Val Swisher - The Personalization Paradox

The Personalization Paradox

Why Companies Fail (and How To Succeed) at Delivering Personalized Experiences at Scale

Val Swisher

Regina Lynn Preciado

By Robert Rose, Author,
Chief Strategy Officer, The Content Advisory

Research shows that surprise can intensify our emotions by about 400 percent. Its why something as simple as a box of chocolates you didnt expect can make your day, or why a careless jerk who steals your parking space can ruin it.

But what about surprises that you expect?

Perhaps its an unopened present, the new job youre starting Monday, or the next episode of that amazing Netflix show. You know youll be surprised. But you have no idea howyoull be delighted.

Heres a paradox: The anticipation of opening a present from your favorite uncle can be more exciting than the present itself. The hopeful expectation of an over-the-top-fantastic beach vacation can be more happy-making than the trip.

Isnt it odd, then, that in modern digital business, we believe that removing all the expected surprise from our customer experiences somehow makes sense? Businesses see technology that can deliver personalized, targeted content as the most optimal means of giving customers exactly what they expectto see. And yet, most businesses have no clue how to create or structure that content to provide any level of delightful surprisein that experience.

So, whats the result? Most personalized content initiatives consist of a distinctly impersonalvariation of Hi [ FirstName], we know you showed interest in [ ProductViewed], would you like to buy it for [ TargetedDiscount]? That isnt personalization. And it definitely isnt an expected surprise. Its simply a new iteration of the same old experience.

And thats a problem for marketers. As Ben Hoff put it in The Tao of Pooh, Each time the goal is reached, it becomes not so much fun, and were off to reach the next one, then the next one, then the next.

And in todays world, emergent privacy concerns and data-usage regulations create an even bigger challenge. Its yet another paradox: Ask customers if they want more targeted, relevant advertising and content as part of the buying process, and most will say, Yes! But ask them if companies should use their data to deliver that content, and they will overwhelmingly say, Hell no!

What excites me most about the book you are about to read is that it deftly and simply demystifies one of the biggest challenges in todays modern marketing and customer experience development: How can businesses truly deliver the expected surprise of content personalization at scale?

Val and Regina go well beyond the standard solutions (more data, time, or technology) to provide an in-depth road map of the only path toward personalizing at scale: standardization. They walk you through a content re-use strategy and explain why its integral. And maybe most important, they illuminate what personalization reallylooks like, at every level: word, sentence, paragraph, and page.

The best content experiences arent those that are conspicuously personalized by throwing your name or some other personal data in your face to give you a familiar experience. They are experiences that seem to know you well enough to surprise you.

As a modern marketer, the best compliment you can get from a customer isnt that your content met their expectation. No, the best compliment is when someone says, I really look forward to the next .

The Personalization Paradoxcan help you deliver delightful, personalized digital experiences at scale. It can help you not only deliver a positive outcome for your customers but also intensify their expectation of delight.

I know you dont know what comes next in the following pages.