Personalised marketing, while valuable for some, generates negative experiences for 53% of customers, who were 3.2x more likely to regret a purchase and 44% less likely to purchase again in the future, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc.

A Gartner survey of 1,464 B2B buyers and consumers across North America, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand in November and December 2024 found that customers who experienced personalisation in a recent purchase journey were 1.8x more likely to pay a premium but were simultaneously 2x more likely to feel overwhelmed by the volume of information they received. Moreover, they were 2.8x more likely to feel time pressure to move forward.

The paradox of personalisation arises when customers switch tasks in their buying journey, such as transitioning from searching to selecting a product. This shift can be challenging for most consumers and B2B buyers.

During these moments, personalised offers and product recommendations may fall short, as they appear irrelevant to buyers who are grappling with challenges more complex than the offer itself.

“While personalisation has proven to be commercially valuable for some customers, it’s crucial to recognise that it doesn’t resonate with most,” said Audrey Brosnan, senior director analyst in the Gartner Marketing Practice.

“More than half of customers feel overwhelmed or rushed by traditional personalisation tactics at least once in a purchase journey, when cognitive, emotional and social challenges are difficult to resolve.

“Personalised offers at these moments can harm customers, highlighting the need for marketers to adopt more nuanced and adaptive strategies that cater to diverse customer needs, like escaping the pitfalls of task switching.”

“CMOs face an urgent strategic imperative to redesign personalisation for the coming era of two-way, AI-enabled, conversational experiences,” said Brosnan.

“Passive personalisation tactics alone no longer suffice; they can inadvertently intensify the negative emotions that customers experience when trapped in decision-making pitfalls.

“CMOs must pivot toward active, course-changing personalisation that reveals customers’ hidden needs, validates their decisions and pulls them from pitfall to purchase.”

Active Personalisation

According to the research, course-changing personalisation significantly outperforms traditional ‘next best action’ recommendations for customers in pitfalls.

Active personalisation empowers individuals to reflect, build confidence, and take decisive actions aligned with their authentic goals.

Customers engaged via active personalisation are 2.3x more likely to confidently complete critical purchase decisions, generating substantial improvement in customer satisfaction and marketing ROI.

By allowing customers to take control of their journey, organisations can create more meaningful interactions that challenge perspectives and build confidence.

This approach is particularly effective in addressing the complex emotions customers experience in journey pitfalls, such as feelings of being rushed into, overwhelmed by, or dubious of passive personalisation.

“Active personalisation is a powerful new strategy for transforming customer engagement into strategic value,” said Brosnan.

“By engaging customers directly, marketing leaders can use personalized experiences to not only improve satisfaction but also drive substantial improvements in ROI and future purchase potential.

“Even better, active personalization reduces customers’ apprehension over the creepiness of passive personalization. They understand why brands need the requested data, and they value the utility that active personalization supplies in exchange.”

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Course-changing Personalisation

CMOs looking to optimising their marketing budgets and enhance the impact of personalisation should focus on this strategic shift, Gartner recommends.

It recommends these three immediate steps:

• Actively Counter Journey Pitfalls: Pinpoint and target active personalisation strategies at crucial moments where customers transition between task and frequently encounter obstacles, as passive tactics can be more detrimental than beneficial in these situations.
• Catalyse Emotional Change: Employ interactive experiences like quizzes, gamified assessments, and guided digital interactions that both reveal unique customer attributes and motivate customers to clarify their goals and confidently advance through complex decisions.
• Embrace Customer Co-creation: Shift from passive inference to active customer involvement, encouraging customers to directly share personal preferences and content that co-create personalised paths to purchase and loyalty.

“CMOs who leverage active personalisation strategies at key customer journey transition points will achieve deeper customer engagement, enhanced brand loyalty, and superior commercial outcomes,” emphasizes Brosnan.

“This approach allows marketing leaders to embed a growth loop in customer engagement. Active personalisation acts as a flywheel, motivating customers in the moment and revealing unique insights (also called zero-party data) that sustains and accelerates the flywheel with each successive engagement.”