Monday, February 16, 2009
The Problem With Personalization
Have you noticed lately? Personalization is everywhere.
Yet that personalization seems more IMpersonal than ever.
You get an email that displays your name in the subject line. You open it and find your name sprinkled repeatedly throughout the text, as if the writer had written the entire thing specifically to you.
You know, though, that they didn't. You know they inserted a little snippet of code at those places where your name appears. You know that that code had pulled your name from the company's database and inserted it for greater personalization.
And, if you're like me, you feel a little manipulated to know all that.
I found someone else today who feels the same way and has some interesting insights on personalization done manipulatively. He suggests what marketers can do to go beyond thinking of personalization as just slapping people's names all over their emails and, instead, to give people a personalized experience that they actually appreciate.
Enjoy!
Jeff
Have you noticed lately? Personalization is everywhere.
Yet that personalization seems more IMpersonal than ever.
You get an email that displays your name in the subject line. You open it and find your name sprinkled repeatedly throughout the text, as if the writer had written the entire thing specifically to you.
You know, though, that they didn't. You know they inserted a little snippet of code at those places where your name appears. You know that that code had pulled your name from the company's database and inserted it for greater personalization.
And, if you're like me, you feel a little manipulated to know all that.
I found someone else today who feels the same way and has some interesting insights on personalization done manipulatively. He suggests what marketers can do to go beyond thinking of personalization as just slapping people's names all over their emails and, instead, to give people a personalized experience that they actually appreciate.
Enjoy!
Jeff
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