The rise of hyper-personalisation, are you ready for it?

Senior Manager, Customer Transformation, PwC Switzerland

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We used to say omnichannel was about delivering the right message with the right channel at the right time. But guess what: this view is already obsolete. True omnichannel engagement is about connecting with your customers wherever they are.

Whether customers interact via a smartphone app, an in-store kiosk or through social media, the experience should feel consistent, fluid and, most importantly, personalised. AI and big data are enabling us to analyse millions of micro-moments in a customer journey and deliver relevance at scale. AI and big data are the twin engines driving hyper-personalisation.

Leading brands like Netflix, Spotify and Temu are already harnessing these technologies. It’s high time for pharma to get on board. What stage are you at in terms of omnichannel engagement and hyper-personalisation? What pain points could it help you address? What are your aspirations?

The Global Digital Transformation and Customer Experience Summit in Berlin was a great opportunity for me to find out more about people’s aspirations and concerns around omnichannel engagement and hyper-personalisation across industries.

It was particularly interesting for me to compare these insights with what I’m hearing in my conversations with companies in pharmaceuticals, a focus of my work as a consultant. Do players in pharma see the urgent need for hyperpersonalisation? How are they progressing in terms of using AI and big data to create seamless, hyperpersonalised interactions across all touchpoints? Here are some examples illustrating the industry’s aspirations and concerns:

I see the potential, but I’m concerned about using artificial intelligence to generate content and how that’s supposed to work under our tight data privacy and consent policies.
I’m afraid of the investment involved and the challenges of monitoring returns.
I’d like to be on board but feel that our organisation doesn’t yet have the right mindset to try, test and learn.
I’m not sure the cost of creating hyper-personalised content is justified.

The good news is that companies like Amazon, Temu and Spotify are already mastering these challenges and are leading the way towards omnichannel engagement and hyperpersonalisation.

The even better news is that players in the pharmaceutical industry are now tackling the obstacles to come up with compelling and successful solutions of their own.

A top pharmaceutical company, for example, has reduced costs by 20%, tripled customer engagement and halved time to market by streamlining content creation using AI.

Another example is an innovative e-commerce platform that has transformed patient experiences by personalising medicine delivery and telehealth services, boosting adherence and satisfaction.

And then there’s the global pharma leader that has adopted behavioural segmentation to create scalable, tailored engagement frameworks for healthcare professionals, setting a benchmark for personalisation in highly regulated industries.

Do you feel inspired by these examples? Rightly so. Most probably you already have what it takes to start executing omnichannel hyperpersonalisation at scale.

The secret is to begin with a small number of pilots in areas where you feel comfortable, for example using AI to generate content for health care professionals. You can then accelerate the journey with a defined roadmap. This will give you the confidence and momentum to pursue more ambitious goals with omnichannel hyperpersonalisation.

Conclusion

Watch this space for deeper dives into omnichannel hyperpersonalisation in the New Year. We’ll be looking at what it’s all about and how it can be achieved. In the meantime, I’ll simply leave you with three questions to maybe ponder over the festive season:

What is the current omnichannel customer engagement maturity at your organisation?
What are the main customer engagement pain points that need to be addressed?
What are your aspirations for hyperpersonalisation and omnichannel engagement?