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← Back to IdeasThe Hyperpersonalization Tightrope: Balancing Relevance and Respect
Not long ago, “personalization at scale” was hailed as one of the next revolutions in marketing. The ability to tailor different communications to millions of people based on things like location, purchasing habits, even the weather, was going to change marketing –, and those who did it best would get a leg up on the competition.
While personalization had its merits in theory, it fell short in practice -- as technology advanced, marketers found themselves unable to truly capitalize on the resulting data available to them. Now, supercharged by the possibilities of AI, we find ourselves in a yet another, higher-stakes, era of marketing to the individual: Hyperpersonalization.
Which begs big questions. How do you embrace hyperpersonalization without becoming an intruder? How do you offer actual value without coming across as creepy?
That was the topic on hand at Ogilvy One’s panel at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, hosted by Ogilvy One Global President Clare Lawson and featuring Brian Kracik, Head of Product Marketing - Telecom, Networking, Distributed Cloud at Google Cloud, Ana Iorga, CEO and Chief Neuroscientist at Buyer Brain, and Megan Higgins, Partner and Data intelligence Leader at PwC.
Hyperpersonalization Done Right: Making People’s Lives Easier
“When we think about hyperpersonalization, we think a lot about urging people to buy something,” Iorga said. “And actually, a lot of companies in the world that are probably doing it best aren’t trying to sell you something. It’s in logistics or transport, creating less friction when you’re going somewhere.”
Iorga talked about her recent experience with KLM airlines, which was proactively giving her all the information about her connecting flight, helping to remove a lot of stress from a usually stressful situation.
Lawson spoke to the notifications she receives from Waze around the time she’s usually taking her kids to school in the morning, alerting her that traffic is heavy and to leave a bit earlier, and Kracik mentioned Domino’s, which offers transparency on food order statuses right up until the moment of delivery.
In all of these cases, consumers are getting value for the data they are giving up. In these cases, the brands aren’t selling anything extra, but are offering people peace of mind and a sense of control.
Avoid Creep, Offer Value
Hyperpersonalization when trying to sell something is a different animal. As most of us have experienced, the panelists all recalled times that they were served ads for either something they were just conversing with someone about, or for a product that they’ve already just purchased. These instances show personalization that up the creep factor while not offering enough value.
Iorga urged marketers to avoid what she called the “uncanny valley”, defined as the customer being confused about how the brand knew something about them, or when and how the brand gained a certain bit of information or data.
“Whenever brands infer too much about you, or serve you personalized ads or information without making it natural, people will just go, ‘That’s too much, you’re invading my privacy,’” she said.
Be Empathetic and Relevant
The key likely lies somewhere in offering people something that deepens their experience with a brand, without overtly selling to them. Can you be empathetic and relevant to them?
“When you can tie into something that people really care about, the selling part becomes easy,” Higgins said.
This ultimately points back to the importance of creative thinking, which can't be lost in the world of AI and big data. Simply utilizing the technology available to us to serve someone something based on what you know about them just puts you in the sea of sameness. In a crowded world where people are seeing thousands of advertisements every day on their phone, it’s what you make people feel in those brief moments you have their attention.
“We have to make sure we put creativity at the heart of customer experience,” Lawson said. “And that’s not at the expense of machine learning and everything that today’s technology can deliver us. It’s about the marriage of the technology and truly creative thinking — that means you can deliver more emotive, more visceral experiences.”
Be Transparent, Create Comfort, Keep it Simple
Hyperpersonalization is obviously dependent on massive amounts of customer data, and it’s on brands and marketers to be transparent, make people feel comfortable, and make it simple.
Kracik urged marketers to give proactive information and be honest about what data you’re collecting and what it’s for. That’s because people are receptive to this, especially younger generations. Seventy percent of Gen Z and onwards are happy to offer their data in exchange for value. So, marketers are going to continue to have plenty of data to work with in order to craft personalized messages and experiences.
The differentiator is not in the data, but how you use it.
“Are you listening to me, versus are you understanding my movements and what I want?” Kracik said. “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”
‘It Takes 30 Years to Build a Reputation, and 30 Seconds to Lose It’
"It takes 30 years to build a reputation, and 30 seconds to lose it,” Higgins said. That isn’t a new adage in marketing, but in the era of hyperpersonalization, it’s perhaps even more resonant. Hyperpersonalization brings about great opportunity, but also brings with it tremendous risk. Marketers who want to succeed on the promise that hyperpersonalization brings must find a sweet spot, providing value without coming across like big brother, or worse.
To do so, they must be trustworthy and transparent about the data that they are collecting and how they’re collecting it. And then they must use that data to understand the customer, ultimately providing them with meaningful interactions — whether that’s removing friction from their life and experiences or offering them products and services that are relevant and valuable.
The brands that can thread this needle are the ones who will find themselves building real connections with people, turning interactions into lasting relationships.