3 things every marketer should know about personalization

Does anything reliably alienate and annoy consumers more than the words “Dear valued customer”? Any time you tell customers they’re small parts of a large, faceless mass of people, their affinity for your brand shrinks. Nobody wants to be a number — they want to be treated as unique individuals with their own personalities, values, and preferences. And they want their relationships with your brand to reflect this fact.

#1 Avoid creepiness at all costs

Companies have never had more information about their customers or more ways to put it to use. From algorithms that offer suggestions based on our viewing and listening habits (think Netflix and Spotify) to data on usage habits that allow design teams to make websites and apps more user-friendly, the opportunities for personalization are unprecedented.

#2 Recognize what personalization is and isn’t

Think about the last time you bought something on Amazon — let’s just say it was a pair of shoes. Did you being chased around the Internet by ads for shoes for days or even weeks afterward? This crude form of personalization isn’t just ineffective (if you just bought shoes, you probably aren’t eager to buy even more) — it’s obnoxious and invasive.

According to Gartner, 65 percent of marketers they “ feel overwhelmed by the need to create more content to support personalization.” Meanwhile, just 32 percent of marketing professionals their industry is “currently getting personalization right.” The pressure to create personalized content is leading to a whole lot of mistakes like the ones outlined above, which is why Gartner stresses an “extremely thoughtful” approach that uses the “right balance of data to boost message relevance, without making things too personal.”

For example, I use a digital booking platform called Sawyer to schedule classes and other activities for my kids. By analyzing the personal information I provide (such as the kids’ ages and preferences), Sawyer connects me with a vast range of teachers and events that are perfectly suited to our needs. This is how personalization should be done.

Like many of the surveys on attitudes toward personalization, a recent Accenture found that 83 percent of consumers are “willing to share their data to enable a personalized experience.” But as we’ve seen over and over again, this should never be interpreted as a warrant to use these data to badger your customers or invade their privacy.

#3 Make data security a top priority

According to the Accenture survey, among the respondents who say they’ve had a creepy personalization experience, “almost two-thirds (64 percent) say it was because the brand had information about the consumer that they didn’t share knowingly or directly.” This is yet another reminder that consumers are increasingly concerned about the privacy of their data.

You can’t have privacy without security. Even if you do your best to avoid all the problems outlined above — from creepiness to counterproductive personalization techniques like the overuse of targeted ads — a data breach can poison your relationship with your customers more quickly than just about anything.

This is particularly important in the age of personalization, as the demand for personalized experiences continues to rise, brands and marketers will continue to collect and analyze large quantities of consumer data. Meanwhile, as GDPR demonstrates, the regulations surrounding the management of that data will only become stricter.

But data-centric companies have to go beyond compliance with all the relevant laws and regulations — they have to make security a priority at every level. From security training that teaches employees how to identify cyber threats (such as phishing and other forms of social engineering) to the observance of best practices like automatically updating software and vetting the apps and devices employees use, you have to do everything possible to keep your customers’ information safe.

Personalization is one of the most powerful ways to forge stronger relationships with your customers and keep them engaged in the future. As long as you respect the boundary between helpful and creepy, personalize products and services in a way that streamlines and improves the customer experience, and keep your customers’ data safe, personalization will continue to be one of your most valuable assets.

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