This may seem obvious when you read it out loud:

Buyers only engage with content relevant to them!

So as marketers, we should be pushing the envelope on all fronts to give our target audiences exactly what they want; a Preference Center is the way to meet their expectations.

But what other benefits are there to a Preference Center to justify the time and cost of building one

1. Insights

When you allow your leads to choose their own messaging, you are not only meeting their expectations, but you’re simultaneously segmenting your audience; leads are actively telling you what they are interested in so that you don’t have to overwhelm them with blanket, generic, unnecessary, or unwanted content. As a result, when you fulfill your preference center expectations with segmented email sends, expect to see higher open and click-through rates compared to any batch and blast sends to your entire database.

2. Cost Efficiency

The more detailed your Preference Center is, the more insight you’ll gain on what your potential customers are interested in and what content is the most preferred! Over time, you’ll have a better understanding of where to point your marketing dollars. So, if your database leads are overwhelmingly requesting information on a specific topic in your Preference Center, likely other channel promotions will perform well when marketing the same content.

Thinking that a Preference Center will help leads opt out of communication? Think again. There is no value in keeping leads in your database that don’t want to hear from you! Providing them the option to opt-out makes sure your engagement rates stay high and prevents you from wasting marketing dollars on leads who don’t want your content. Ultimately, by allowing customers to customize what content they want to receive up front, you’re reducing the likelihood of an unsubscribe down the road.

3. Relationship-Building

A Preference Center is a way of reaching out to your leads and saying, “Hey, I get it. Let me know what YOU want”. This builds a relationship with your leads, promising a communication strategy that they can appreciate and desire. With this promise kept, your customer journey is off to a great start! Your leads will feel valued knowing that you respected their wishes, and you will have immediately increased your opportunities for sales conversion.

Are you using Marketo and want to set up a Preference Center? Download our guide and get started today!