Email personalization has an overuse problem | MarTech

"While personalization can drive conversions, retention and growth, ultra-personalized campaigns can also feel creepy or intrusive to consumers. Do we need to scale back on our approach of tailoring every section of every email just to that specific subscriber? Perhaps the answer to building greater trust between brands and consumers is not to quit personalization, but to use it less (or differently) than most of us do now."

"Just like these ringtones, hyper-personalized emails may be suffering from overkill. Too much, too often. Most subscribers are aware of the tools marketers use to personalize content and they know that it doesn't take much extra effort. Therefore, we may be better off focusing less on what we're personalizing and more on how we're using personalization."

"Flooding the market with something leads consumers to become very jaded, very quickly. That's as true for inboxes as it is for ringtones. The more personalized content and imagery a subscriber sees in a brand's emails, the more fatigue it's likely to create."

Email marketers have access to numerous personalization tools including AI-driven reporting, customized greetings, subject lines, and product recommendations. However, hyper-personalization can backfire by feeling creepy or intrusive to consumers. Like personalized ringtones that dominated the early 2000s before becoming obsolete, over-personalized emails risk creating fatigue through excessive customization. Subscribers recognize the effort behind personalization is minimal and expect it as standard. Rather than abandoning personalization entirely, brands should use it more strategically and selectively. Flooding markets with personalized content causes consumer jadedness quickly. Building trust requires focusing less on what gets personalized and more on how and when personalization is deployed.

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