When marketing personalisation goes terribly wrong

I love digital marketing. I am a passionate believer in how it levels the playing field for businesses of all shapes and sizes!

There are times though when I think marketing has gone too far.

An area of concern is personalisation.

In most cases it can be great and super helpful but there is a point where it can be counter intuitive and downright creepy.

It’s super helpful receiving personalised newsletters from Coles letting you know about specials they have for products you regularly buy. It’s a win for the customer. Most of us like to save a bit of cash after all.

Amazon also do this quite well when they suggest other books you might like based on their knowledge of what you have previously purchased (or what other similar buyers have purchased). They also send reminders about books added to the cart (after logging in) but not purchased.

But personalisation can go overboard.

Just because you can display someone’s name in an advertisement or an email, it doesn’t mean you should.

Let me explain.

Imagine this.

You sign up to receive a weekly newsletter from a website. You get your weekly newsletter as promised.

When you click on links to various articles in the newsletter, you are tagged as having an interest in certain topics and the content of the weekly newsletter is personalised according to your interests.

Fantastic – another win. It saves you time and you are not emailed topics you’re not interested in.

Later you go back to the website to take a look at a product on offer.  You don’t add it to your cart. You don’t login to the website. You don’t provide your personal details. Sure, you opted in to their newsletter 5 years ago. You might have even brought a product or two along the way.

But the fact is, you didn’t re-supply your personal details when you went back to that website to take a look at a product.

You were there to browse. You hadn’t decided to buy. In fact, when you looked at the product you decided the product was not suitable for one reason or another.

The next day, you get a personalised email asking if you are still interested in that product you looked at, along with a link to it?

Eeew! Don’t you think that stinks just a little bit. Maybe even a lot.

Apart from being presumptuous, you are now aware that whenever you go to that website it’s tracking your every move.

With advances in technology that website has tied your IP address and your behaviour on their site with their email list.

An activity you might have wanted to be private,  suddenly wasn’t.

That’s where personalisation can cross the line.

It happened to me. It could happen to you too. When it happened, I felt my trust was breached. That business will never be able to regain my trust.

And the weirdest thing about it all is that normally I am a person who is extremely open. Yet I still felt my privacy was breached.

And that is the issue with marketing personalisation.

There are some things we don’t want to be reminded about.  There are some things marketers shouldn’t remind their customers about.

Now that scenario could have been a banner ad or an email, it doesn’t really matter.

Sometimes those banner ads that remarket to me are annoying but thank goodness they don’t say my name in them.

Because adding your name and reminding you about it is where it becomes intrusive.

It why Google won’t allow remarketing for sensitive topics like health. There are some things people want to keep private.

Privacy is a big deal.

It’s been brewing for a while. Legislators are playing catch up. But I don’t think we seen the back of it yet.

So what is the answer.

The key to personalisation is to think about the user experience. Just because you can display someone’s name in an advertisement or their location, doesn’t mean you should. There is a fine line between being  useful and being intrusive.

Ask yourself:

  • What stage of the buying cycle are they in? Are they likely to be buyers or browsers?
  • Have I assumed too much, too soon?
  • Do I have their permission to send them an email about the product they just looked at? If the answer is no, think about how you can add a step to gain permission legitimately to market to them?
  • Would they welcome an email from me about this product?

If you feel you have permission, be subtle.  Effective personalization requires subtlety. Being too explicit about your knowledge, carries the risk of negative responses associated with “Big Brother” and privacy concerns.

Just because you can display someone’s name in an advertisement or their location, doesn’t mean you should.

Personalisation is a great tool if used wisely. It can be a valuable addition to your newsletter service.

Tread responsibly.