Consider your aims, honestly
To win the loyalty of consumers, to get them to come back, you must give some real value when you customize and personalize your content, or they will rebel, clicking away from the page, or deleting your e-mail in disgust.
The values you can communicate through personalization include
- Openness (showing all you know about them)
- Privacy (allaying their legitimate fear of cross-selling, junk mail, and credit card fraud)
- Reliability (showing an order confirmation page, e-mailing a confirmation of the order, e-mailing when you ship, e-mailing after arrival, including a return address label in the box, not arguing about returns).
But honesty works best. If you don't know the answer, say so, and promise to get an answer soon-then amaze them by actually following up.
- Honesty is the beginning of open communication.
- Communication is the beginning of interaction.
- Interaction is the beginning of personalization.
--Eric
Norlin, Personalization
Newsletter, 2001
Resource
Who am I writing for, and, incidentally, who am I? (Full chapter from Hot Text, in PDF, 566K, or about 10 minutes at 56k)
