online purchase and suggests additional items she might consider based on her history with the retailer. I meant a real example. Sephora is a great example of a real world brand that has excelled at personalization. The beauty retailer has used personalized experiences that are truly omnichannel, encouraging shoppers to book in store makeovers and fashion consultations via its online channels, particularly its mobile app. The app lets makeup artists log each product used in makeovers into each customer’s profile, and lets customers virtually try on products and receive personalized recommendations. Sephora’s personalization program also demon strates the effectiveness of focusing on the most loyal customers. The retailer’s loyalty program offers its highest level members perks such as early access to new products, invitations to exclusive events, free custom beauty services, and more. And all of Sephora’s customer communications, no matter the platform, display the customer’s loyalty points. The results speak for themselves. In 2018, members accounted for 80 percent of Sephora’s total transactions. As of 2020, the loyalty program had about 25 million members. And in 2022, for the fifth year in a row, Sephora ranked first in Sailthru’s Retail Personalization Index. How can brands scale personalization? According to McKinsey’s research, four factors—or four “Ds”—drive personalization at scale. These four factors can be further broken down into eight core elements. Data foundation Data should be centralized and made available so activity in one channel can immediately support engagement in another—in real time or close to it. — Data management. Brands should develop a multidimensional view of the customer to serve as the backbone of analytics. Quality should take precedence over quantity; having the right data is more important than having lots of it. Decision making Marketers should create an integrated decision making engine that uses machine learning and AI models to score various propensities for each customer. — Customer segmentation and analytics. Segment customers, identify value triggers, and score customers accordingly. — Playbook. Create a library of campaigns and content that can be matched with customers. — Decision-making engine (campaign coordination). Develop a multichannel decision making engine to prevent conflicting messages and drive maximum value per touchpoint. When customers provide signals about their intentions, marketers should be prepared to respond right away with a relevant message known as a “trigger.” 5 What is personalization?