\u201cPersonalization\u201d is an overused term. Although it\u2019s not necessarily the\u00a0wrong\u00a0way to describe catering to each individual, it\u2019s been used so often that nobody knows exactly what you mean when you say it.<\/p>\n
With up to\u00a073 percent of consumers\u00a0craving \u201cindividual retail\u201d<\/a> (i.e., an individualized shopping experience), the process we\u2019ll be talking about here is something more than personalization. \u201cIndividualization\u201d takes a far more customer-specific approach to differentiation.<\/p>\n Individualization focuses on a segment size of one, with content crafted for a single person who is involved in a certain activity at a particular physical location at a certain point in time.<\/p>\n Individualization doesn\u2019t replace personalization; it takes it to the next level by helping brands cultivate real relationships with online users.<\/p>\n As with any relationship, shoppers expect the people\u2014or brands or websites\u2014they interact with to remember who they are after their first meeting and then to act on that information to tailor how they choose to communicate.<\/p>\n These kinds of interactions are, by definition, individualized in real time.<\/p>\n Although the two terms may seem similar, individualization more accurately describes the new generation of tailored contextual services in which individual differences tend to trump group differences.<\/p>\n Personalization in the traditional sense accounts for several categories of activities. Each of these provides informative value but illuminates only a piece of a much more detailed picture when it comes to actual individual preferences.<\/p>\n Testing: During A\/B testing, different users are shown different content or designs to see which they prefer. This is most often done at random, so it\u2019s not true individualization from the perspective of actually knowing anything about the user.<\/p>\n CRM<\/strong>: Aggregating data about a user to include user-selected preferences, social graphs from connected social networks, or offline data \u2014 such as past purchase history and types of products the customer has purchased or shown interest in \u2014 are all forms of CRM personalization.<\/p>\n Segmentation<\/strong>: Grouping users who have similar behavior and interests allows organizations to deliver a quasi-personalized experience.<\/p>\n Personalization<\/strong>: Whether automatically or manually, showing the right content to the right user is the goal of personalization.<\/p>\n Individualization<\/strong>: This tactic focuses on the context of where an individual is and what he or she is doing in that specific moment as opposed to just who he or she is.<\/p>\n To illustrate, we might observe differences in men ages 25-30 and ages 30-35 and see that the older group is 10 percent more likely to prefer polo shirts. Meanwhile, the younger group is 10 percent more likely to prefer T-shirts. This information doesn\u2019t tell us anything about the particular man we\u2019re targeting, regardless of his age. After all, maybe he\u2019s really shopping for a birthday present for his dad.<\/p>\n With proper context, however, the right messaging is simple to figure out. Is the man buying a shirt for work or a day at the beach? Although a man who\u2019s 25-30 might be more likely to prefer a T-shirt, he might not be able to wear one in the office.<\/p>\n Likewise, if a 30-year-old man \u2014 who straddles both age ranges \u2014 is on vacation in Bali, chances are that he isn\u2019t seeking a button-down. Thus, the context of\u00a0why\u00a0he\u2019s shopping for shirts to begin with is much more useful than understanding his age demographic.<\/p>\n Individualization relies on real-time marketing. This allows campaigns to work at the speed of the customer rather than the speed of the marketer. Bear in mind, though, that most individualized actions have time dependencies.<\/p>\n Rather than send daily or weekly email blasts (which are all personalized with each recipient\u2019s name), individualized efforts would recognize whether the recipient is in personal or professional mode, as business and personal decisions will often vary.<\/p>\n For example, let\u2019s say that Suzie is a composite business traveler searching on a hotel site between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on a weekday. If we discover that Suzie is on the same hotel site between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m., she\u2019s likely a leisure traveler at that moment. Content that\u2019s individualized to Suzie at one time of the day may not be relevant for her even just a few hours later.<\/p>\n With individualized, real-time marketing, the time window for effective marketing may be no larger than one or two minutes.<\/p>\n There\u2019s growing evidence that younger generations prefer to build personal relationships with brands more than older generations. Millennials have real spending power and\u00a0are set to overtake Generation X<\/a>\u00a0with a projected\u00a0$1.4 trillion in spending by 2020<\/a>, making individualized engagement more important than ever.<\/p>\nPersonalization vs. Individualization<\/h3>\n
Revolutionary Perspectives<\/h3>\n