Marketers face gap in UK consumer personalisation efforts

A new report by SAP Emarsys has highlighted a perceived gap between intent and execution in the personalisation of consumer marketing campaigns in the UK.

The Consumer Products Engagement Report from SAP Emarsys found that only 44% of UK consumer product marketers feel their campaigns and content are effectively personalised. The research reflects similar sentiments from UK consumers, with only 44% reporting they receive personalised experiences while shopping for consumer products. This is despite 61% of consumers indicating that personalised content influences their purchasing decisions.

An important aspect of the report is the introduction of the Customer Engagement Maturity (CEM) score, a benchmark designed to assess a brand's preparedness to optimise its customer engagement strategies. This scoring aims to equip marketers with the insights needed to align with the evolving expectations of consumers.

Sara Richter, Chief Marketing Officer at SAP Emarsys, commented on the findings. "There's a clear gap between what consumers expect and what marketers feel able to deliver," she stated. "Brands like Krispy Kreme that close this gap by embracing the 'Engagement Era' and scaling personalisation effectively will be the ones that earn true customer loyalty."

The report also calls attention to the importance of executing personalisation across various channels, forming a cohesive omnichannel strategy. Email remains a prevalent medium at 44%, but other channels such as live chat (16%), social media (13%), and SMS (13%) are increasingly playing significant roles, particularly among younger demographics.

Despite most marketers acknowledging the potential of personalisation — with 86% recognising it as a key differentiator by 2025 — challenges persist. Notably, only 28% of marketers from brands with lower CEM scores report effective customer data utilisation, compared to 56% from higher maturity brands.

SAP Emarsys positions its Customer Engagement platform as a solution to address these challenges, advocating for AI-driven real-time personalisation across all points of customer interaction. Krispy Kreme serves as an example, having achieved a 53% increase in leads and marked engagement improvements through the use of predictive AI in collaboration with SAP Emarsys.

Vaibhav Suri, eCommerce Marketing Executive at Krispy Kreme, shared his experience with the platform: "It's really easy to understand. The amount of data that we're able to extract from SAP Emarsys, and the data dashboards as well, are super helpful for us to then analyse and implement new journeys or really optimise our current ones. So overall, it's been a great experience using SAP Emarsys, as I believe it's a super simple but, super effective platform as well."

The findings in the SAP Emarsys report underline the need for brands to adapt rapidly to the expectations of the 'Engagement Era', where personalisation is not just expected but essential for maintaining relevance and competitive advantage.