Consumers Prefer Personalized Offers to Personalized Recommendations: Merkle Study
Switching to the consumer point of view, Merkle found that consumers are most comfortable when brands base personalization on purchase history and least comfortable when they use location, address, or income. Most (64%) want purchase history used for personalized offers but just 39% want it used for product recommendations and 38% for personalized content. One explanation: “offers” suggests a free or discounted product while recommendations and content do not. Along similar lines: Convey reports the practical benefits of free shipping, Prime membership, and easy purchase process are the top three reasons people shop at Amazon; personalization was nowhere on the list.