Stat of the day: Personalised marketing generates negative experiences for 53% of customers, who were 3.2x more likely to regret a purchase and 44% less likely to purchase again in the future.

A Gartner survey of 1,464 B2B buyers and consumers across North America, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand in November and December 2024 found that customers who experienced personalisation in a recent purchase journey were 1.8x more likely to pay a premium but were simultaneously 2x more likely to feel overwhelmed by the volume of information they received.

Moreover, they were 2.8x more likely to feel time pressure to move forward.

The paradox of personalization arises when customers switch tasks in their buying journey, such as transitioning from searching to selecting a product. This shift can be challenging for most consumers and B2B buyers. During these moments, personalised offers and product recommendations may fall short, as they appear irrelevant to buyers who are grappling with challenges more complex than the offer itself.

“While personalisation has proven to be commercially valuable for some customers, it’s crucial to recognise that it doesn’t resonate with most,” said Audrey Brosnan, Senior Director Analyst in the Gartner Marketing Practice. “More than half of customers feel overwhelmed or rushed by traditional personalization tactics at least once in a purchase journey, when cognitive, emotional and social challenges are difficult to resolve. Personalized offers at these moments can harm customers, highlighting the need for marketers to adopt more nuanced and adaptive strategies that cater to diverse customer needs, like escaping the pitfalls of task switching.”

“CMOs face an urgent strategic imperative to redesign personalization for the coming era of two-way, AI-enabled, conversational experiences,” said Brosnan. “Passive personalization tactics alone no longer suffice; they can inadvertently intensify the negative emotions that customers experience when trapped in decision-making pitfalls. CMOs must pivot toward active, course-changing personalisation that reveals customers’ hidden needs, validates their decisions and pulls them from pitfall to purchase.”

According to the research, course-changing personalisation significantly outperforms traditional “next best action” recommendations for customers in pitfalls. Active personalization empowers individuals to reflect, build confidence, and take decisive actions aligned with their authentic goals. Customers engaged via active personalization are 2.3x more likely to confidently complete critical purchase decisions, generating substantial improvement in customer satisfaction and marketing ROI.

By allowing customers to take control of their journey, organizations can create more meaningful interactions that challenge perspectives and build confidence. This approach is particularly effective in addressing the complex emotions customers experience in journey pitfalls, such as feelings of being rushed into, overwhelmed by, or dubious of passive personalization.

“Active personalization is a powerful new strategy for transforming customer engagement into strategic value,” said Brosnan. “By engaging customers directly, marketing leaders can use personalized experiences to not only improve satisfaction but also drive substantial improvements in ROI and future purchase potential. Even better, active personalization reduces customers’ apprehension over the creepiness of passive personalization. They understand why brands need the requested data, and they value the utility that active personalisation supplies in exchange.”

Photo by Lukas Müller on Unsplash