Personalization is a force multiplier - and a business necessity - that the vast majority of consumers have come to consider a basic expectation. Organizations capable of creating and activating this capability on a large scale can put customer lifetime value on a new trajectory - leading to revenue growth, superior retention and richer, more stimulating long-term relationships. 

Brands personalize content, offers and services to promote customer engagement. Basic personalization strategies, such as starting an email with the customer's name, can help, even if the customer knows that this is an automated process. 

These are five actions that brands can implement to accelerate personalization and create value: 

Rely on data and analysis to identify opportunities. By analyzing the entire customer lifecycle, brands can build a granular view of where there is most value. This takes advantage of customer segments and micro-segments, taking into account behavioral, transactional and engagement trends. This knowledge can be used to define and quantify personalization objectives and sustain efforts in customer-centric key performance indicators (KPIs). 

Invest in rapid activation capabilities powered by advanced analytics. Develop content creation at scale and AI-based decision-making capabilities to be able to respond to customer signals in real time. We can use analytics and predictive models to determine which content and messages should be delivered to which customers (for example, propensity models or next-action predictive algorithms) or establish robust measurement processes that track the impact of customer interventions and feed that information back to your systems and teams. These processes help you deliver the right content through the most effective channels along the customer journey. 

Invest in MarTech and fit-for-purpose data. Target a specific set of customer results and case studies that support them. This makes it possible to align organizational resources around these cases and work from the desired results to build the data roadmap, select the tools and identify the enablers and investment needed to deliver the expected results. 

Commit to an agile operating model. Brands that succeed in scaling personalization create teams that cover marketing, product, analysis and technology, using an integrated approach. Each area is responsible for specific elements of the personalization journey. Together, these teams carry out hundreds of tests a year, based on advanced data analysis and test-and-learn techniques. 

Investing in talent and training to improve skills. Focus on the skills needed to support large-scale personalization (e.g. advanced analytics, product management or performance marketing). Then map these capabilities against the current talent base, using the results to guide hiring, training and skills improvement. This approach allows organizations to anticipate the skills and tools they need as their personalization program progresses.