First, the bad news: nearly half of U.S. consumers are less responsive to mass-marketing — and companies who still depend on that are playing a fool’s game. Now, the good news: Brands that make any attempts to personalize how they engage with those customers will reap the benefits long-term.

According to a new survey of 1,000 online adults in the U.S. conducted by Responsys, 44 percent of consumers admit they are less responsive to nonpersonalized, mass marketing communications. What’s more, over half (53 percent) of survey respondents say they are more likely to purchase when a brand personalizes digital communications.

“Consumers are demanding more personalized relationships with their favorite brands, so as marketers we must provide our customers with the most relevant content at the right moment throughout the customer journey,” said Alexandra Braunstein, Senior Marketing Manager at XO Group Inc., a global media and technology leader with brands like The Knot and The Bump.

In order to win over today’s consumers, companies must build and maintain authentic, lasting relationships with each of them. That’s easier said than done with limited resources and a growing customer base, but here are some important tasks that any marketing team can implement as it embraces marketing practices for the relationship era.

1. Build customer profiles using data

Technology is the engine that drives the relationship era of marketing. Without it, companies would have no means of personalizing messages at the pace and scale consumers have come to expect. Technology also offers a wealth of information that, if not sorted properly, can trip marketers up.

Here are the four primary data types that Responsys director of strategic services Mike Hotz believes are critical to fostering long term relationships with customers:

• Email Interaction data. Basic email interaction data shows where the customer has clicked within the email, open rates, opened links, clicks, customer conversions, and related metrics.
• Web Interaction. Access to a recipients’ web interaction data can help marketers gain an in-depth understanding of how the customer is browsing a website. Abandoned shopping carts and completed applications, for instance, will show what the consumer is in the market for, thus filling the blanks for what kinds of campaigns prove most compelling.
• Purchase Data. Past purchase data can be a valuable predictor of a consumer’s next move. By looking at what the subscriber has purchased in the past and what they are using now, marketing messages can be customized to suggest a personalized next step. For example, if the customer just purchased a new mobile phone, knowing specific specials for phone cases and screen protectors can help direct the next purchase.
• Profile and Preference Data. Data from user profiles, such as location, age and gender, may not be as reliable as the user’s most recent email or web interactions, but is still valuable in baseline targeting. Customer preferences and permissions should also be tracked across every channel - a requirement for building a foundation of trust with customers.

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2. Capture the customer’s story

Data helps determine which products to sell to different groups (and how to do that), but companies must also focus on making these products “real” for every customer. Real-life experiences are what makes something personal: a single woman in California isn’t going to relate to the same message an expecting mother in Chicago might, though they both may be in the market for the same product.

“You can have the perfect algorithm to figure out which person in which city is going to like a product, but you still have to do the job of marketing the product to them,” says Waccarra Yeomans, director of creative services at Responsys, “It’s important to focus on a problem that the specific consumer is feeling — and how that product is the right solution for them.”

In fact, giving consumers the right content at the right time can engender goodwill and positive feelings toward brands. The survey found that 61 percent of consumers feel more positive about a brand when digital communications are personalized. Furthermore, nearly two thirds of survey respondents see personalization as a brand expressing customer value. Roughly one-half feel respected, understood and also maintain a sense of loyalty and connection to brands that personalize digital communications.

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3. Give customers the reigns

Marketers need to relinquish control to customers. Customers want a voice — and they’ll have one whether you’re ready to listen and engage, or not. According to the survey, nearly two thirds (63 percent) of consumers believe it’s important that brands manage their digital communications in line with consumer preferences.

Additionally, more than half of consumers trust brands that enable them to share their marketing preferences more than brands that do not. Of this group, 66 percent say that if a brand gives them the ability to express preferences, they are more inclined to purchase from that brand.

When customers trust a brand, they are willing to share more information, engage more deeply, and purchase more frequently. In exchange, customers expect marketers to listen and they expect marketing that speaks to their individual identity and interests.

4. Coordinate Messages Across Channels

According to Forrester Research, two-thirds of consumers who engage with brands use multiple channels to do so, making it important that companies orchestrate and personalize their messaging across all the channels.

Survey respondents ranked each channel by importance for personalization:

Not surprisingly, younger consumers (18-34) are more likely to place importance on personalization across all these channels.

Understanding how consumers interact with various digital channels is a critical first step in building an effective cross-channel program. For example, consumers are toggling between multiple devices at any given point in the day, so they expect to be able to start a conversation or purchase on their laptop and finish it on their mobile device. Creating a personalized experience across multiple devices not only provides continuity for the consumer, but also boosts their trust and loyalty for that brand.

5. Test and Optimize

While these considerations are important factors for marketers in today’s relationship era, it’s important to keep in mind that what works for one brand may not work for another. Plus, products and consumers are everchanging – a message that resonated one month could fall flat the next. Test everything — frequency, offer, content, placement, call to action, landing pages, and personalization — to be sure all components are contributing to optimal performance and ROI.

In the relationship era of marketing, leveraging personalization in the right ways can win or lose life-long customers. If companies create a strong connection with their customers across the digital channels, they will remain valuable for much longer than any one-time customer. Invest in the customer and they will invest in the brand.