True personalisation is unachievable due to poor data quality, but it’s ineffective anyway and should be replaced with creative that resonates with everyone.
What’s the worst idea in the marketing industry?
Everybody has their own answer to that question. For some, it’s brand purpose. For others, it’s short-termism. For us, the answer is clear: personalisation.
You can’t go more than five seconds at a marketing conference without hearing about the promise of “one-to-one personalisation at scale”. Personalisation continues to be one of the biggest trends in the marketing industry. In 2019, it was named ‘word of the year’.
Proponents believe we are entering a new era in marketing, where every creative message will be tailored to the specific needs of individual buyers. This extreme form of segmentation will deliver greater “relevancy”, which will translate into more sales for businesses.
There’s just one little problem with personalisation: it doesn’t make any sense. We believe the case against personalisation is significantly stronger than the case for it.
The case against personalisation can be reduced to two simple words:
- Couldn’t
- Wouldn’t
