1-to-1 targeting requires the ability to show any content to any user. It probably needs a hige repository of content that can be accessed to show content that isn't shown to other users, but which is deemed optimal for a particular user.
1. How do you decide which type of user this particular user should be classed as?
2. How do you determine which content to show this particular user (or type of user)?
3. When the targeting doesn't give great results, how can you tell if the problem is with 1. or 2.?
And, as a follow-up question, why is "targeted" content drawn from a library held in higher esteem than retargeting existing content? Is it better because it's so difficult to set up?
Content retargeting - moving existing content on the page - does not require new content, but "isn't real 1-to-1 targeting." This is true, but I would argue that the difference - mathematically at least - is negligible. The huge library of targeted content isn't going to be able to match the potential combinations of content that can be achieved just by flipping page content around to promote a particular group of products.
In previous examples, I've looked at having four product categories that can be targeted.
How many combinations are there for the four products A, B, C, D?
4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 24
There are four options for the first placement, leaving three for the second placement, two options for the third and only one left for the final place.
This is a relatively simple example - most websites have more than just four products or product categories in their catalogue (even Apple, with its limited product range, has more than four).
Let's jump up to six products:
6 * 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 720.
At this point, retargeting is going to start scaling far more easily than 1-to-1 personalization.
Admittedly, it's highly unlikely that all 720 combinations are going to be used and shown with equal probability - we will probably see maybe 6-10 combinations that are shown most often, as users visit just one or two product categories and identify themselves as menswear, casual clothes, or womenswear customers. The remaining three or four categories aren't relevant to these customers, and so we don't retarget hat content. I mean: if a user is visiting menswear and men's shoes, then they aren't going to be interested in womenswear and casual clothing, so the sequence of those categories is going to be irrelevant and unchanged.
So, we can group users into one of 720 "segments", not based on how we segment them, but how they segment themselves. This leads to a pseudo-bespoke browsing experience (it isn't 1-to-1, but the numbers are high enough for it to be indistinguishable) that doesn't require the overhead of a huge library of product content waiting to be accessed.
When does the difference between true personalization and segmented retargeting become indistinguishable? Are we chasing true 1-to-1 personalization when it isn't even beneficial to the customers' experience?
I would say that it's when the number of combinations of retargeted content becomes so large that users are seeing a targeted experience each time they come to the page. Or, when the number of combinations is greater than the number of users who visit the page. Personalization is usually perceived - and presented - as the holy grail of Web experience, but in my view it's unnecessary, unattainable and frequently unlikely to actually get off the drawing board. Why not try something that could give actual results, provide improved customer experience and could be set up this side of Christmas?
