AI "Personalization:" Everything old is new again.

Alan Culler and I are comfortable calling ourselves “old sales guys.” We decided to co-publish this article after watching a video where a consultant described how a company could connect with its customers using information they already had, “personalizing” the customer experience.

The young man wasn’t a great presenter, but there was nothing wrong with the content he presented:

• Don’t ask people to give you the same information over and over again, as an Urgent Care did to him.
• Don’t try to sell a dishwasher to someone who just bought one from you.
• If you know a person’s dog died, stop sending them treat ads.
• Use some common sense screening. If something doesn’t fit a buying pattern - a cane bought by a thirty-year-old - maybe it was a gift. Don’t send the hearing aid ad.

He advised his audience to be careful about how and when they use Artificial Intelligence (AI) because you can make the customer’s experience “personal” or not so much.

“Well, Duh,” said one of us to the other. It seemed like customer relations 101 to us.

We then regaled each other with some of our very own worst marketing experiences as customers:

“Dear, <<FIRST NAME>>, that’s how I was addressed,” said Bob. “This was a simple error of not connecting the “First Name” link to the Excel file and email list. The real problem was no one tested sample emails to catch the mistake. So no matter how targeted the content was, [it wasn’t], it gets deleted. Oh yeah, it was also sent by a self-professed "sales guru.”

Alan described his frustration with ordering books online. “I typically read historical or science fiction, but my recommended books immediately fill up with whatever I ordered last. This is especially bad after Christmas when I buy the grandkids' books. I have five columns of early readers and Where’s Waldo.”

We then went on to describe our best, most personalized customer experience.

“Hong Kong, 1997,” said Alan. “The hotel clerk took me to my room to check me in and my bags magically followed. She took my passport and credit card and noticed that my birthday was the next day. Starting with a 7 a.m. wake-up call, everyone I met in the hotel wished me ‘Happy Birthday.’ My breakfast was comped, and the cab driver the doorman had called, wished me Happy Birthday as I left his cab.”

Bob said, “I grew up in a small town. When I was a young boy, I’d pick up stuff at the local grocery store for my Mom. The butcher would know what my mother usually ordered, so if I couldn’t read the list or forgot, he helped out. Plus, I always got to pick out some penny candies.”

So, what does all that have to do with AI and personalization?

As a society, we are moving towards a seamless electronic sales and service process. Banks, tech companies, and online booksellers strive to take the costly human being out of the transaction. Some hide call center phone numbers and direct people to online chatbots. In those cases, the interaction between humans and AI may quickly deteriorate. Leading the customer to utter the four most-dreaded words of request, “Speak to an agent.” When you do finally get to a real person, it soon becomes apparent that call centers measure customer service representatives on metrics like average call handle time, cross-selling on service calls, and not on call resolution or customer satisfaction. It’s not a happy experience.

Now we want technology to “personalize” the customer experience.

At the core of the word personalization, is . . . “person.”

“Persons” listen to other people. They hear what is important to the other person (customer). The “seller” offers products or services of value based upon what is important to the customer.

“Personalization,” whether AI-enabled or not, is data-driven.

In the past, a salesperson might have taken notes about a spouse’s name or a favorite sports team, because it was the basis of a shared “personal” moment. A connection that embodied our shared humanity that gives me, “the seller,” permission to reconnect and learn more about you, “the customer,” to help meet your needs.

That salesperson might have kept a client file or a notebook. Later that information might have been transferred to a spreadsheet and then Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software like Salesforce or HubSpot.

Marketers might have tracked advertisement response rates and purchase history in handwritten documents, then spreadsheets, then ad tracker software.

The key to the success of data-driven personalization, whether notebook or software, is keeping the data up to date, and knowing when to use it, and not abuse it.

Unfortunately during the process, “common sense” frequently takes a back seat to technology.

AI can automate data collection and mimic intimate interactions of years past. Computer code, and algorithms, can take the notes, remember the purchase history, recognize patterns of response to certain words, and “personally” recommend a product or service. This technology can dramatically shorten the time required to gather and analyze data from multiple sources to create targeted, meaningful communications.

AI also can portend disaster, with ever-faster, poorly targeted, even insulting marketing communications that drive customers away. Rather than attracting them.

As you begin the AI or non-AI personalization journey, plan for data accuracy reviews, blended with empathy, and judgment. In short, human insight and oversight. AI programmers and marketers must talk to each other, as the cartoon above illustrates.

The AI journey requires detailed knowledge of the customer demographics, psychographics, and the discretion to know when and how to use it. In the past, a customer might have shared a spouse’s name. And a savvy salesperson had the good judgment to know when, and how to inquire after the spouse without sounding creepy.

As AI develops can we trust it to respect privacy, i.e., not be creepy?

The software engineers who develop artificial intelligence are driven by the questions “What’s possible? What can we do?” Marketers must represent the business question, “What makes sense to generate customer acquisition and retention, revenue and profit? And someone must look at “What should we do? What’s right?”

It is a delicate balance between Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning and human Soft Skills like communication, critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and empathy.

Clients and prospects will appreciate receiving well-timed, personalized communications. Messages that make them feel their business is valued. When done well, it will also help to contribute to positive word-of-mouth referrals.

However, when not done well . . . word of mouth works both ways.

About Bob and Alan.

Bob Musial helps clients with business development encompassing a wide spectrum of disciplines and industries. He frequently uses personalized humor (like the cartoon in this article), to set the stage for conveying a message in a relatable and memorable manner. Bob has a long history of personalized communications built from conversations with contacts, storing “likes and dislikes” information in a custom database designed to deepen relationships. He is the author of Soft Skills, Hard Returns.

Alan Culler is a retired strategic change consultant and author who worked with multi-billion dollar global companies to help them innovate, integrate, and improve processes, productivity, and profitability. He is the author of Traveling the Consulting Road and has a new book coming out soon, Change Leader? Who Me?

#artificialintelligence #personalization #sales #digitalmarketing #communications