A new report on how companies are tailoring CX in their business strategies confirms the preeminence of personalization with the highest-ever level of adoption of the practice among companies this year, carrying significant implications for the business and industry sector.

The findings come from the report titled State of Personalization Maturity issued by Dynamic Yield, the technology company with headquarters in New York City that provides digital CX services to businesses. The report marks the fourth straight year of research conducted by Dynamic Yield on the subject, which included more than 450 responses from the C-suite, marketing, merchandising, CX, product management, and IT departments of companies across the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East.

For the first time, personalization has become an integral part of business operations after COVID-19 forced businesses to digitalize, the findings indicated. As a result, a majority of companies now report an advanced level of maturity this year, moving the industry forward from basic.

The supporting findings also show major strides in how personalization is now accepted and implemented. Up to 93% of organizations believe in the value of personalization, and 50% have made personalization a top priority within their organizations with plans to invest more in the practice.

To capitalize on the benefits of personalization, companies are starting to invest in additional resources, and adequate processes and teams are now in place to manage personalization campaigns, the research noted.  

Finally, more companies—45%—say their data is now available in real time to inform marketing activities, up from 28% last year, resulting in heightened instances of personalization with 31% of companies now able to tailor digital interactions, up from just 10% in 2020.

“The effect that the pandemic has had on personalization maturity can’t be understated,” said Yaniv Navot, chief marketing officer (CMO) at Dynamic Yield. “Companies that once simply valued the idea of personalization have finally started pumping sufficient resources into the people and processes required to turn data into scalable strategies that are leaving a tangible impact on their bottom line, which is a trend we believe will continue in 2022.” However, companies say work remains to be done in unifying the technology for personalization to enable delivery of cohesive cross-channel experiences. Even if the pandemic dies down, the report said, the swell of digitally enabled economic and social activity is likely to remain high, requiring investments to be continually made in personalization.