Understanding the personalisation problem

Personalisation has been around for years, but with generative AI, it’s happening on an unimaginable scale. Because AI can process so much data so quickly, it has become possible for businesses to personalise pretty much everything that they do. All communication, all marketing materials, all advertising. This holds many benefits for consumers – it connects them with products and services they want while freeing them from irrelevant content. However, over-personalisation can take things the other way, leaving customers feeling stalked and intruded upon, making them unwilling to give their business to that particular brand. Reputational damage and harm to brand identity is the inevitable outcome of such a scenario. And even where personalisation doesn’t go quite that far, it can be counterproductive in other ways, including limiting the customer’s ability to discover other products for themselves.

This raises the question of how businesses can maximise the potential of the valuable tool that personalisation has become without falling into the bear trap of privacy invasion.

Simple practices to ensure the balance is maintained between privacy and personalisation

Initiate smarter data collection

Businesses have been collecting data for decades. The difference now is that with AI, all of that data can be processed and potentially used. But why does it need to be? Why do you need to find out someone’s hair colour, sexual orientation, or first job if you’re selling them shoes? With smarter data collection, you can gather the information you need to create tailored emails and advertising that is useful, insight driven, and appropriate, without also gathering personal data that is of no benefit to your business. This privacy-first approach to marketing helps your customers by saving them time and letting them feel that your brand understands their needs as a customer. It helps to build trust in your business because you’re not making assumptions about their purchasing based on irrelevant information. And it helps to deliver the best ROI for your business. Refining your forms is key to this. It can help to unlock the data you need while removing any impression of ‘snooping’.

Embrace transparent data practices

With consumer savviness and the growing use of the ‘reject all’ cookie button has come an increased tendency to obfuscate from businesses. Admission to certain pages is denied if consent for data collection is not given. Or the consent forms are so lengthy that most users just give up and accept them. The thing is, when users understand exactly what data is being collected, why it’s being collected, and how it will be used, many are more likely to agree to that data being collected. So, rather than making the process far more aggressively complicated and daunting than it needs to be, make sure that users have easy access to clear, concise privacy policies. Explain data practices in plain language. And avoid lengthy jargon that might confuse users. Transparency builds trust – lack of it does the opposite. Informed consent should always be the ultimate goal.

Use data wisely

According to recent research, only 5% of consumers have no major concerns over how organisations use their data. However, when data is used transparently and to the benefit of the consumer, people generally feel the enhancement itself is a fair trade for their data. So, by taking steps to ensure that data is only used to refine products, enhance services, and create experiences that customers love is a good way to maximise the potential of data collection, without losing the customer’s trust. This can be achieved as simply as A/B testing everything that collected data may be used for – marketing campaigns, communication, targeting, and customer experience.

Achieving the right balance between privacy and personalisation isn’t a quick process. In fact, it will require ongoing effort from any business serious about the matter. But by adopting a privacy-first approach, it becomes possible to build long-term trust and loyalty from your customers, while still delivering meaningful, personalised experiences, and the best ROI for your business.

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