How these top brands in the Philippines tackled personalisation

While the benefits of personalisation are well understood, the truth is it is still daunting for many marketers because of the cost and technology associated with it.

During MARKETING-INTERACTIVE’s inaugural Digital Marketing Asia conference held in Philippines this year, marketers shared that personalisation doesn’t always need to be as scary as we think. Kellda Centeno, group director - digital, loyalty & delivery at Shakey’s Pizza said that the key is to just start and start small.

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Describing her budget to be lean, she said the first step is to know your customer and for that a brand doesn’t always need the most advanced tech in the market.

“While technology would be a good to have and will make your life easier, there are things you can do manually. And if you have to show your business owner or bosses that what you are saying works, try doing it manually first without having to go super granular. Once your bosses see value, getting the budget for investments will be easier,” she explained.

Agreeing that not every brand has deep pockets, Wil Sarmiento, senior director and head of CLM for consumer business, Globe Telecom urged marketers to evaluate if hyper personalisation will pay off for them. “Yes, you can go super granular and bring experiences that are also super catered, but it will be expensive,” he said. As such marketers must weigh out the returns. It’s a push and pull between what you want and what you can get, he said. 

He added that personalisation should start with a “proof of concept” and a true understanding of the nuances of one's business.

“When we think about data, we think of customer data in terms of demographic, gender, age and the likes. But are these aspects truly important to your brand? I believe that when you are starting out in your journey, you will want to go with big cuts first, because you want to be able to hit the scale rather than go niche,” he said.

Why hyper-personalisation still needs to be in your agenda in the long run

For Watsons, which has stores all over The Philippines and a presence across the region, personalised offerings are key to building stronger brand love.

Today the brand is creating multichannel communication routes through email, SMS, app notification and social media to reach out to consumers. It is also tailoring content for the individual consumer and developing hyper personalised programmes that are seamless and easy to navigate.

“At Watson's, hyper personalisation is key to building stronger brand love. That's really the purpose, why we're doing it and increasing shopper frequency,” Jared Ernest De Guzman, customer director, Watsons said.

He added that to push the loyalty aspect a notch further, the brand is also now experimenting with gamification to try out new ways of engagement.

At the end of the day, given the rise of digital channels that allow us to communicate directly with customers, brands must embrace tailored communications, said Oscar Pobre, CRM and data solutions head of GCash. This allows brands to tailor fit offers or promos for customers to drive loyalty.

“At GCash, actually, we reach quite a lot of Filipinos on our digital app channels, as well as our data and we put in a lot of effort into customising the offers,” he added. Pobre also added that GCash has also now embraced AI to customise solutions for its merchants to reach the right target audiences and customers.

“We have embraced AI so our merchants can be really granular and leverage as much of our channels and reward platform capabilities as much as possible,” said Pobre. He added that at the end of the day, to also create an effective loyalty programme, organisations must experiment and leverage on machine learning and AI to learn and grow with their investments.

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