Nearly two-thirds (64%) of consumers believe personalized recommendations are important, and nearly a third (30%) go so far as to say personalized recommendations are one of the best ways brands can improve their overall digital experience.
However, consumers say greater personalization should not come at the expense of privacy and data governance, with 92% citing that brands need to use their data responsibly.
That’s according to Adobe’s Digital Trends Report, which surveyed more than 1,000 UK consumers about how they want brands to interact with them online.
More than half (57%) of consumers say they are happy with brands using their age and gender to personalize their experiences, but are less comfortable receiving personalized experiences based on their ethnicity (28%), of their browsing history (Web; 25%). % or social media; 21%) and income (15%).
The survey also identified an equally strong desire among marketers to further personalize their activities and campaigns, with generative AI expected to play a crucial role in extending personalization to their entire 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 create emails, messages and more texts. Despite this early adoption, the majority of UK marketing respondents (56%) are proceeding cautiously, ensuring the quality of AI-generated content to maintain customer trust.
Christophe Marée, Marketing Director EMEA at Adobe, said: “Generative AI has the potential to revolutionize the way brands and marketers interact with their customers. While this allows for a high degree of personalization at scale across an entire customer base, marketers must stay within the comfort level of their audience. Marketers expect personalized experiences, but also have strong opinions about what data should or should not be used. Generative AI presents itself as a powerful tool, but the message to brands is clear: they must be careful not to overstep the boundaries, 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 personalization from their bank than from healthcare providers or grocery retailers.
- Personalization must go beyond simply knowing who your customer is, it must take into account the relationship with the brand and past interactions; 31% of UK consumers want offers that are relevant to them, putting them above the simple courtesy of using their name (23%).
- People expect more personalization from some industries than 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 shopping, only 12% expect the same .
Shoppers are happy that AI makes recommendations and speeds up the shopping experience, but they want to know when they are interacting with a robot or a human.
- The majority of consumers are happy with AI making suggestions (84%) and recommendations (81%).
- More than two-thirds (67%) are at least somewhat comfortable with brands using AI-generated images to make marketing messages more appealing, but 83% say it’s important to know whether they are addressed to a robot 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 – in-store, over the phone and digitally.
- Consumers want to navigate between self-service channels and human or AI-assisted channels. Four in ten shoppers (9%) say a seamless move from self-service to a human agent would improve their digital experience, and 37% want improvements to self-service 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%) are using Gen AI to compose emails, messages and other text. 21% use Gen AI to personalize images, infographics or video content.
- 45% of senior executives expect the ability to personalize content at scale across all channels to have the greatest impact on their business in 2024.
- More than two-fifths (42%) of companies say they plan to improve their self-service portals for a better customer experience as a primary goal of using Gen AI in 2024.
- More than half (58%) say the top challenge brands will face in managing Gen AI content in 2024 is ensuring quality and customer trust, and 56% mention monitoring AI content (for accuracy, quality control and to moderate potentially harmful results, for example). as the top Gen AI challenge for brands this year.
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