Personalization has become one of those words that shows up everywhere. Read almost any announcement about a new product, platform, or marketing tool and there’s a good chance you’ll see it. The promise is usually the same. Better recommendations. More relevant offers. A better customer experience.
Most of us probably agree with that in theory.
If I’m shopping for running shoes, I’d rather see running shoes than lawn mowers. If I always book an aisle seat, I appreciate when an airline remembers that. Netflix is useful because I don’t have to scroll through thousands of movies every time I open the app. Nobody is asking to go back to the days of generic email blasts and one-size-fits-all promotions.
The problem is that personalization feels great right up until it doesn’t.
Most people have had the experience of talking about something, only to have an ad appear for it a few hours later. Maybe it’s coincidence. Maybe it isn’t. Either way, it creates the same reaction. It feels a little unsettling. The technology didn’t change. The comfort level did.
Plenty of studies on this over the past few years indicate that consumers consistently say they appreciate recommendations that save them time. Those same surveys also show people are becoming more selective about what information they’re willing to share and whom they trust with it. According to Deloitte’s Digital Consumer Trends research, people are generally willing to exchange data when there’s a clear benefit, but that willingness drops when the value isn’t obvious or the data collection feels excessive.
Gaming sits in an interesting position; it already knows quite a bit about its customers. Loyalty programs, mobile apps, and digital accounts create a picture of how people interact with products, properties, and brands. Used thoughtfully, that information can make experiences more convenient. It can also become overwhelming surprisingly fast.
We’ve all received the email that makes you wonder, “How did they know that?” Sometimes it’s impressive. Sometimes it’s just weird.
The line between helpful and intrusive isn’t fixed, either. It depends on the person and the situation. Someone might appreciate a reminder about a restaurant they’ve visited several times. That same person might not love getting a promotion moments after leaving a property or seeing an ad follow them across every website they visit for the next week.
Privacy has become part of the marketing conversation in a way it wasn’t 10 years ago. Regulations continue to evolve, third-party cookies are disappearing, and consumers are paying closer attention to how their information is collected and used. At the same time, expectations for convenience haven’t gone away. People still expect apps to remember their preferences. They still expect relevant recommendations. They still want companies to recognize them without making them feel like they’re being watched.
Finding that balance is becoming harder, not easier.
I don’t think the conversation around personalization is going away. If anything, advances in AI will make it more sophisticated over the next few years. The technology will continue to improve. The bigger question is whether companies spend as much time thinking about customer comfort as they do customer data.
The most useful personalized experience is often the one people barely notice. It’s the reservation that already has your preferred seating. The app that remembers where you left off. The offer that arrives at the right time instead of every time.
Most customers probably aren’t looking for brands to know everything about them. They just want them to remember the things that make the experience a little easier.
