Customer support is moving away from scripts and cookie-cutter solutions. The internet has raised the bar for what consumers expect when interacting with companies.
Personalization is now a demand at every point of contact. 71% of consumers say they want personalized interactions, and 76% of consumers say they feel frustrated when not provided. 80% of customers also rate a company’s experience as just as necessary as the products and services they offer.
Generic customer experiences are the most significant byproduct of impersonal service. Brands that treat customers as interchangeable cogs in an amorphous, faceless machine instead of people with individual needs rapidly commoditize. They become forgotten and replaceable as product managers can implement localization services. To be sure, modern customers expect these elements:
- Recognition as individuals (73% of consumers expect companies to know their interests).
- Consistency across departments (79% of consumers expect consistent interactions).
- Adaptive support that reflects their evolving needs (65%).
- Not having to repeat themselves (56% of consumers say they often must re-explain information).
Customers also now navigate a circuitous journey to purchase, across multiple channels based on their priorities and convenience. For example, 52% of Baby Boomers prefer calling customer service over any other channel, while only 28% of Gen Z share this preference. Generational gaps like this are increasingly influencing the design of support systems.
The companies that best meet customer expectations for personalization earn 40% more revenue from those activities than their peers. Shifting all players to top-quartile performance in personalization would create over $1 trillion of value across US industries.
Product managers implementing localization services have both problems and opportunities. Localization needs to go beyond literal translation to work for consumers truly – customer support must be adapted for cultural nuance and regional priority.
Standardization may have once seemed like the key to scale and efficiency, but now threatens to leave customers behind and feel disconnected from individuals who care. Support strategies must shift with expectations and find a balance between scalable and personalized experiences.
The Hidden Costs of Impersonal Customer Experiences
The expense associated with unsatisfactory customer experiences reaches far beyond losing a dissatisfied customer. In today’s market, personalized service has become table stakes, and a “one size fits all” approach to customer service diminishes business value in several ways.
Let’s get real. On average, acquiring a new customer is 5-7x more expensive than retaining an existing one. 78% of customers will abandon a brand after just a single negative experience, and it typically takes three new customers to replace the revenue of a single lost customer. When you start to add up all those lost sales, these statistics highlight the negative impact of poor service on the bottom line.
As bad as this is, the reality when you zoom out is even more bleak:
- Lost revenue and increased costs: Customer dissatisfaction directly leads to a loss of company revenue, as churned customers and a lack of loyalty decimate profits. Businesses then have to invest more in marketing to attract new customers to replace those lost, which is both expensive and unsustainable in the long term.
- Brand damage: Close to 9 in 10 customers have defected from a business due to a negative experience. And a whopping 86% of customers would be willing to pay more for the privilege of being treated better (excluding product quality).
- Impact on staff: Dealing with angry customers takes a significant emotional toll on staff members, who often become less productive and more likely to churn as a result.
Product managers rolling out localization services stand to multiply these costs by the number of markets they’re operating in. Localization services that don’t adapt and personalize experiences for the individual needs of their different markets are at risk of alienating entire market segments with culturally tone-deaf interactions.
The sources of customer frustrations regarding non-personalized experiences are many. As many as 71% of customers are put off by shopping experiences that don’t feel personal to them, while 84% say making customers feel like humans instead of numbers is a key way to earn their business. By a wide margin, 78% of consumers say real, tangible, and money-saving benefits are what they want most from personalization.
The sad truth is that brands often overestimate the extent to which they deliver personalized customer experiences. While brands believe they personalize 61% of customer experiences, customers only perceive 43% of their interactions as being personalized. This has serious repercussions for the hidden costs above, compounding the problems outlined here.
Product managers working with localization services now have a yellow light and an opportunity. A good localization service is about more than just translation. It’s about implementing culturally intelligent personalization strategies that make every customer feel seen, regardless of their market background.
Suppose businesses can get their heads around these hidden costs. In that case, it becomes far easier to make a business case for investment in personalization technology that works at scale in a global marketplace, across multiple languages and platforms.
Tech Meets Empathy: Tools That Make Scalable Personalization Possible
In today’s hyper-competitive environment, a marriage of technology and human empathy creates the balance between mass service and individual care. Customer expectations are at an all-time high, and companies need a new kind of technology that empowers efficiency as well as empathy. This is of special importance for product managers who are responsible for the implementation of localization services on a global scale.
The key to flexible personalization is AI and machine learning. By processing and analyzing vast volumes of customer data, ML algorithms reveal patterns, predict needs, and automate the level of customization that surpasses human capabilities. The companies that put AI-powered personalization at the center of their strategy increase revenue 3x faster than others.
CRM systems provide a centralized source of truth and visibility into every interaction across sales, service, marketing, and commerce. The modern CRMs are moving from being just a repository for contact data to a hub for automating and accelerating personalized experiences. They not only unify processes, but they also automatically detect new opportunities and predict which ones are more likely to be successful. CRM systems become the heart of the customer’s journey, from the first marketing touchpoint to closed opportunity and beyond.
Data analytics tools enable companies to:
- Adopt predictive models that power next-best actions and drive real-time personalization.
- Tailor messaging and communication to reflect customer history and priorities.
- Anticipate and resolve issues before they escalate.
- Monitor success through key performance indicators, such as response times and resolution rates.
Product managers, who are in charge of localization services, can now use these tools to scale personalized customer experience across languages and cultures. AI-powered localization tools can detect regional nuances, adapt to communication preferences, and provide culturally relevant interactions at scale with a small team.
The most successful strategy involves using the right technology in tandem with the right organizational changes. According to one study, “Digital capabilities are important, but brands will need to think beyond technology. They’ll need to focus on the organizational issues that inhibit the sense of connectedness customers crave”.
Organizations that are seeing the best results are defining personalization as more than a marketing or analytics exercise. They are investing in rapid activation capabilities, relevant martech, flexible operating models, and talent. These components allow product managers to implement localization services at scale.
Customer engagement platforms elevate this entire ecosystem by unifying experiences from every channel into a single view. This guarantees a consistent experience no matter how customers choose to reach out. Companies that leverage these tools to their full potential emerge as industry leaders, setting themselves apart by enhancing response time and delivering continuous value.
Authentic Brands, Real Results: Personalization That Drives Loyalty
The numbers are convincing. Businesses that excel at personalization experience significant improvement in key performance metrics. Statista reports that companies that implement personalization strategies improve their business results by an average of 80% and earn $20 for every dollar spent, for companies that leverage advanced personalization tactics.
The value demonstrated by these numbers is not confined to one industry, with revenue increases of up to 15% observed for businesses that prioritize customized customer experiences. In fact, 86% of marketers indicate seeing an improvement in their business results from their personalization efforts. Product managers working on localization services will find the numbers above provide an extremely compelling argument to invest in custom support.
Below are three examples of how some of the world’s best-known brands build customer loyalty with personalization:
- Netflix’s personalized viewing experience is powered by customer data on past shows and movies.
- Marriott Bonvoy provides personalized services by using customer data on everything from room preferences to holiday destinations; it’s no wonder their member base grew to over 196 million members in 2023.
- Amazon delivers a personalized and easy shopping experience through product recommendations driven by previous purchases and browsing history.
The benefits of customer loyalty are also impressive. In fact, millennial brand loyalty experiences a 28% increase with personalized communication, and 76% of consumers indicate that personalized messages prompt them to reevaluate a brand. Furthermore, 83% of companies that are overachieving their revenue targets allocate a personalization budget.
Product managers who are responsible for localization services can see the impact personalized experiences have on transcending language barriers. A great example of this is Vodafone New Zealand, which created a service called Red Connect for Chinese customers, which featured customer service representatives who could speak Mandarin or Cantonese and understood Chinese culture. This attention to localization led Vodafone to form better connections with its customers by removing language as a barrier.
Best-in-class companies see 15% higher total shareholder returns for excelling at personalization, strongly indicating that investing in localization services that enable a fully personalized experience for customers, no matter where they are, is the right way to go.
Conclusion: The Future of Support Is Human—Even at Scale
Personalization has become the new battleground for winning customer support. Product managers must recognize that modern customers will not tolerate a one-size-fits-all experience across all markets and languages. Flexible personalization technologies are a must-have to drive business growth across numerous markets.
The proof is in the numbers. Data reveals that the best-in-class at personalization see 40% more revenue and 15% greater shareholder returns. Lower customer churn, reduced brand damage, and decreased customer acquisition costs are among the most significant incentives to take action.
Localization services go well beyond the translation of words and phrases. It’s about customizing and optimizing customer support experiences based on cultural preferences, priorities, and needs. Product managers who work with the right localization service provider enjoy a significant competitive advantage. It’s a culturally-tailored personalized solution that resonates with customers worldwide.
The good news is that new-age technology can make flexible personalization a reality. Artificial intelligence (AI) powered CRM systems, data analytics, and customer engagement solutions empower product managers to offer personalized solutions without having to grow their teams significantly. Such technology enables localization services to identify trends, anticipate customer needs, and personalize interactions across languages and cultures.
Product managers need to invest in technology and have the internal commitment to provide authentic customer support experiences rather than just canned responses. Product managers must audit their current localization services against this new standard of personalization. It’s time to challenge vendors to do more than just translate copy to new languages. Can your current localization service providers truly optimize and adapt your customer experiences for different cultures and markets?
Empowered customers in every market have one common goal—they expect to feel personally understood and appreciated. Product managers need to partner with localization service providers who recognize this and can engineer support experiences that feel personalized while remaining flexible. Companies that master this transformation will win market share from others. Product managers can gain increased customer loyalty, reduce churn, and build a lasting competitive advantage in the increasingly global digital economy.
