Consumers want their email messages to be personalized -- but they don’t want them to be too personalized.
The merits of personalization in email marketing are extensive,
and studies suggest that more relevant marketing leads to higher conversion rates and sales across B2B and B2C industries. There is a downside to personalization, however, and a recent Adobe report on
consumer email use suggests that some subscribers find email personalization creepy.
Thirteen percent of respondents said too much personalization in email marketing was annoying and
creepy, according to a survey of more than 1,000 Americans.
Although this number pales in comparison to the largest nuisance in email marketing -- 50% selected getting emailed too often by a
brand -- it exemplifies the need for marketers to be strategic with personalization. Quality is better than quantity, but personalization itself is not an cure-all to poor email marketing
programs.
"There is definitely a 'right' and a 'wrong' way to do personalization," says Jason VandeBoom, CEO of ActiveCampaign. “Yes, personalization can certainly increase
the effectiveness of your marketing communications, but companies need to be conscious of privacy. Yes, there's a moral reason to consider privacy, but also consider the fact that 'over-personalized'
content may cause some to tune out."
VandeBoom argues that email marketers can ensure that privacy and personalization are in balance.
“If you tailor messages to
customers in subtler ways, rather than overtly inserting their personal information into your messaging, you’re more likely to come across as helpful rather than creepy,” he says.
“This means using personalization to tell them more about your brand, products and services -- not more about themselves. Relate what you know about the consumer to the brand.”
For
example, VandeBoom says a retailer could show customers items they might like based on their past browsing and purchasing behavior without explicitly calling out that they know exactly which shirt the
customer was looking at on their website two days ago.
“It’s all about the optics and the delivery of the content,” says VandeBoom. “Customers know you’re
collecting their data, but they don’t always want to see it all laid out plainly before them.”
Rob Brosnan, vice president of strategy for Movable Ink, says email enjoys a
distinct advantage because the brand and consumer have a first-party relationship.
“The line marketers should walk with personalization should be based on being human, helpful, and
handy. If you’re doing that, creepiness isn’t much of a factor.”