Personalization is the competitive edge: Are you set up to win?

The experience an organization delivers to its customers is what sets it apart from the competition.   

In a world where products and services are becoming increasingly commoditized, experience is the differentiator. The brands that win aren’t just selling a product; they’re delivering seamless, personalized journeys that make customers feel understood and valued at every interaction. 

At Horizontal Digital, we believe that omnichannel personalization is your organization’s key to richer user engagements, profitability and greater operational intelligence.

Yet, despite the undeniable impact of personalization, most businesses still struggle to execute it effectively. For personalization to truly be effective, it needs to be served at every customer moment – whether they’re walking into your store, shopping online, looking for service, or receiving tailored product recommendations.  

Simply put: personalization isn’t just for digital. And the brands that master personalization see measurable results. 

 

McKinsey’s research shows that companies excelling at personalization generate 40% more revenue from these efforts compared to average players. Across U.S. industries, those that operate at the highest level of personalization are found to generate over $1 trillion in value.  

The more a brand leverages personalized experiences, the more they win market share and long-term customer loyalty. 

At Horizontal, our experts always say that you’re only as good as your worst customer experience. And if you’re not delivering personalized connected experiences, you are falling behind your competitors. Or even worse—you’re creating dissatisfied customers that will leave you for other companies that do make their lives easier, faster, and more empowering.  

The root of personalization is relationships 

What separates the best-in-class brands from the rest? Their customers walk away from brand interactions feeling understood, valued, and delighted. 

To create personalized experiences that truly resonate, businesses need to take a relationship-first approach—mirroring the way we nurture personal connections in our own lives. If a business really wants to create lifelong customers, they should think about their customer relationships similarly. 

Let’s break this down further. Most of us desire customer experiences that... 

• Understand and recognize you: Truly discovering and learning about individual preferences, interests and passions. 
  
  
• Anticipate your needs: By knowing you to better anticipate your wants and needs, how you’ll feel and what will make you happy  
  
  
• Grow with you: Healthy relationships require work to be maintained – and they’re a journey, not a destination. Over time, people change. This not only needs to be acknowledged, but also fully embraced, to continually evolve with you (so the first two pillars of understanding and anticipating needs do not become neglected).  
  
  
• Surpass your expectations: Never stop looking for moments to delight, remembering it’s both the big things AND the little things that count. Ultimately, it’s about not taking anything for granted. No one likes falling into the trap of sweatpants mode within a relationship – where you’re just going through the motions and checking the box. That’s when things get stale and loyalty begins to erode.  
  
  

Just as personal relationships require attention and effort to flourish, so do customer relationships. The more your customers trust you, the more data they will opt in to give you—and in turn, making your personalization segments and messages more relevant. Businesses that apply this mindset to their personalization strategies will build deeper connections and lasting brand loyalty.  

Pivot your perspective on personalization 

By now, you probably already know that personalization is more than just dropping a customer’s name into an email subject line. It’s not just another marketing tactic; it’s a mindset, a philosophy that puts customers at the heart of everything your organization does. The most successful companies are shaping their entire business around individualized experiences. 

And that’s because true personalization demands a synchronized, connected experience approach—one that blends strategy, data, UX, and technology to craft tailored experiences at scale.  

Just like a well-oiled machine, your teams and platforms need to work in total unison to deliver a seamless and cohesive journey for customers as they flow through the funnel—from touchpoint to touchpoint jumping in and out of channels they’re engaged with. Every touchpoint should feel intuitive, every interaction should build on the last, and every channel should seamlessly connect to the next.