Hyper-Personalization is the Need of the Hour in the Post-Pandemic Era, Says IDC India

INDIA – In a recent report, titled Redefining User Experience: Evolving Requirements and the Role of Data in Driving Real-Time Hyper-Personalized Engagement, IDC analyzes how customer experience has evolved and highlights the need for effective use of customer data and hyper-personalized engagement.

As good customer experience (CX) often influences future purchase decisions, increasing customer engagement and satisfaction is the top business priority for about 1/5th of the Indian organizations, according to IDC India Digital Transformation Survey, April 2022.

When the pandemic hit, more consumers started to use digital channels and platforms for daily tasks such as buying groceries, opening a bank account, purchasing medicines, etc., thus changing customer interaction and expectations. The digital interactions resulted in a significant amount of customer data being collected from diverse applications. Indian organizations can leverage this opportunity that was led by the pandemic through “hyper-personalization”.

“COVID-19 has had a significant impact on how brands interact with customers. Customer communications will need to be more proactive, consistent, and scalable. Hyper-personalization can serve the purpose of retaining more customers,” says Rithika Ponnala, Senior Market Analyst, Digital Transformation practices, IDC India.

Fig 1: CX is the top business priority for Indian Organizations

Hyper-personalization is a common approach that involves the use of data, analytics/AI, and automation to personalize the consumers in the most effective ways. With increased personalization (or hyper-personalization), companies can enhance their customer engagement and experience.

“While the tsunami of data is overwhelming, it offers many great opportunities like increased efficiency to enhanced user experience. Organizations are attracting and holding users’ attention through personalized communication and customized experience and creating a hyper-personalized user experience,” says Neha Gupta, Senior Research Manager, IDC India.

Other key aspects covered in this IDC Perspective Report are the key recommendations for the implementation of hyper-personalization:

• Breaking data silos: Data stored in varied legacy locations will need to be consolidated as a single source so that data can be cleaned, analyzed, and put into use.

• Investing in technologies: Data integration tools, Big Data technologies, and AI/ML are some of the technologies that can be utilized for realizing the value of structured and unstructured customer data.

• Have a CX Lead and CX dashboard: Once the data and the related technologies are in place, organizations will need to narrow down on the critical metrics that define the business environment. With a CX dashboard and a dedicated chief, the customer data will be utilized, and the usage will be monitored.

• Maintain the right balance between personalization and privacy: Data privacy is one of the challenges that enterprises mention when asked about factors holding them back from investing in data-related technologies and practices. While India is on the way to renewing the laws that govern data and privacy, it is critical for organizations that are prioritizing hyper-personalization to maintain the balance.

The complete report is available here – IDC Perspective: Redefining User Experience: Evolving Requirements and the Role of Data in Driving Real-Time Hyper-Personalized Engagement (Doc #AP48913522). This report provides an insight into how the pandemic has impacted customer interaction, experience, and engagement. This report also analyzes the vendors’ initiatives as a result of the COVID-19 impact.

IDC’s Future of Customer Experience highlights that the relationship between customers and businesses will be built on cognitive empathy – requiring business leaders to make strategic decisions that emphasize experiences, journeys, trust, and satisfaction. The complete framework is available here.