Digital marketing can improve customer experience when it helps people find useful information, get relevant messages, move smoothly between channels, and stay in control of their data. The six practices below are a practical synthesis—not a formal industry framework. They focus on relevance and trust, rather than using every channel or personalizing every interaction.
1. Start with customer needs and the journey
Map what customers are trying to do, where they encounter friction, and which interactions matter at each stage. A journey map can be simple: list the customer’s goal, the questions they ask, the touchpoints they use, and what would make the next step easier.
Choose channels to fit those needs instead of trying to appear everywhere. Gartner analyst Suzanne Schwartz put it this way: “While it’s tempting to use all available channels, such as SMS/texting, email, push notifications, in-app messages, chat, and third party messaging apps, success lies in selecting the right mix that aligns with the desired impact on customer journeys.”
Turn the map into a short priority list
- Identify a specific customer task, such as comparing options, resolving a problem, or completing an application.
- Note where people hesitate, abandon the task, or need help.
- Select the touchpoints that can address those obstacles; avoid adding channels without a clear customer purpose.
2. Publish useful, relevant content
Content earns attention by answering a real question or helping someone make a decision. Connect each piece to an audience need and a business goal, then review whether it is useful in practice. For a personal-finance audience, that could mean explaining a fee, outlining how a process works, or clarifying what information someone needs before making a choice—without disguising promotion as neutral advice.
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Deloitte Digital recommends clear data plans and continuous measurement as part of personalization. Its guidance also cautions against maximizing personalization for its own sake: what feels relevant depends on audience expectations. Review content for accuracy, clarity, and usefulness, and revise or retire material that no longer serves its purpose.
3. Personalize with information customers knowingly share
Personalization is most likely to help when it reflects what a person wants to hear, when they want to hear it, and how often. Use information customers knowingly provide and give them a meaningful way to shape the experience. More data or more tailored messages do not automatically mean a better experience.
In a June 2025 interview, Gartner reported findings from a survey of 1,464 B2B buyers and consumers conducted in November and December 2024. Nearly half said personalized digital communications missed the mark because they felt creepy, irrelevant, or both. The same interview reported that respondents who felt an experience was personalized were 1.8 times more likely to say they would pay a premium and 3.7 times more likely to purchase more than intended. Those are survey associations, not proof that personalization caused either outcome.
Make personalization useful, not intrusive
- Ask what customers prefer for message topics, timing, and frequency, and honor those choices.
- Use information for a clear, relevant purpose rather than inferring sensitive details customers did not provide.
- Make it easy to change preferences or stop messages.
- Check whether a tailored message genuinely helps with the customer’s next step; if not, keep it general or do not send it.
4. Make priority channels work together
Being present on email, a website, social media, or an app does not by itself create an omnichannel experience. Continuity means an interaction on one touchpoint does not make the customer start over on another. For instance, if someone has already provided information or stated a preference, the next interaction should reflect it where appropriate and permitted.
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Salesforce’s guidance distinguishes connected omnichannel interactions from personalization that remains siloed within individual channels. It recommends setting goals, auditing data, establishing governance, building a roadmap, and testing iteratively. This is vendor guidance, not independent evidence that a particular platform or integration will improve outcomes.
Build continuity in stages
- Set an outcome: define the customer problem the connection should solve, such as avoiding repeated questions.
- Audit the data: find where relevant information lives, whether it is reliable, and what can appropriately be shared between touchpoints.
- Set governance: define access, ownership, permitted uses, and how customer preferences are carried through.
- Connect a priority journey: start with a small number of touchpoints customers actually use rather than integrating every channel at once.
- Test the handoff: check whether the customer can continue smoothly and whether the experience respects their choices.
5. Explain data use and honor customer choices
Trust is part of the experience. Tell people why information is being collected, how it will be used, and how that use can improve their experience. Provide preference controls people can understand and use, and make the value exchange clear rather than burying it in vague language.
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Think with Google describes privacy experiences as meaningful (explain the benefit), memorable (remind people what they shared), and manageable (let them manage privacy). Its reported studies found that preference reminders increased feelings of control by 14%, a privacy digest by 9%, and asking consent to personalize a website by 8%; the three practices combined were associated with a 37% increase in feelings of control. These are reported study results, not promised outcomes for every organization or audience.
Legal duties depend on location and activity. For the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office guidance on direct marketing, updated 28 April 2026, says to plan for data protection, explain data use, and respect preferences and objections. It states: “Always respect people’s preferences. People have an absolute right to object to or opt out of direct marketing at any time.” Businesses operating elsewhere should check the rules that apply in those jurisdictions rather than treating UK guidance as universal law.
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6. Measure, test, and improve
Decide what would count as a better experience before changing a campaign or customer journey. Pair each measure with a decision: for example, whether to clarify a confusing page, change message timing, or stop an interaction that customers find unhelpful. Track both business outcomes and indicators of customer experience, such as task completion, repeated contacts, or preference changes, where you can measure them responsibly.
Nielsen’s 2019 guidance recommends matching insights to decisions and analyzing campaigns frequently. Salesforce likewise recommends continuous testing and monitoring engagement. Nielsen’s article is older, so its measurement advice should be applied alongside current privacy expectations and applicable data-protection rules.
Use a simple improvement loop
- Define the question: state the customer problem and the decision the result will inform.
- Choose a measure: select an outcome that reflects the question, not merely a metric that is easy to collect.
- Test a focused change: alter one meaningful part of the experience where practical, and avoid drawing strong conclusions from weak or incomplete data.
- Review customer impact: look for signs of friction or unwanted messaging as well as the intended outcome.
- Act and repeat: keep, revise, or stop the change, then continue monitoring.
Measurement is a capability gap for some organizations. In a Deloitte Digital survey of 500 US B2C executives and 1,000 adult consumers, 45% of respondents said analytics, testing, and measurement were lacking. That figure describes this survey population; it should not be read as a prevalence estimate for all businesses.
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