Comments on: When Personalization Backfires

By: Chuck Franks

Chuck Franks — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 23:19:16 +0000

Web 2.0 is going so fast. Only when we slow down can we really listen. Your Rant is well received. I have a friend on Facebook who passed away earlier in the year. No one has deleted his profile. I have a friend who's Mom just passed away a couple days ago. Had someone not replied to his post about the fact that he had been up all night finishing off a fifth of whiskey I would have just chalked it up to “drinking problem” not grief. Business needs to learn how as we enter this new world of two way communication to start asking questions rather than just sending information to us. The post by katgordon was a great example. Businesses need feedback as do each of us. We have to be willing to recognize that listening is far more valuable in the communication than talking.
I'm sorry about your Grandmother and I'm sorry your grief was stoked by the on line flower company. I hope that the joy that the flowers brought your Grandmother when she was alive far outweighs the frustration this caused you.

By: "Predictable But Fun"

"Predictable But Fun" — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:41:51 +0000

It's an interesting dialog – tension at times – between streamlining and automating online interactions and maintaining a voice and personalization in the process. Thank you for this Post Whitney.

By: katgordon

katgordon — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 11:49:48 +0000

Wonderful post. When I consulted at BabyCenter, we faced the same issue with the popular pregnancy email series. Women who miscarried didn't want to receive email reminders of how their fetus would be growing if it were still viable. To remedy those situations, BabyCenter provided links on every newsletter to change your email preferences. Smart marketers in all industries need to offer mechanisms like this to avoid alienating customers unknowingly.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 11:32:57 +0000

You raise a very good point, rant or not. Organizations that want to build personality into their digital relationships need to carefully consider all possibilities and build that logic into their automated tools. Companies can get very creative and if they do it well, they can create quite the brand.

By: SENDING FLOWERS DELIVERY » Blog Archive » When Personalization Backfires | Reading Whitney

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 00:15:45 +0000

[...] My options have been to unsubscribe to all a emails from these vendors, though there’s no choice to only let them know which we am still happy to listen to from them, though if they keep upon call me to send flowering plants to my passed grandmother, … Read more: When Personalization Backfires | Reading Whitney [...]