Companies need to beware of the dark side of content personalization. While personalizing content is good because it provides each customer with individualized treatment, there is a fine line between individualized treatment and creepiness. Companies that step over the line and over-personalize their content risk turning customers off. If you over-personalize, customers may feel like you’re invading their privacy.
Using the wrong data at the wrong time to personalize may end up alienating your customer or turning them off. One of the best examples of this was when Target sent booklets full of baby-related offers to a teenage girl. Her father was outraged that Target would send such offers to his daughter because, given she was so young, he thought there was no way she could possibly be pregnant. Unbeknownst to the father, his daughter actually was pregnant, which Target determined by tracking her purchase behavior. Each Target customer receives a specific ID number tied to their name or email address. Everything the customer buys, along with their demographic information, is tied to the number. Target then leverages this data to predict things about you. In this case, Target made a huge mistake by over-personalizing…
