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Personalisation and mass customisation

The potential power of personalisation is suggested by these quotes from Evans et al. (2000) 

that show the negative effects of lack of targeting of traditional direct mail:

Don’t like unsolicited mail . . . haven’t asked for it and I’m not interested.

(Female,   25–  34)

Most isn’t wanted, it’s not relevant and just clutters up the table . . . you have to sort through 

it to get to the ‘real mail’.

(Male,   45–  54)

It’s annoying to be sent things that you are not interested in. Even more annoying when 

they phone you up . . . If you wanted something you would go and find out about it.

(Female,   45–  54)

Personalisation

 and mass customisation can be used to tailor information and opt-in 

email can be used to deliver it to add value and at the same time remind the customer 

about a product. ‘Personalisation’ and ‘mass customisation’ are terms that are often used 

interchangeably. In the strict sense, personalisation refers to customisation of information 

requested by a site customer at an individual level.