Almost two-thirds (64%) of consumers feel personalised recommendations are important and nearly a third (30%) go as far as to say that personalised recommendations are one of the top ways that brands can improve their overall digital experience.
However, consumers say greater personalisation must not come at the expense of privacy and data governance with 92% citing that brands must use their data responsibly.
This is according to Adobe’s Digital Trends Report, which surveyed more than 1,000 UK consumers about how they want brands to engage with them online.
More than half (57%) of consumers said they were happy for their age and gender to be used by brands to personalise their experiences but are less comfortable to receive tailored experiences based on their ethnicity (28%), browsing history (web; 25% or social media; 21%) and income (15%).
The survey also identified a similarly strong desire among marketers for increased personalisation in their activities and campaigns, with generative AI expected to play a crucial role in scaling personalisation across their customer base. More than a third (38%) of marketers have already started using Generative AI solutions, and a quarter (25%) are using generative AI to craft emails, messages, and other copy. Despite this early uptake, the majority of marketing respondents from the UK (56%) are proceeding with caution, being careful to ensure the quality of AI generated content to maintain trust with customers.
Christophe Marée, EMEA marketing director at Adobe, said: “Generative AI has the potential to revolutionise the way brands and marketers engage with their customers. While it enables a high degree of personalisation at scale across an entire customer base, marketers need to keep within the comfort level of their audience. Marketers expect personalised experiences, but also have firm opinions on which data should and shouldn’t be used. Generative AI stands to be a powerful tool, but the message to brands is clear – they must take care not to overstep the mark, use it responsibly by training their AI on authentic and certified content, and maintain a high degree of transparency and data governance.”
Key findings include:
People expect more personalisation from their bank than they do from healthcare providers or grocery retailers
- Personalisation needs to go beyond just knowing who your customer is, it needs to take into account the relationship with the brand and past interactions; 31% of UK consumers want offers that are relevant to them, ranking it above the basic courtesy of using their name (23%).
- People expect more personalisation from some industries compared with others. 28% of UK consumers expect their bank to address them by name in all digital communications. When it comes to healthcare providers, 25% expect to be addressed by name in all digital communications, and in groceries, only 12% expect the same.
Shoppers are happy for AI to make recommendations and speed up the shopping experience, but they want to know when they are interacting with a bot or a human
- The majority of consumers are happy for AI to make suggestions (84%) and recommendations (81%)
- More than two-thirds (67%) are at least fairly comfortable with brands using AI-generated images to make marketing messages more engaging, but 83% say it’s important to know whether they are talking to a bot or a human.
- 67% are looking for a “more interactive” online shopping experience.
In retail, consumers want a seamless customer experience no matter what platform they use
- 76% of UK consumers expect a seamless experience across all customer channels – both in-store, over the phone and digital.
- Consumers want to glide between self-serve and human or AI-assisted channels. Four in ten shoppers (9%) say a seamless transfer from self-serve to a human agent would improve their digital experience, and 37% want improvements to self-serve options.
Marketers are already using Generative AI to accelerate content production and targeting
- More than a third of UK consumers surveyed (38%) are already implementing initial Gen AI solutions, and a quarter (25%) use Gen AI to craft emails, messages and other copy. 21% use Gen AI to personalise images, infographics or video content.
- 45% of senior executives expect the ability to personalise content at scale across channels to have the biggest impact on their business in 2024.
- More than two-fifths (42%) of companies say they are enhancing self-service portals for better customer experience as their top plan to use Gen AI in 2024.
- More than half (58%) say the top challenge facing brands in managing Gen AI content in 2024 is ensuring quality and customer trust, and 56% list monitoring AI content (for accuracy, quality control and to moderate potentially harmful outputs, for instance) as the top Gen AI challenge for brands this year.
Interested in hearing leading global brands discuss subjects like this in person? Find out more about Digital Marketing World Forum (#DMWF) Europe, London, North America, and Singapore.
