By Bob Musial and Alan Culler

Alan Culler and I are comfortable calling ourselves “old sales guys.”  Recently, we each watched a video where a consultant described how a company could connect with its customers using information that they already had, “personalizing” the customer experience.

The young man wasn’t a great presenter, but there was nothing wrong with the content he presented:

• Don’t ask people to give you the same information over and over again, as an Urgent Care did to him.
• Don’t try to sell a dishwasher to someone who just bought one from you.
• If you know a person’s dog died, stop sending them treat ads.
• Use some common sense screening. If something doesn’t fit a buying pattern – a cane bought buy a thirty-year old – maybe it was a gift. Don’t send the hearing aid ad.

He advised his audience to be careful about how and when you use Artificial Intelligence (AI) because you can make the customer’s experience “personal” or not-so-much.

“Well, Duh,” said one of us to the other. It seemed like customer relations 101 to us.

We then regaled each other with some of our very own worst marketing experiences as customers:

“Dear, <<FIRST NAME>> That’s how I was addressed,”” said Bob. “This is a simple error of connecting to the “first name” column on an Excel flat file, but failing to make the link to column content. The real problem is no one looked at the resulting email mailing to catch the mistake, so no matter how targeted the content was [it wasn’t] it gets deleted. (Oh yeah, it was sent by a self-professed ‘sales guru.)”

Alan described his frustration with ordering books online. “I typically read historical or science fiction, but my recommended books immediately fill up with whatever I ordered last. This is especially bad after Christmas when I buy the grandkids books. I have five columns of early readers and Where’s Waldo.”

We then went on to described our best most personalized customer experience.

“Hong Kong, 1997” said Alan. “The hotel clerk took me to my room to check me in and my bags magically followed. She took my passport and credit card and noticed that my birthday was the next day. Starting with a 7 am wake-up call, everyone I met in the hotel wished me ‘Happy Birthday.’ My breakfast was comped  and the cab driver the doorman called wished me Happy Birthday as I left his cab.”

Bob said. “I grew up in a small town. I’d pick up stuff at the local grocery for my Mom. The butcher would know what my mother ordered so if I couldn’t read the list or forgot, he helped out. I always got to pick out two penny candies.”

So, what does all that have to do with AI and personalization?

As a society, we are moving towards a seamless electronic sales and service process. Banks, tech companies, on-line booksellers strive to take the costly human being out of the transaction. Some hide call center phone numbers and direct people to online chat-bots. In those cases, the interaction between humans and AI may quickly deteriorate, leading the customer to utter the four most-dreaded words of request, “Speak to an agent.” When you do get to a real person, it soon becomes apparent that call centers measure customer service representatives on metrics like average call handle time, cross-selling on service calls, and not on call resolution or customer satisfaction, not a happy experience.

Now we want technology to “personalize” the customer experience.

At the core of the word personalization, is . . .  “person.”

Persons listen to other people. They hear what is important to the other person (customer). The “seller” offers products or services of value based upon what is important to the customer.

“Personalization”, whether AI enabled or not, is data driven.

In the past, a person might have taken notes about a spouse’s name or a favorite sports team, because it was the basis of a shared “personal” moment, a connection that embodied our shared humanity that gives me, “the seller,” permission to reconnect to learn more about you, “the customer,” to meet your need.

That sales person might have kept a client file, or a notebook. Later that information might have been transferred to a spreadsheet and then Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software like Salesforce.com.

Marketers might have tracked advertisement response rates and purchase history in handwritten documents, then spreadsheets, then ad tracker software.

The key to success of data-driven personalization, whether notebook or software, is keeping the data up to date, and knowing when to use it, and not abuse it.

Unfortunately during the process, “common sense” frequently takes a back seat to technology.

AI can automate data collection and mimic intimate interactions of years past. Computer code, an algorithm, can take the notes, remember the purchase history, recognize patterns of response to certain words, and “personally” recommend a product or service. This technology can dramatically shorten the time required to gather and analyze data from multiple sources to create targeted, meaningful communications.

AI also can portend disaster, ever-faster poorly targeted, even insulting marketing communications that drive customers away rather than attract them.

As you begin the AI or non-AI personalization journey, plan for data accuracy reviews, empathy, and judgement, in short, human insight and oversight. AI programmers and marketers must talk to each other, as the cartoon above illustrates.

Thie AI journey requires detailed knowledge of the customer demographics, and psychographics and the judgement to know when to use it. In the past a customer might have shared a spouse’s name and a savvy salesperson had the judgement to know when and how to inquire after the spouse without sounding creepy.

As AI develops can we trust it to respect privacy, i.e., not be creepy?

The software engineers who develop artificial intelligence are driven by the questions “What’s possible? What can we do?” Marketers must represent the business question, “What  makes sense to generate customer acquisition and retention, revenue and profit? And someone must look at “What should we do? What’s right?”

It is a delicate balance between Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning and human Soft Skills like communication, critical thinking, creativity and empathy.

Clients and prospects will appreciate receiving well-timed, personalized communications, messages that make them feel that their business is valued. When done well, it will also help to contribute to positive word of mouth referrals.

However, when not done well . . . word of mouth works both ways.

About Bob and Alan

Bob Musial helps clients with business development that encompasses a wide spectrum of disciplines and industries. He frequently uses personalized humor (like the cartoon in this article), to set the stage for conveying a message in a relatable and memorable manner. Bob has a long history of personalized communications built from conversations with contacts, storing “likes and dislikes” information in a custom database designed to deepen relationships. He is the author of Soft Skills, Hard Returns.

Alan Culler is a retired strategic change consultant and author who worked with multi-billion dollar global companies to help them innovate, integrate, and improve processes, productivity and profitability. He is the author of Traveling the Consulting Road and has a new book coming out soon, Change Leader? Who Me?