As a rule, companies are the most successful when their strategies are perceived by consumers as intended by those companies.
According to a recent study of U.S. British executives and consumers by the Economist Intelligence Unit of Lyris — titled Mind the Marketing Gap: Sizing up Marketer and Consumer Perceptions by Industry:
“Although traditional marketing channels remain important, vendors have shifted more towards interactive communications as part of an increasing emphasis on personalization. This trend has grown despite apparent consumer lack of interest and indifference. Seventy percent of consumers say they find personalized messages annoying when ‘attempts at personalization are superficial’; some 63% claim they receive so many personalized messages that they no longer mean anything to them.”
“Some marketers have gotten the message. Many are moving beyond simple personalization to customized offers, which consumers accept more readily and believe help them find the best deals. This approach, however, raises privacy issues and presents a potential source of misalignment between marketers and consumers. To create customized offers, marketers must use increasingly sophisticated analytical techniques to extract insights from ‘Big Data.’ The survey found that marketing executives substantially underestimate consumer concern about the use of personal information collected in the process.”
Click the image to read an executive summary of the study.
