The future of 1:1 marketing: Exploring challenges & personalization trends

Insights from B2B marketers

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Introduction

In a world where marketing budgets are tighter than ever and competition has never been fiercer, it's never been more difficult to successfully reach and engage with customers. In fact, 55% of marketers say it’s become harder to reach customers than it was five years ago.

We asked 120 global B2B SaaS marketing leaders about the challenges they’re currently facing. Unsurprisingly, they indicated that the main blockers were capturing customer attention, an increased number of touchpoints required, and differentiation against competitors.

In these challenging times, personalized 1:1 marketing is the key to success, with more customers preferring individual interactions over generic messaging. Read on for our full findings and learn why personalization is important to any B2B marketing strategy.

of marketers say it's become harder to reach customers
over the last five years.

Key marketing challenges


Despite significant technological advancements, marketers continue to face challenges in attributing marketing effectiveness. With the added pressure of budget cuts, determining where to invest and how to allocate resources remains a core issue.


The top three challenges identified by our respondents are:

top three challenges including capturing high quality leads, ROI measurement, and reduced marketing budgets


Of those marketers who have found it harder to reach customers in the last five years, three challenges stuck out in particular, underpinning the need for tailored marketing strategies and communications:

More difficult to capture customer attention

Increase in the number of touchpoints required

        Harder to differentiate against competitors

86%

of respondents consider personalized 1:1 marketing essential for B2B marketing success, with most recognizing its importance.

This approach shifts from mass marketing to tailored interactions meeting customers' unique needs and interests directly.

“Personalization will become a major factor. With so many businesses and brands offering the same things, you need to stand out.”

Survey respondent

Trends in personalized 1:1 marketing

63%

of respondents see 1:1 marketing as a trendsetter rather than a passing trend which emphasizes content tailored to each individual.

When asked which method marketers preferred brands to engage with them, social media (40%) and 1:1 email (33%) were the clear favorites.

This was significantly more so than mass email, which polled at 13%.

The most popular types of personalized content include:

  • Social media

  • Videos

  • Emails

  • Discounts for close customer relationships

Written content such as case studies, blogs, and whitepapers were also noted.

Preferred method for brand engagement

  The ability to tailor content and interactions to fit each person's unique   preferences and behaviors is a powerful way for marketers to stand out.

Answers from our survey

“Content that proves/shows our company as friendly, innovative and technically competent - that pulls our audience into choosing to engage with us.”

Survey respondent

“Calls, and well researched one-off, completely custom emails.”

Survey respondent

“Anything we can create or owned media channels and using our own data, like mass email, business email, etc.”

Survey respondent

“In engaging target audiences on a 1:1 basis, personalized content tailored to individual preferences and needs tends to be most effective. This includes personalized emails, tailored product recommendations, interactive content, personalized landing pages, and targeted social media messages.”

Survey respondent

“Personalization will improve as AI automation emerges, it's really difficult to do manually.”

Survey respondent

“All of them lack that close customer engagement, with the continued development of AI on one side and need to be "authentic" on the other, it's only a matter of time when the time will inevitably collide to create something (whether it's another social media platform or an augmented generated networking event) that precisely targets clients on a mass scale without the extreme workload.”

Survey respondent

But personalized marketing isn't just about the type of interactions and channels you use. It's also about knowing how customers are converting.

We've found that the number of touchpoints to convert a sale has gone up compared to five years ago.

4%


as many marketers say it takes more than 11 touchpoints to convert a sale when compared to five years ago.

Number of touchpoints to close a sale: Now vs five years ago

Industry analyses reveal that buyers now prefer to do extensive online research, completing more than 70% of the purchasing process on their own before reaching out to sales or looking for demos and pricing. This trend highlights the need to focus on content marketing and truly understand your buyers' needs. By clearly showcasing your product's value, you can effectively engage and attract potential buyers.

Technologies enabling personalization

Preferred tooling or technology

When exploring the best technologies for personalized marketing, CRM systems emerged as the top choice for customizing strategies for each client, with 72% of marketers in agreement.

Social media and marketing automation tools also play a key role for 55% of marketers, while 36% see the potential of AI and machine learning in improving personalization and targeting.

As technology continues to evolve, marketers can use these tools for even more precise and effective personalized marketing efforts.

The effectiveness of personalization efforts

Marketing has undergone a significant transformation from the age of traditional mass media. This shift has included the emergence of email and social media, evolving further into the collection and analysis of large data sets to develop personalized messaging strategies.

But just how successful have marketers been so far at personalization? And what does the future hold for personalization?

The majority of those surveyed (58%) believe that the Data-Driven Marketing Era has been the most successful in 1:1 marketing. This stands to reason, as the data that marketers have been able to access over the last decade has revolutionized our automation efforts

Interestingly, 30% of respondents believe that we still haven’t seen the most impactful marketing era, with AI set to revolutionize our use of data and automation.

This shift is fueled by customer demands for seamless, personalized marketing, a standard set by giants like Netflix and the B2C market.

B2B marketing personalization has seen remarkable progress in recent years, indicating that we are on the verge of a significant transformation.

of marketers say it's become harder to reach
customers over the last five years.

Which marketing era has been the most successful in personalized 1:1 marketing?

58%

The Data-Driven Marketing Era

Launch of targeted marketing with the ability to gather and analyze data across digital platforms

5%

The Traditional Marketing Era

Focused on offine channels like print, television, radio, and billboards

8%

The Internet
Era

1990s-2000s with the arrival of email and social media networks

Measuring personalization

Conversion rates remain the most popular way to measure the effectiveness of personalization efforts, as voted for by 78% of respondents. Customer retention followed (46%) and then click through rates (38%).

Measuring success of personalization

“Understanding the areas to focus on with data, not only helps reduce expenses but allows you to connect with your targeted audience easier.”

Survey respondent

The future of 1:1 marketing

Our research suggests that the next era is poised for a significant evolution in 1:1 marketing.

This will be driven by advancements in AI, and the need to create authentic connections at scale.


Marketers anticipate AI technologies to have a potential to:

“Customers and people still want to feel valued so will still want human contact, but marketing techniques may have to adapt with AI and be able to embrace it.”

Survey respondent

Increase data management efficiencies

Assist in creating personalized marketing campaigns and customer experiences

Enhance the targeting process; as we've seen with technologies like LinkedIn Lookalike Audiences

“The future of marketing will be driven by AI-powered personalization predictive analytics, and omnichannel integration to deliver seamless and relevant experiences across multiple touchpoints...”

Survey respondent

In conclusion

With 86% of participants acknowledging the crucial role of 1:1 marketing in B2B success, companies that employ personalized marketing strategies—such as account-based marketing, individualized emails, and tailored email signatures—place themselves at a strategic advantage to seize opportunities and propel technological advancement.

Exclaimer is ideal for a future focused on personalization and tech adaptability. Its platform allows for customized content and promotions in individual emails, enabling personalization at scale. Marketers can use this to send content tailored to each recipient's stage in the buying process.

Learn how to optimize the high volume of 1:1 emails to boost lead generation, improve conversion,and drive revenue. Then, get an interactive product tour to see this in action.

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This global survey was commissioned by Exclaimer and conducted by FINITE, with a sample of 120 SaaS marketers.

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