Personalised services are the default standard

We experience personalised communications and recommendations almost daily, from programmes to watch on streaming services to what to buy online, even how to improve our health.

The constant exposure to personalisation practices, especially from e-commerce leaders, is raising our expectations of all companies, products and services we encounter.

According to McKinsey, consumers now view personalisation as the “default standard” for engagement. “Our research shows that 71 per cent of consumers expect companies to deliver personalised interactions. And 76 per cent get frustrated when this doesn’t happen.”

There is growing interest in personalisation and customisation in the analyst research sector. In our Analyst Research Leadership Survey, a respondent commented, “Our clients typically lack time to read our research, and we need to automate personalisation for them.”

Another respondent said, “Common feedback is we don’t have time to engage in research… it’s not a case of necessarily not seeing the value. It’s a question of accessing the values in the fastest possible time.”

Firms using publishing technology like Content Catalyst can deploy personalisation to engage subscribers and develop partnerships in the following ways.

1 Personalised email notifications

No one checks websites for new content, even when they know the content will benefit them. This isn’t due to laziness but because we have competing priorities.

Personalised email notifications ensure subscribers don’t need to monitor your insights portal continuously. They can feel confident that you’ll let them know via email when there’s new content available that meets their needs.

Once subscribers have set their notification preferences, emails are fully automated and require no additional administration.

2 Interactive reports and customisable exhibits

With so much information available, analyst research clients need digestible and customisable reports rather than impenetrable PDFs and spreadsheets. Interactive Word docs, PowerPoints and data exhibits make it easier for subscribers to find relevant insight more quickly.

For example, by integrating Power BI into your publishing platform, you can create data visualisations that users can explore and customise. Risk Leadership Network deployed this integration for their subscribers.

They created three dashboards, collating information that would otherwise take members a long time to assemble. Members can then use Power BI tools to scan relevant data or drill down further into the details.

3 Build a report from clippings

Gathering intelligence can be time-consuming, especially when constantly switching between different publications and sections of reports. It’s easy to lose track of useful information and where you found it.

Clippings is a time saving tool for consumers of analyst research. Clippings allow users to pull unlimited content sections, tables, or figures onto their clipboard and combine them into customised reports.

4 AI-powered chat discovery

Finding relevant information has traditionally been a laborious task involving basic site searches. AI chat discovery is revolutionising this process, making it faster and more accurate.

An AI-powered chat discovery tool like MyCatalyst can sift through entire catalogues of insights and deliver comprehensive answers drawn from multiple sources. Most importantly, it cites the exact references used, whether on a web page, in a Word doc, presentation, or PDF, at a page level.

In our Analyst Research Leadership Survey, personalising research was viewed as the most significant opportunity for AI by 19% of respondents. One respondent emphasised, “Using AI to help clients find our research is a game changer.”

For users, AI provides quick access to relevant insights and trends, eliminating the need to sift through large datasets or reports manually. This technology allows publishers to offer in-the-moment, interactive content via an engaging, conversational interface, further enhancing the value of research.

5 Ask the analyst

When we think of personalisation, the default is technology first. However, human-to-human interaction is an equally effective form of personalisation, especially in the analyst research sector.

Initiating smooth communication between subscriber and analyst requires little effort from the publisher but generates value for both. This can be as straightforward as implementing an ‘ask the analyst’ button on your website.

Analysts are a trusted source of insight and likely will become even more important in the age of AI-generated insight. By engaging directly with analysts, users can derive greater value from their subscriptions, which helps facilitate renewals and reduce churn.

Subscribers expect digital interactions to be easy, and personalisation done well makes things feel easier. For analyst research customers, personalisation can also help relieve some of the stresses of modern working, such as time pressures and information overload, by proactively serving up relevant information.

“Immediate access to relevant, pertinent information and an intuitive, frictionless process to access and re-purpose this information are now key concerns for consumers of market analysis,” said Edwin Bailey, Chief Operating Officer, Content Catalyst.

Analyst firms that don’t meet subscriber expectations for personalisation risk losing out to firms that do, even if the quality of their research is higher.

Book a demo to explore personalisation via the Content Catalyst platform.