April 6th, 2022, Rishad Dsouza
Delivering a personalised consumer experience can be one of the most reliable ways for a brand to build loyalty. In a new global study, YouGov looks at the industries that consumers are most likely to perceive as being successful in delivering a personalised experience.
In this piece, we look at the levels of perceived personalised experience across tech, automotive, gaming, banking, restaurant, and gambling brands. Five other sectors – airline, media, telecom, food, and retail brands – are examined in a separate piece.
Globally around a fifth of consumers feel that tech companies (19%), banks (19%) and restaurant brands (18%) are successful at delivering personalised experience. But there are significant regional variances in each sector, and these divergences are most noticeable under the ‘tech companies’ column.
Tech
In Mexico, two-fifths of consumers (41%) feel that tech companies are successful at delivering a personalised experience. That proportion plummets to just one in 14 Danes (7%). Consumers in Asian markets are more likely to feel that tech companies are successful at delivering a personalised experience. More than a third of Indonesians (36%), three in ten Indians and Chinese (30%), and a quarter of consumers in the UAE (25%) believe that tech companies are successfully delivering a personalised experience. The share falls dramatically among some European markets such as Great Britain (9%), France (10%), Sweden (9%) and Denmark (7%). However, Italy (24%) and Spain (20%) register a share higher than the global average (19%). It must be noted that our data on some markets is based on urban (India and Mexico) or online samples (Indonesia and Hong Kong).
While tech is among the table toppers, it has ample room for improvement globally. Creating better personalisation in this space could simply be a matter of optimising apps better or paying more attention to consumer feedback when designing updated gadget models.
Banking
When it comes to banks, Germans are least likely to believe they can deliver a successful personalised experience, with only one in 14 of them saying so (7%). Barring Poland (22%), most other European markets fall below the global average (19%). One in seven Americans (14%) feel banks successfully deliver personalised experiences, but their Canadian neighbours are almost twice as likely to say the same (27%).
In recent times, financial institutions such as banks have embraced technology, which has helped develop their ability to create personalised experiences. Banks might be able to further improve their perception in these regards by creating targeted digital campaigns to inform consumers about various products and schemes with relatable examples of how they might benefit them.
Restaurants
Consumers in India (32%), Denmark (27%), Mexico (27%) and UAE (28%) are among the most likely to feel restaurants deliver successful personalised experiences. In most European markets, only about a tenth of consumers share that opinion – Germany (10%), France (11%), Italy (11%), Sweden (10%), Poland (11%). That share rises to just under one in five Spaniards (18%), which is similar to the rates found in Australia (17%), Indonesia (17%) and Singapore (19%) and is on par with the global average (18%).
Restaurants are perhaps one of the best-placed industries to deliver tailored experiences to customers. This industry could consider using phone and desktop apps to allow consumers to not only book orders beforehand but also to request a certain method of preparing dishes. An easy example of this might be a slider bar to request a specific level of spiciness.
Auto
About a quarter of consumers in India (23%) and UAE (24%) feel automotive companies successfully deliver personalised experiences, topping the global list. A fifth of consumers in China (19%) and Indonesia (18%) express a similar view. Brits (7%) are among the least likely to share that opinion. Similarly low rates are also observed in Mexico. Elsewhere in North America, one in nine Americans (11%) and almost a fifth of Canadians (18%) think automotive brands offer personalised experiences.
Customisability is a key component of consumer experience personalisation, but when it comes to cars these customisation options can be somewhat pricey. Brands could consider offering smaller customisability options at more affordable prices.
Video-gaming
Three in ten Chinese consumers (30%) feel video game companies successfully deliver a personalised experience, the highest rate among all markets. Nordic neighbours Sweden (6%) and Denmark (6%) register the lowest rates, with Britain (7%) in the same bracket. At just one in 12 consumers (8%), the rate in the US is also well below the global average (12%). About one in nine consumers in Australia (11%) and Canada (11%) feel video game companies successfully deliver personalised experiences. As a truly global sector (with broadly the same games on offer around the world), these differences between markets strongly suggest that the personalisation expectations of consumers differ widely between markets – something to bear in mind across our data.
Gambling
Across markets, gambling companies are not likely to be seen as being successful at delivering personalised experiences. On a global scale, just one in 20 consumers (5%) feel that these companies deliver successful personalised experiences. That share drops to one in 50 consumers in Britain and Germany (2%). In the UAE (7%) and India (8%), roughly one in 13 consumers share the view. Online casino sites have tried to customise experiences with the use of player data on their platforms, but there remains ample room for development in this area.
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Methodology: The data is based on the interviews of adults aged 18 and over in 18 markets with sample sizes varying between 528 and 2,002 for each market. All interviews were conducted online in January 2022. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples.