Organic surveyed 250 senior marketers in both small and large businesses across the UK. The aim was to analyse attitudes towards personalisation, the potential benefits and whether an organisation is achieving it.

The findings indicate that very few companies are actually using personalisation successfully, but it points towards the implementation of strategy rather than the strategy itself as the problem. Organic highlights the introduction of effective content, data and tech as the solution to these issues.

Respondents said their key focus for improving personalised communications was content, with 42% naming better customer content as the priority. In addition, 39% stated being able to serve more appropriate and valuable content was the most important feature of personalisation, while 35% cited the provision of better customer understanding as the main benefit.

The biggest challenges in delivering personalised customer experiences, were found to be ineffective use of data for 39%, inadequate technology for 30% and high cost of solutions for 27%, followed by lack of skills in business and lack of first-party data, for 26% and 25% respectively. Further analysis revealed concerns around siloed data and compliance with data regulations.

Tim Burley, head of client services at Organic, says, “While most marketers are well aware of the value that personalisation can add, excellence remains an elusive goal for too many. Getting control of the right technology, data and content requires a range of skills, and finding the right partner is often vital.”

Organic says these findings are important as it allows businesses to identify the main barriers preventing effective personalised communications. To find out more, access the full whitepaper here.