The importance of cutting-edge analytics for personalisation in marketing campaigns.

Personalisation is the heart of organic content — driving genuine, unpaid traffic to your website. Marketers prioritise this to increase audience engagement, prolong user retention, and convert interested online users to qualified sales leads.

But how do cutting-edge analytics tools contribute to enhancing user satisfaction and retention rates through personalized content?

Kaythaya Maw, Chief Technology Officer, SPH Media, shared his expert insights on this topic with MartechAsia.

Firstly, audience analytics gives us a granular understanding of who our readers are – their demographics, interests, behaviours, and engagement patterns. We developed an in-house analytics tool called Neuron, that collects, in real-time, the online behaviours and reading habits of audiences on our digital platforms. This allows us to build out audience attributes, which we use to create highly personalised experiences to retain current audiences and attract new ones. We can tailor our content, distribution channels, and monetisation strategies to align with the preferences of our most valuable audience segments.

Secondly, content performance analytics are crucial for optimising every aspect of our editorial strategy. We have been closely tracking metrics like traffic, engagement, shares, and conversions, which allow us to quickly identify high-performing content that resonates with our audience. This enables us to double down on winning formats and subject matter while pruning low-performing areas. Continuous A/B testing and iteration using real-time behavioural data have been key to driving sustainable engagement.

Finally, advanced analytics have provided us with the granular insights we need to maximise the revenue potential of our digital content. We can pinpoint the most valuable audience segments for advertisers, develop targeted sponsorship opportunities, and optimise paywalls and subscription models. This data-driven approach to monetisation has been essential for building a resilient and sustainable media business in the digital era.

What are the important benefits of personalisation in marketing?

Maw: With the constant struggle for audience attention, the ability to deliver personalised and relevant content-led experiences is not just a nice-to-have, but an imperative. By leveraging first-party data, real-time analytics, and a data lake that serves as a central repository for all of our data, we are now able to deliver hyper-personalised content recommendations that drive deep audience engagement and optimised revenue.

One of the primary benefits of personalisation is improved customer experience and loyalty. When audiences are served content that is highly relevant to their unique interests and behaviours, they are more likely to remain engaged, convert to subscribers, and become long-term, high-value customers. For example, we have enhanced The Straits Times and The Business Times apps to allow readers to select topics of interest and provide personalised content recommendations based on each user’s reading habits, leading to increased time spent, repeat visits, and subscription sign-ups.

Personalisation also enables more effective targeting and monetisation. By understanding the specific needs and preferences of individual audiences, SPH Media has been able to develop tailored advertising and sponsorship opportunities that maximise the value exchange. Our data analytics allows for granular segmentation and campaign optimisation, so we can focus our monetisation strategy on the most valuable audience cohorts.

Beyond enhanced customer experiences and revenue generation, personalisation also delivers significant operational benefits. By studying individual user journeys and content consumption patterns, our newsrooms are able to continuously optimise their content strategies, distribution channels, and product roadmaps. This data-driven approach to decision-making leads to more efficient resource allocation and a heightened responsiveness to evolving audience trends.

What is the impact of user satisfaction and retention in marketing?

Maw: In a landscape where media companies are faced with heightened competition and fleeting audience attention, the impact of user satisfaction and retention cannot be overstated. By harnessing advanced personalisation, data analytics, and customer-centric strategies, publishers and marketers are able to deliver relevant and meaningful experiences that keep audiences engaged and coming back.

Perhaps the most tangible impact is on our company’s bottom line. Research by Bain & Company, who invented the Net Promoter Score, has shown that increasing retention by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95% and that retaining existing customers is significantly more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. Satisfied, loyal users not only represent a stable revenue stream but are more likely to convert to higher-value subscription tiers and engage with monetisable content and advertising.

SPH Media’s personalised approach to content recommendations has started to move the needle on reader satisfaction and retention. By leveraging advanced data analytics to understand individual reader preferences and behaviours, we’ve been able to significantly enhance the relevance and appeal of our digital offerings. This has led to a marked increase in key engagement metrics, such as time spent on site, pages per visit, and repeat traffic.

In fact, SPH Media’s data shows that readers who receive personalised content recommendations spend more time with our products and view more pages than those who receive generic content. This underscores how a customer-centric, data-driven approach to personalisation can cultivate a loyal, highly engaged audience – a strategic advantage that translates directly to the bottom line.

Satisfied and retained users also provide immense value in the form of valuable data and insights. The more engaged and loyal our readers are, the richer our pool of first-party information that we can leverage to optimise news articles, enhance targeting, and drive continuous innovation. This virtuous cycle of personalisation, satisfaction, and retention is a hallmark of the most successful digital media companies.

Indeed, data-driven engagement has a profound impact on audience experiences. Personalization allows brands to deliver tailored messages and recommendations, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty. Improved targeting ensures that marketing efforts reach the right audience at the right time, leading to higher conversion rates.

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