Personalization Not Tried And True By Retailers

Personalization is a trendy thing these days. Fendi is making a line of pompoms to add to bags customers already own. Wine can be hand-selected for people, and cigars — complete with personalized cigar bands — have even become unique. And the most individual thing that everyone has, their DNA, can be made into artwork to decorate our own homes.

While personalization can bring in customers, it turns out many retailers don’t venture into that personalization realm at all.

According to a new study by Clearhead, more than 33 percent of the 144 North American eCommerce executives polled say they don’t employ personalization technology. However, 64 percent say they do use marketing technology to support the retailers’ personalization efforts.

And a separate study by CEB says that more than 50 percent of senior B2C marketers say they rely on tools such as web analytic technology, CRM systems and other related platforms.

At the same time, personalization is a touchy subject. While there may be a trending idea that it’s successful, turns out, many times certain generations — namely millennials — are more reluctant to give away their data, than one might think.

“The more information that’s asked of them, the less likely it is that [millennials] will finish the application,” Johnny Ayers, cofounder of Socure, told PYMNTS. “Consumers understand that a business has to verify who they are, but millennials in particular don’t understand why they are asked for their life’s history when all they want to do is buy something online.”

Millennials expect technology to intelligently know who they are, with any investigative work done on the back end. Regulators expect banks to know that the transactions they are authorizing aren’t for bad guys or deadbeats who can’t pay them back.

Back in October, PYMNTS reported that LexisNexis surveyed over 2,800 millennials across all of these markets and uncovered a disparity between millennials’ trust in sharing their information and businesses’ need to gather critical data for better fraud prevention. The study upends some previously held assumptions about millennials, including its finding that despite their digital connectivity, millennials are extremely guarded about sharing their personal information. A chasm exists between millennials’ desire for secure access on all connected devices and their discomfort and unwillingness with sharing data — a wake-up call that businesses need to find ways and solutions for that minimize the amount of data they collect.