What Do Marketers Think is the Point of Personalization?

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𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗮 𝗵𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰. 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗽𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹?

Consider this, from an article titled “Context-Aware Experiences: The Newest Stage in the Evolution of Customer-Facing Personalization” (https://www.mytotalretail.com/article/context-aware-experiences-the-newest-stage-in-the-evolution-of-customer-facing-personalization)

𝘐𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴, 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺-𝘵𝘰-𝘢𝘤𝘵-𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘯𝘰𝘯-𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨.

Says who? There are no sources cited that support this statement with research or even anecdotes. As I continue to argue, if it were that easy, everyone would be doing it, and a rising tide should lift all boats. We’re not seeing increased revenue in recent financial results, nor better margin. (See McDonald’s disappointing 1Q results… when just a year ago they were crowing “McDonald’s credits speed, personalization for high satisfaction” )

Going further:

... 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘳. 𝘗𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘺, 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵-𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯.

To summarize: personalization itself isn’t the goal, but through personalization based on mindset and mission, marketers can better engage consumers. And here I thought the 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲.

Consumers always want things that benefit them, preferably at no cost or very low cost. That is consistent in any research you care to review. (I even addressed this myself in a 2021 post…) Of course they do – who doesn’t want something for free? But as marketers, you need to consider the financial return of every potential investment decision, and “engaging consumers” does not tie directly to financial results.

The idea of “context-aware experiences” is also a little misleading. The examples the author gives around a grocery app and context-driven product suggestion are simply rules-based reactions to search terms and location, which he acknowledges. However, this approach is not new, and recent advances in AI and machine learning and personalization engines don’t solve for a reactive rather than proactive approach. And he doesn't go much further.

So what exactly is the point of personalization? It really requires a hard look for most businesses. “𝘙𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵.” Not sufficient. More precisely, we need to explain why personalization will deliver all these wonderful benefits, different than anything that has been done in the past, how we know it will work, and how brands and retailers should tailor their investments accordingly. Until we can do that, it is not enough to just hope it works, or that AI is some magic tool that will make it work better than in the past.

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