Inside Look: Data-Driven Personalization [Book + Podcast]

Note that the transcript below has been edited for length and clarity.

Daniel: Zontee Hou, welcome in for this short pre-Social Pros conversation.

Zontee: Happy to be here, always happy to be on Social Pros.

Daniel: You’re here because of something really exciting. You have a new book: Data-Driven Personalization. It’s just out today. Give us a little sense about what the book is about.

Zontee: Absolutely. I’m really excited to have this book coming out at this time. Data-Driven Personalization is really about my conjecture that it is now more important than ever, not only for marketers to have a seat at the table when it comes to the collection and the usage of data, but also that the expectation of the customer is more important, a more personalized experience than ever. That’s why marketers need to have a more important presence at the data table.

The book itself is a collection of case studies, frameworks, and examples, not only from our work at Convince & Convert, but also frameworks that I’ve developed working with my students at City College in New York and at Columbia University.

It also has a lot of very hands-on lessons to what it is that more marketers can actually do to get more out of the data that they have, collect better data if they aren’t yet collecting data, and also how they can translate that into a more personalized experience that is impactful for the customers, that increases customer lifetime value, and that also makes for just a more engaging marketing experience.

Daniel: I love that you include stories from really all walks of life, either big brands like Spotify, and some small businesses like Methodical Coffee. I know storytelling is important for you, but why was it important for you to include those stories in the book?

Zontee: One thing that I hear from speaking is that folks will often say “that is a very interesting idea, but how does it apply to me?” And I didn’t want there to be any disconnect for the readers of this book between the ideas that I’m presenting, which are really actionable frameworks. There’s a checklist at the end of every single chapter. There’s a whole chapter at the end that’s all about building your specific plan for a strategy that builds around the concepts of this book.

I wanted to make sure that it was really translated into examples that people would recognize, that they would identify with and they would see how it is that different brands actually translated this and what they do.

So with Spotify, one of the examples that I share is around that wonderful Spotify lookback – you know, the year-in-review experience that has become a cultural moment, right? Because the data that they provide to you, the listener, about your listening behaviors is actually a reflection of your identity. It’s so fascinating that people not only want to share it with other people, but that it actually helps to elevate Spotify in the broader conversation. That’s a powerful marketing moment and it’s data-driven.

There’s examples like that that make you feel like, wow, that’s a really great experience that I have had in my own life where I can see this kind of work coming to life. But I also want to showcase small brands like the one that you mentioned, Methodical Coffee, which is a wonderful coffee company that’s based out of South Carolina, where they are using the data in small but still very meaningful ways when it comes to impact.

Methodical Coffee not only has done really interesting research on their audiences to better understand how they could market to their customers, but they’re doing a really great job through email automation and being thoughtful about how they categorize their customers to really make sure that they’re showcasing the right product and the right topics to customers of different levels of being a coffee aficionado. 

Some of us are just dabblers like me, I don’t know a lot about coffee, but I have an occasional cup and I enjoy iced tea. But there are some people who are really heavy into the coffee culture. They want to know exactly what kind of a customer you are, and they want to make sure that they’re telling you the right information to help you get the best experience out of those products.

I think that for me, whenever I can capture stories and explore why people made the decisions that they did behind the data, it makes it more tangible for us as marketers. It makes it more usable to folks who are looking at this content. So you’re seeing that in the book, and we’re finding other ways to bring that to life, too.

Daniel: Speaking of which, I definitely encourage those in the Social Pros community to check out the book. There’s a lot of applications for the work that you’ve done and what you’ve written about, to social media professionals.

But the reason you’re here today is that we have a special announcement for the Social Pros community about a new podcast series you’re launching shortly, which will start showing up in feeds. Tell us a little bit more about the new show and what listeners can look forward to.

Zontee: Yes. If you already know and love Social Pros, you know that Convince & Convert is always putting out great content for marketers, really making sure that we are helping you to level up your strategy.

In my role as managing director of Convince & Convert, as well as in writing this book, one of the things that I’m always tasked with is how do I make sure that we are translating our marketing know-how, our expertise, our smarts, into content and resources that really are impactful for our audience.

And so with the launch of the book, we decided to also launch a podcast. It will be a mini-series called Data-Driven Decisions. You are actually going to be seeing it in the Social Pros feed as bonus episodes so that you can listen to them there, but it will also be in its own feed if you just want to subscribe to it on its own.

With each episode I’m speaking to a marketing or business leader about the ways that they are using data within their organizations to impact culture.

We’re not just going to be talking about marketing specifically, we’re also going to be talking about the nexus of marketing and sales, we’re going to be talking about the nexus of data and internal culture. So there’s going to be a lot of really fascinating conversations.

Some of the brands are Convince & Convert clients, like we’re going to have the Chief Insights Officer from Sekisui House, which is the fifth largest home-builder in the U.S. We’re also going to have leaders from organizations like Salesforce and IBM. People are coming to the table with some really interesting insights.

My goal is to make sure that you, the audience, the listeners, are really seeing how these ideas are applicable within your own organizations, so that you have ideas of how you can make a more impactful marketing presence through data and also identify the places within your own organizational culture where you’ve got to either educate or shift or teach or train and build a game plan around that.

Daniel: In a world, especially right now, where there’s encouragement by organizations to justify and demonstrate the value of the work that they do, hearing how peers in the industry are addressing all of that and doing a lot more with data in their organizations never hurts. It’s always good to stand on the shoulders of giants, as they say.

Well, thanks for making some time, we’re excited to bring the new podcast series to you, and of course check out the podcast series.

Zontee: Thanks, Daniel.

Interested in learning more about these concepts? 

Find more episodes of Data-Driven Decisions in your favorite podcast player in its own feed or in the Social Pros podcast feed.

Be sure to pick up a copy of the book and subscribe for bi-weekly insights sent straight to your inbox via the Convince & Convert newsletter.