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.

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