mean? Simply put, ABM is your strategy, and ABX is the experience.  It's like planning a trip. ABM is choosing your destination, and ABX is enjoying the journey. I've seen it happen time and again with companies investing in ABM, selecting their target accounts and crafting their overall strategy. But then, they stumble at the execution and fall back on generic email and irrelevant ads, failing to tailor their approach to each account. They treat ABM like a slightly more targeted version of their usual marketing, missing the crucial element of personalization. It's no wonder they don't see the results they expect. #ABM without a strong #ABX component is like a beautifully wrapped gift with nothing inside. Or building a beautiful house with no furniture or decorations. 👉🏾ABX is about crafting a personalized experience for those high-value accounts. 👉🏾 It's about understanding their unique needs, challenges, and aspirations so well that you can anticipate them and deliver what they want.  👉🏾 Look at it like you are planning a surprise party for a friend, not just any party, but one that perfectly caters to their tastes and preferences. In my work with different brands, I've seen the power of small, thoughtful touches that can have a big impact. It might be a handwritten note thanking them for their time, a relevant gift that shows you've been listening, or an invitation to an exclusive event tailored to their interests.  It's not about extravagant gestures or big budgets but about demonstrating genuine care and building a real connection.  And making them feel like they're not just another account but a valued partner. #b2bmarketing #marketingstrategy #demandgeneration

We generate hundreds of ABM landing pages for our named accounts with deep personalization with Clay and Webflow. We see contacts from named accounts engaging with these pages and often get messages like "wow how did you do this?" For the past few months, we have been dogfooding this feature and now we're excited to launch for every Clay user. Here's how we did it: ⓵ We created our named account list in Clay based on very specific data points that are relevant to our business. We segmented these accounts into tier 1, 2, and 3. ⓶ We identified specific data points about these named accounts that could inform how Clay can be used. ⓷ We created a CMS template in Webflow that maps items with specific columns in Clay. ⓸ We generate rows in our Clay table as companies hit our named account criteria and automatically create pages within the Webflow CMS. Then, as people from these companies visit our site, they see a banner saying "see how X can use Clay." The fun is in the details though... here are some levels of personalization we're using: ✅ Brand name and logo in the heading ✅ Brand color in the background of the page. You can set a default color as well in case the color is black or white. This is the case with screenshot from the Carta page shared below. ✅ Tech stack personalization: in our case, if the company uses Salesforce as their CRM, we should them a Salesforce section. But if the company uses HubSpot, we then show HubSpot instead. ✅ GTM model personalization: if the company has a self-serve motion, we talk about enriching self-serve sign-ups. If they are mostly sales-led, we talk about enriching form-fills. We have a few resources on how you can set it up. I'm actually doing a webinar with the Webflow team next week to showcase how we built this. I will share a few resources in the comments.

Personalization is forever changed. If you still think it's a first name, company name in "bold" font, then you're way behind. In 2025, the data tells - Personalized emails generate 32% higher response rates on average. - Email campaigns with advanced personalization (beyond just a name) see reply rates rising to 18%, double what generic templates achieve. True personalization is at the intersection of context, timing, and relevance. Let me explain in my words, → Did they just add a new VP of RevOps? Talk about the scaling process. → Are they in hiring mode? Talk about onboarding efficiency. → Did they hit your pricing page three times this week? That’s the intent. Ops is the layer that takes these signals and wires them into workflows that actually matter. The difference is, Generic “Hi [FirstName]” emails go to spam. Whereas signal-driven personalization, no matter what stage, gets a response and scales. And that is just one example. Personalization that scales is an Ops advantage. And we Ops know the difference between surface-level personalization and personalization that converts. Because we’re the ones wiring the triggers, building the workflows, and aligning the data that makes it possible. If your personalization strategy starts and ends with a mail merge, don’t be surprised when your pipeline looks the same year after year.

Personalization isn't about sending more emails with someone's name in the subject line. It's about understanding the secret language of your buyer's motivations. What if the most effective personalization tactic was to speak to the buyer's biggest fear, rather than their biggest desire? 🤔 Reflect on this: 1️⃣ What are the unspoken concerns that keep your buyers up at night? 2️⃣ How can you use personalization to address these concerns, rather than just trying to appeal to their aspirations? 💡 Tips for marketers: 👉 Use data to uncover hidden patterns: Analyze buyer interactions, preferences, and behaviors to identify subtle patterns, revealing their motivations, pain points, and interests, enabling targeted and personalized communication. 👉 Craft messages that speak to pain points: Tailor messages to address specific fears, concerns, and needs of each individual, demonstrating empathy and understanding, and fostering trust and connection. 👉 Measure success by conversation depth : Evaluate effectiveness by the quality and depth of conversations sparked, rather than just surface-level metrics like open rates, to gauge true engagement and relationship-building. The goal of personalization isn't to manipulate, but to connect. To show up in the buyer's world with empathy and insight. To speak their secret language. What's that one thing you could change in your personalisation strategy today to start speaking your buyer's secret language? #b2bmarketing #saas #abm #contentmarketingstrategy #thoughtleadership #thethoughtleaderway

If I was running ABM at a fast-growing security company (like Wiz, Snyk, or Netskope), here's how I'd avoid wasting money on bad-fit accounts. 👇 AI Segmentation. Most companies segment by industry. They say something like: "We target Tech, Retail, and Hospitality companies with 1,000+ employees." Motel 6 and Airbnb show why this breaks. Same firmographic profiles. But very different business situations, needs, and priorities when it comes to information security (or any tech purchase). You wouldn't sell to them the same way. AI Segmentation helps you uncover and target the highest value segments for your business, beyond basic industries. Here's how I would do this for a security company: 1.) Segment on business situation (not industry). -- Analyze your best customers (high NRR, high ACV). -- Group by specific situations that align to your value prop. e.g. Security Maturity Level, Security Use Cases, Compliance Sensitivity, etc.  -- Find the *natural* clusters based on value, not generic industry labels. 2.) Identify segments with AI. -- Use Keyplay AI to categorize every account in your market. -- Backtest segments against historical data to find which segments have the highest NDR, ACV, and Win Rates. -- Find new ICPs, outside generic vertical groups. 3.) Action the data -- Create ABM plays at intersections with highest win rates. -- Develop content specific to each segment combination (e.g., "Cloud Security for Advanced DevSecOps Teams in Retail") -- Refine your segmentation models as you grow. This process can reduce non-ICP Spend (waste) by 20-30% and help you find thousands of net new target accounts. Don't just throw your budget at industries. Find the segments where your solution resonates most, where you win often, win fast, and win big. That's strategic segmentation. p.s. If you want me and my team to kick-start this process for you, we're offering a free strategic segmentation analysis to CMOs at SaaS security companies with >$20M ARR. Get your report here --> https://lnkd.in/gMezS4Zk #ABM #ICP

Tired of generic LinkedIn messages filling your inbox? Brex just set the bar higher with their Champagne Campaign 🥂— and it’s not about cold outreach, it’s about thoughtfulness and results. Most days, my inbox 📩 is flooded with cold, non-personalised LinkedIn messages. Sure, some of these may convert, but they lack connection. Compare this with what Brex did—an ABM campaign that targeted the right audience, at the right time, and made a real impact. In 2018, Brex was a small team with 30 employees and no customers. Instead of blasting out messages, they targeted 300 startups that had recently raised funding. They didn’t stop there—each of these startups received a bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne 🍾 with a handwritten note 🗒 from Brex’s CEO and a personalised followup email a week later to ask for a demo. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭? A 75% demo booking rate. Of those demos, 75% converted to customers. Net result - 169 new clients from just 300 prospects. All of this with a campaign spend of only $19,000. This approach worked because it’s intentional and personal — Brex took the time to target companies who were at the perfect moment to need their product and followed up with a thoughtful touch. It’s a far cry from the mass outbound methods so many agencies push, which often fail to create meaningful connections. 𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲: Outbound works—but it works better when it’s personal. Stop sending generic messages and start crafting thoughtful, targeted campaigns that create real results. Have you tried personalised outreach in your campaigns? Let’s connect and talk about how ABM can transform your sales approach. #OutboundSales #ABM #PersonalisedMarketing #LeadGeneration #MarketingStrategy #BusinessGrowth #SalesTactics #MarketingROI

🚨 I've been teaching personalization wrong. After analyzing 1,000+ campaigns, I discovered what the 89% who see ROI actually do differently. It's not what you think. While most brands are personalizing EMAILS... The smart ones are personalizing PREDICTIONS. Here's what I found: The $82 Billion Secret: • Predictive analytics market exploding from $18.89B to $82.35B by 2030 • But 73% of companies still react to customer behavior instead of predicting it • The winners? They know what you want before YOU do 3 Things the 89% Do That You Probably Don't: 1️⃣ Entity Optimization (Not Just Keywords) → They use schema markup to make AI understand their content → Result: 2x more discoverable in AI search results → While you optimize for Google, they're optimizing for ChatGPT 2️⃣ Predictive Personalization (Not Reactive) → They analyze intent data to identify prospects before they're ready to buy → Result: 5x faster lead identification and 300% better accuracy → While you send "personalized" emails, they predict customer lifetime value 3️⃣ Behavioral Forecasting (Not Demographics) → They track micro-behaviors across 12+ touchpoints → Result: 122% higher email ROI and 202% better conversion rates → While you segment by age/location, they predict next purchase timing The brutal truth? 76% of consumers get frustrated when brands fail to deliver true personalization. Your customers can smell "Dear [First Name]" from a mile away. But here's what terrifies me: 71% of B2B buyers now EXPECT personalized digital interactions. If you're not using predictive analytics, your competitors who are will capture your market share while you're still guessing what customers want. The question that keeps me up at night: Are you predicting customer behavior or just reacting to it? What's the biggest challenge you face with implementing predictive analytics?

🌟"𝐀𝐈 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐒𝐚𝐮𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐇𝐲𝐩𝐞𝐫-𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 (𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞!)" 🌟 Let’s face it – customers today don’t just want products; they want experiences that feel made for them. And guess what? AI is making that possible at scale. It’s not just a buzzword anymore; it’s a game-changer for sales teams everywhere. Take a look at how some Indian brands are nailing this: 💄𝐍𝐲𝐤𝐚𝐚’𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲 𝐀𝐈 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐫 Ever wished you had a personal beauty consultant who just gets you? Nykaa’s AI does exactly that.   It analyzes your skin tone, hair type, and preferences to recommend products you’ll love. Plus, the virtual try-on feature lets you “test” makeup before buying. 👉 The result? 𝟐𝟓% 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝟏𝟖% 𝐣𝐮𝐦𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 from first-time buyers. When customers feel understood, they’re more likely to hit that “Buy Now” button. 👓𝐋𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐤𝐚𝐫𝐭’𝐬 𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐫𝐲-𝐎𝐧 Buying glasses online used to be a gamble. But Lenskart’s AI changed the game. It scans your face, suggests frames that suit your features, and even nudges you with complementary products (like blue-light glasses) based on your past purchases. 👉 The outcome? 𝐀 𝟓𝟎% 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝟑𝟓% 𝐟𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬.  Customers don’t just buy – they buy with confidence. 🛍️𝐌𝐲𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚’𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 Myntra’s AI is like your personal stylist. It looks at your browsing history, body type, and even regional trends to curate outfits you’ll love. A customer in Jaipur sees ethnic wear, while someone in Mumbai gets trendy streetwear. 👉 The impact?𝐀 𝟑𝟎% 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬.  When recommendations feel personal, customers don’t just browse – they buy. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬? 🚀 𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬: When customers feel understood, they don’t overthink – they just buy. 📈 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬: Personalized offers cut through the noise and reduce choice paralysis. ❤️ 𝐋𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐲: Tailored experiences turn one-time buyers into repeat customers. AI isn’t just a fancy tool; it’s the ultimate sales enabler. It’s helping businesses move from selling products to building relationships. And in a world where customers are bombarded with options, that’s the difference between winning and losing. 🚀 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞? As AI gets smarter, the gap between brands that personalize and those that don’t will only widen. The question isn’t if you should adopt AI – it’s how fast you can do it. What’s your take? Have you seen AI-driven personalization drive sales in your industry? Let’s chat in the comments! 👇 #AIinsales #HyperPersonalization #CustomerExperience #salesgrowth #retailinnovation

WANT CUSTOMER DELIGHT? GO THE EXTRA INCH, NOT THE EXTRA MILE In a world where companies strive to “go the extra mile” for their customers, I propose a counterintuitive thought: You don’t need to go a mile. You just need to go an inch. The smallest, low-cost gestures can have a massive impact on customers, turning ordinary transactions into memorable experiences. The secret - search for the asymmetry between cost and impact. Going the extra inch requires minimal effort and often costs next to nothing. It could be a handwritten note, a smile, a gesture of personal recognition, a small act of kindness. But the effect on customers is profound. It creates emotional connections, fosters loyalty, and makes customers into advocates. The irony - while everyone is busy trying to “go the extra mile,” it is the extra inch that nets you miles of customer loyalty. THE I.N.C.H. FRAMEWORK To master the art of the extra inch, use this simple yet powerful framework: I – Identify Moments of Truth: Look for touchpoints where expectations are neutral or low. These are prime opportunities to surprise and delight. For instance, when I got my car serviced at the Lexus dealership, they washed and vacuumed the car and left a red carnation flower on the dash. I have told more than 10,000 people about the 50-cent carnation. How’s that for ROI? N – Notice the Little Things: Train employees to observe and remember small details about customers—preferences, moods, or special occasions. At the Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai, I asked for a memory foam pillow. Every time I stay there, they put a memory foam pillow on my bed. C – Customize the Experience: Personalize the interaction or gesture. Even the smallest customization can create a huge emotional impact. At Chewy, when a customer returned dog food after their pet passed away, they received a condolence card and flowers. It wasn’t about making a sale; it was about showing empathy. H – Humanize the Interaction: Move beyond scripted conversations. Authenticity and empathy resonate more than robotic efficiency. At Café Lucci, our favorite Italian restaurant in Chicago, the valet, the server, and the owner Bobby - all know us, know our kids, and always ask about the family. We are customers for life! In the race to “go the extra mile,” it’s easy to overlook the power of the extra inch. The secret to exceptional customer service isn’t grand gestures or expensive perks—it’s the tiny, thoughtful actions that leave a lasting impression. Going the extra inch is about mastering the art of the unexpected. It’s about creating emotional connections through small acts of kindness and thoughtfulness. So, the next time you think about how to delight a customer, remember: You don’t have to go the extra mile. Just go the extra inch. You will get miles of loyalty. #Marketing #CustomerExperience #Loyalty #Advocacy