Personalization Leads to Customer Regret

Personalized marketing, while valuable for some, generates negative experiences for 53 percent of customers, who were 3.2 times more likely to regret a purchase and 44 percent less likely to purchase again in the future, according to a survey by Gartner.

Additionally, customers who experienced personalization in a recent purchase journey were 1.8 times more likely to pay a premium but were simultaneously twice as likely to feel overwhelmed by the volume of information they received. Moreover, they were 2.8 times more likely to feel time pressure to move forward.

The paradox of personalization arises when customers switch tasks in their buying journeys, such as transitioning from searching to selecting a product, when Gartner says personalized offers and product recommendations might fall short, especially if they appear irrelevant to buyers who are grappling with challenges that are more complex than the offer itself.

“While personalization has proven to be commercially valuable for some customers, it’s crucial to recognize that it doesn’t resonate with most,” says 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.”

Chief marketing officers “face an urgent strategic imperative to redesign personalization for the coming era of two-way, AI-enabled, conversational experiences,” Brosnan says further. “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 personalization that reveals customers’ hidden needs, validates their decisions, and pulls them from pitfall to purchase.”

According to the research, course-changing personalization 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, and customers engaged via active personalization are 2.3 times more likely to confidently complete critical purchase decisions, generating substantial improvement in customer satisfaction and marketing, according to Gartner.

By allowing customers to take control of their journeys, 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,” Brosnan adds. “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 personalization supplies in exchange.”

CMOs looking to optimize their marketing budgets and enhance the impact of personalization should focus on this strategic shift, Gartner says, while encouraging CMOs to take the following steps:

• Actively counter journey pitfalls. Pinpoint and target active personalization strategies at crucial moments when customers transition between tasks and frequently encounter obstacles, as passive tactics can be more detrimental than beneficial in these situations.
• Catalyze emotional change. Employ interactive experiences like quizzes, gamified assessments, and guided digital interactions that reveal unique customer attributes and motivate customers to clarify their goals and confidently advance through complex decisions.
• Embrace customer co-creation. Shift from passive inference to active customer involvement, encouraging customers to directly share personal preferences and context that co-create personalized paths to purchase and loyalty.

“CMOs who leverage active personalization strategies at key customer journey transition points will achieve deeper customer engagement, enhanced brand loyalty, and superior commercial outcomes,” Brosnan stresses. “This approach allows marketing leaders to embed a growth loop in customer engagement. Active personalization acts as a flywheel, motivating customers in the moment and revealing unique insight that sustains and accelerates the flywheel with each successive engagement.”