Retail Personalization: Don't Be Creepy
By Erin Harris, Editor-In-Chief, Cell & Gene
Follow Me On Twitter @ErinHarris_1
Marketers continue to grapple with scaling personalization by attempting to deliver a customized customer experience without being, well, creepy. The struggle is real. Accenture’s recent Personalization Survey based on a Web outreach to 1,000 U.S. consumers shows that nearly 60% of consumers want real-time promotions and offers, but only 20% percent want retailers to know their current location. And, only 14% want to share their browsing history. But, as always, there are differences in expectations from Millennials to Baby Boomers and everyone in between.
Demographics play a large role in whether customers feel a retailer’s personalized communications are acceptable or creepy. The key to personalization is to determine the optimal level of engagement for the individual customer. The customer’s trust in the brand is critical as is the promise that the retailer will keep the personal information lock-and-key secure. Get one or both of those wrong, and it won’t matter how laser-personalized the offers are.
Accenture’s respondents shared that the most welcome in-store retailer communications and offerings include complementary item suggestions (54%); real-time promotions (57%); and automatic discounts at checkout for loyalty points or coupons (82%). This last one is going to cost you if you’re interested in engaging Baby Boomers. According to Accenture, Baby Boomers are more demanding than Millennials when it comes to receiving benefits in exchange for their data. Almost three-quarters (74%) expect to get automatic crediting for coupons and loyalty points, and 70% expect special offers for items they are interested in, versus 58% and 61% of Millennials, respectively.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that there are some retailers practicing hyperpersonalization tactics that can be damaging to the brand. For instance, 36% of respondents dislike when store associates greet them by name when they enter the store (personally, I thought this percentage would have been much higher). Forty-six percent of respondents do not approve when retailers suggest they not purchase items online outside their budget at big-ticket destinations such as home improvement and electronics stores. Forty-two percent stated that they disapprove of store associates who can provide recommendations based upon their family health issues in store, and 52% do not want retailers to provide them with feedback from their friends online.
To me, these tactics seem overly intrusive, but individual preference will always rule, and the caveat is that individual preferences may change over time for a whole host of reasons (i.e. loss of a job, aging, marriage, birth of children/grandchildren, retirement, continuing education, etc.). Sweeping generalizations are not the answer; not every Baby Boomer seeks or appreciates the same shopping experience just as not every Millennial seeks or appreciates the same shopping experience. Yes, millennials are more open to in-depth personalization than Baby Boomers, but knowing both the individual customer’s preferences and their demographic will boost loyalty. Personalization done well can drive the business ahead of its competition. Personalization done poorly can alienate the best customers. Testing subsets of the customer base will provide valuable data, the analytics of which can help determine who wants immediate attention and who needs some breathing room.