The push and pull of personalization

New research from Epsilon explores why getting personalization right (and wrong) shapes how consumers feel about your brand.

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INTRODUCTION

Consumers still want personalization—they just don't want to be misunderstood.

It’s a simple but loaded question: when does personalized marketing make you feel seen, and when does it make you feel like a brand got you all wrong?

Today, brands have more data and better tools than ever to market to their consumers. Meanwhile, consumers have gotten savvier, busier and quicker to tune out anything that misses the mark.

In this report, we set out to understand how consumers really feel about personalized marketing from brands—what influences them to buy (or not buy) and why.

What we found is that personalization is still very much a two-way street. Consumers certainly still want personalization, but this research finds they pull brands closer when it’s done well and push them away when it’s not—especially when they're misunderstood. Understanding the nuances of personalization is essential for marketers today.

What do we mean when we say personalization?

You're going to see the word a lot throughout the research, but what does it mean exactly?

Personalization occurs when a brand tailors its marketing to you specifically—based on things like who you are, what you've bought or browsed, or your preferences—instead of showing the same generic message to everyone.

For example: an email that uses your name, an ad for something related to a product you recently looked at, or recommendations based on your past purchases all fall under the personalization umbrella.

What you'll find inside

Click through the research to explore key themes impacting marketers today, like:

How consumers think about personalization

Why do people choose to engage with marketing? We ask how consumers think and feel about personalized marketing from brands and ask where they're falling short.

Explore section 1

The cost of getting it wrong

There's a clear upside to getting personalization right, but what happens when it doesn't quite hit the target? For brands today, there's a price to misunderstanding your customers.

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Moving beyond the ad

Feel like you're personalizing your ads, understanding your customers and getting everything right? It's time to think about how frequency and channel mix plays a role in your strategy.

Explore section 3

Ready to dive in?

See the executive summary

About the research

Epsilon surveyed 748 U.S. consumers about how they experience marketing and advertising from brands. Respondents ranged from age 18–65 and were the primary purchaser/decision-maker in their household. Where noted, comparisons reference Epsilon’s 2024 “Push and pull of personalization” study.

Note: Some responses may not equal 100% due to rounding.