Personalization in marketing can drive up to 25% of a brand’s total revenue. Customers are likelier to engage with messages, ads and experiences that match their needs.
Adopting personalization best practices is essential for boosting engagement and driving conversions.
Learn how personalized marketing works and why it’s critical for improving your digital marketing efforts in 2025.
We’ll cover:
• What Is Personalized Marketing?
• Examples of Personalization in Digital Marketing
• Why Should Brands Personalize Digital Marketing?
• How Personalization Can Benefit Your Brand
• Personalized Digital Marketing Trends to Look Out for in 2025
• Digital Marketing Personalization Best Practices
What Is Personalized Marketing?
Personalized marketing is a strategy that uses consumer data to create individualized messages and experiences appropriate for each stage of the buyer’s journey.
Marketing personalization can be categorized by the type of data used to tailor the customer experience:
➤ Behavioral Personalization: Based on actions, such as past purchases, browsing history or email interactions.
➤ Contextual Personalization: Adjusts messaging based on the customer’s current situation, such as their position in the sales funnel or location.
➤ Demographic Personalization: Uses factors like age, gender or income to create relevant messages for specific audience segments.
Examples of Personalization in Digital Marketing
In digital marketing and depending on the brand, personalization can look like:
• Product Recommendations: Suggest additional items based on a customer’s recent purchases.
• Personalized Rewards: Offering incentives aligned with a customer’s preferences, such as exclusive discounts or loyalty perks.
• Targeted Emails: Sending personalized emails tailored to customer needs, like recommendations based on previous purchases or geographically relevant offers.
• Online Shopping Filters: Allowing users to customize their shopping experience by filtering products to match their preferences while collecting data to improve targeting.
• Free Trial Offers: Providing free trials in exchange for basic information or survey responses, helping gather data for future personalized marketing.
• Products with Buyer Names: Offering personalized products featuring customer names, creating a sense of individuality and a unique shopping experience.
• Coupons: Sending personalized coupons based on customer demographics or spending habits to encourage repeat purchases.
• Dynamic Websites: Using real-time data to create personalized website experiences that adapt to individual user preferences and behaviors. For instance, travel companies may adjust their homepage to highlight destinations a visitor recently researched.
• Social Media Marketing (SMM): Delivering personalized content on social platforms using tools like automation to send targeted offers, such as birthday discounts or location-based promotions.
Why Should Brands Personalize Digital Marketing?
Personalized shopping experiences encourage repeat buyers, leading to higher transactional rates, better buyer retention and increased revenue per transaction. Studies show personalized strategies can increase revenue by as much as 15%.
On the other hand, a lack of personalization, such as using generic ad messaging, frustrates 63% of consumers, while 62% of brands would stop supporting a brand that fails to provide personalized experiences (Statista).
Yes, personalization in marketing can be resource-intensive (and not to mention costly) since it requires more skills, advanced tools and strategic planning. However, in the next section, you’ll find that the return on investment (ROI) outweighs the cost.
6 Benefits of Digital Marketing Personalization
Personalization has always been the backbone of successful digital marketing campaigns. It can reduce customer acquisition costs by as much as 50%, lift revenues by 5-15% and increase marketing ROI by 10-30%.
But beyond the monetary gains, personalization marketing can also:
• Drive repeat purchases
• Increase brand engagement
• Boost brand loyalty and retention
• Improve omnichannel marketing efforts
• Enhance lead generation
• Better customer retargeting
1. Drive Repeat Purchases
Personalized shopping experiences build loyalty and encourage repeat purchases. Research shows that 57% of consumers are more likely to spend on brands that offer personalized experiences (twilio).
2. Increase Brand Engagement
Personalized marketing targets specific customer segments with relevant content to build stronger connections. Globally, 54% of marketers report improved brand engagement through personalization, resulting in higher conversions and better promotion responses (eMarketer).
3. Boost Brand Loyalty Through Transparency
Consumers value personalized experiences, but only when their data is handled securely. While 48% of customers appreciate the convenience personalization offers, 40% don’t trust companies to use their data ethically, and 30% refuse to share data altogether (KPMG).
Transparency builds trust. Customers are more likely to engage When they understand what data they’re sharing and the benefits they’ll receive. A Forrester survey found that 31% of adults are willing to share data for cash rewards, and 22% are willing to share data for loyalty program points.
There’s more to gain from personalization marketing when improving brand loyalty, but only if you can reassure customers that their data is secure and provide them with an offer worth their while.
4. Improve Omnichannel Marketing Efforts
Omnichannel marketing ensures a seamless experience across all customer touchpoints. Customers expect to interact with brands consistently in-store, on an app or by browsing social media.
Personalization enhances this experience by making each touchpoint customized to the individual and contextual to their current needs. When personalized across all channels, brands can meet customer expectations, improve engagement and enhance the effectiveness of their omnichannel strategy.
5. Enhanced Lead Generation
Personalization marketing is key to building trust with your audience. When you show that you understand their needs and solve their problems, customers are more willing to share their feedback and information. This makes it easier to generate quality leads and start building those relationships.
6. Better Customer Retargeting
Customers don’t always make a purchase immediately. It often takes several interactions before they’re ready to buy. Personalization helps you nurture relationships, keeping leads engaged and ready to convert when the time is right.
Personalization Trends in Digital Marketing to Look Out for in 2025
From AI technology to privacy-first strategies, knowing what you’re up against will help you create more personalized marketing campaigns. Here are digital marketing trends to watch out for in 2025:
1. Hyper-Personalized Experiences
Hyper-personalized digital marketing uses AI, machine learning and real-time data to create highly tailored experiences. It analyzes customer behaviors and preferences to deliver relevant content, products or services at the right time.
This could include personalized store experiences or targeted ads, which increase customer satisfaction and sales.
However, hyper-personalization requires large amounts of consumer data and advanced technology. Make sure you have the right infrastructure in place before implementing this strategy.
2. AI-Powered Personalization
Second on our list of digital marketing updates for 2025 is AI-powered personalization. Artificial intelligence (AI) can analyze customer preferences, purchase histories and browsing data, helping you optimize offers for specific individuals. This allows you to tailor your marketing to each customer’s preferences, offering products at the pricing point that suits them best.
3. Predictive Personalization
Predictive personalization helps brands understand and respond to customers’ evolving needs. Unlike generative AI, which learns from behavioral patterns and traits to predict future actions, predictive personalization uses advanced machine learning to analyze customer data and deliver more relevant, timely experiences.
This data-driven approach ensures brands can offer personalized content, products or services that align with customers’ changing preferences.
4. Balancing Personalization and Privacy
As privacy concerns grow, consumers are becoming more aware of their rights, and governments in regions like the U.S., Europe, China and Brazil are imposing stricter penalties on brands that violate data privacy laws.
For brands, balancing personalization with privacy is essential to avoid losing the very customers they want to engage.
Many brands are turning to first- and zero-party data – information customers willingly share, such as preferences or purchase history. Unlike third-party data, which is bought from external sources, this data is owned by the brand, making it a more secure and trusted way to personalize experiences.
Staying updated with digital marketing updates and privacy regulations ensures brands maintain compliance and foster trust with their audience.
5. Mobile Experience Personalization
Mobile eCommerce is projected to reach $3.4 trillion by 2027 as more people shop on mobile devices (Forbes). With this growth, customers expect convenience, instant access to information and personalized experiences that meet their needs.
Brands with mobile apps can use customer data and behavior analytics to send personalized push notifications about limited-time sales, promotions or new product launches. These notifications encourage users to engage more and keep shopping through the app.
6. Using Facial Recognition Technology
Last on our list of 2025 trends in digital marketing is the use of facial recognition for optimizing marketing strategies. Facial recognition technology has a near-perfect accuracy of 99.5%. It helps brands track customer movements, monitor foot traffic and analyze shopping behavior.
This allows brands to gather important demographic data, improve product placement and create a more personalized and effective in-store experience for their customers.
3 Digital Marketing Personalization Best Practices
Successfully implementing personalized marketing strategies requires a customer-first mindset. Your audience needs to see value in sharing data and understand how it benefits their experience.
Transparency builds trust, and trust fuels engagement. Follow these best practices to ensure your personalized marketing strategies deliver results:
1. Don’t Overstep Boundaries
Personalization in marketing works, but overstepping your boundaries can backfire. Here’s how to avoid that:
• Respect Privacy Concerns: Customers are cautious about sharing personal data. Avoid overly specific details in messaging to prevent discomfort. Personalization should feel helpful, not invasive.
• Save It for High-Impact Moments: Use personalization where it matters most, like support calls or in-store interactions. Avoid overwhelming customers with frequent, hyper-targeted ads or recommendations.
• Offer Opt-In Options: Let customers choose personalization by offering clear options, like newsletter sign-ups, account creation, loyalty programs or enabling push notifications.
2. Build Consumer Trust First
Customers are more willing to share data with brands they trust. Build that trust by delivering a smooth experience and reliable support. Instead of personalizing every interaction upfront, wait until after purchase or once the relationship is stronger.
Trust is earned through action. Provide easy, frustration-free experiences and be available with responsive support when customers need it. Each positive interaction reinforces confidence, making customers more willing to share data for personalized marketing.
3. Protect Customer Data
Data security is non-negotiable. Mishandling personal information can lead to legal issues and erode your reputation. Here’s how to safeguard customer data effectively:
• Follow Strict Data Protection Protocols: Ensure your brand complies with privacy laws and industry standards. Let customers know how their data is stored, used and secured.
• Always Seek Consent: Explicit opt-ins for personalization campaigns build trust and reduce the risk of legal complications. Always give customers the option to withdraw consent or opt out entirely.
• Share Your Privacy Policy: Provide a clear, easily accessible privacy policy. Customers appreciate transparency and the assurance that their data is being handled responsibly.
• Limit Data Collection: Only request the information you truly need. Collecting excessive data can come across as intrusive and increase the risk of a breach.
Make 2025 Your Year With Personalized Digital Experiences
Customer expectations for personalization are higher than ever. To stay ahead, it’s crucial to balance digital and in-person experiences while meeting your audience’s unique preferences.
Discover the level of personalization your customers want and create strategies that engage them at every stage of their journey. Let Thrive Internet Marketing Agency help you develop a custom digital marketing strategy that includes:
• Content Marketing
• Copywriting
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Social Media Marketing (SMM)
• Web Design and Development
• Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Marketing
• Email Marketing
• User Experience (UX) Testing
Ready to build high ROI campaigns? Speak to our digital marketing experts today.
