The documents discuss various challenges with email personalization, including: lack of reliable customer data, data integration across systems, data accuracy and completeness, collecting enough customer data, navigating technical aspects like coding languages, and coordinating with IT. Respondents also discuss their organization's readiness for privacy regulations like CCPA on a scale of 1 to 5. The chief challenges extending personalization to other channels include: system limitations, talent, organizational alignment, resources, and compliance approval. When asked about overhyped trends, responses included true one-to-one personalization, gimmicky creative, influencer marketing, and claims that AI can optimize all solutions.

4. ● Availability of data/consistency of data.
● Lack of reliable customer data
● The Marketing Tech needed to integrate email with other
channels.
● Data integration. Currently not integrated with a CRM
environment so real-time, dynamic and responsiveness is a
challenge.
● Data accuracy and completeness
What has been the biggest challenge in bringing your
email program to the next level of personalization?

5. ● Having enough “size” in the database to make the append
information we have valuable. Not every record we have has
appended data on it. Growing the database is also a
challenge. There’s no incentive to register for our website,
but that’s where the lowest hanging fruit is. How do we get
folks to register and then potentially tell us more about
themselves?
● Getting enriched consumer data into a usable format and into
our CRM platform
What has been the biggest challenge in bringing your
email program to the next level of personalization?

6. ● Data architecture does not let us use our ESP to its fullest
potential
● Navigating the complexities of AMPscript and other coding
languages that help reach the depth of personalization we’re
all seeking.
● The correct technology. We need a tool for 1:1
personalization in order to move beyond these mass
“personalization segments”. Content personalization is our
priority, but frequency and drop time is a quick-to-follow.
What has been the biggest challenge in bringing your
email program to the next level of personalization?

7. ● Content generation at scale.
● Getting the business to agree on content prioritization and
personalization rules
● Internal politics, lack of understanding of CRM value beyond
“e-blasts”
● Coordinating with our IT partners to surface the data we need
to build automated dynamic content
● Maintaining data hygiene. Managing expectations of project
stakeholders. They want to personalize but they don’t know
much about best practices or have a “why”.
What has been the biggest challenge in bringing your
email program to the next level of personalization?

8. What has been the biggest challenge in bringing your
email program to the next level of personalization?
● We’re having a moment at our company where our business
model is changing. Where we are going down the funnel into
the real estate transaction (if we can). The biggest challenge
from my perspective is to make sure we have the right
personel in place to own the switch. I believe we do. But it’s
a big change from “brand awareness” and “property search”
to “one-on-one transactional”. I believe we will get this right.

9. What has been the biggest challenge in bringing your
email program to the next level of personalization?
● Building customer profiles. While we have some
recommendation engines powering our emails based on our
understanding of the customers, its not robust enough and its
not unified.
● Collecting the right data from our users. My company did
away with force login which took away our ability to collect
data from our users. I am actively trying to re-instate force
login.

10. ● Data driven automations and customer journeys. Able to do so
much more with less resources.
● Expanding our trigger based programs
● Working towards the personalization front and trying to lifecycle
market to our fans as opposed to simply batch and blast
techniques.
● Scheduling intelligence – send time optimization
● We are currently changing tools and that has taken up a lot of
energy so we have not really been able to drive campaign changes
that are impactful.
In the last year what change in your email program
has had the greatest impact on performance?

11. ● Increasing our automated behavioral emails has increased
engagement.
● Use of personalized product recommendations within this year
have allowed for a scalable impact to our performance.
● Automation of our most highly personalized and complex product
campaigns
● Making everything much bigger!
In the last year what change in your email program
has had the greatest impact on performance?

12. ● Customer segmentation
● Greater concentration on targeting/segmentation, acquiring quality
consumers
● Segment expansion.
● Not sending to the entire list every single time!
● Segmentation! In my industry, it’s so crucial to segment
communications so you’re being sensitive to a person’s health and
wellness journey and not sending them communications that may
trigger negative thoughts.
In the last year what change in your email program
has had the greatest impact on performance?

13. In the last year what change in your email program
has had the greatest impact on performance?
● Sending less Marketing-type mail. (Which for us is really more
brand awareness than traditional marketing)
● Integrating LiveClicker to help us track website activity for both
known and anonymous users. We are getting a lot of new customer
data because of that integration.
● Populating dynamic content within our email on a 1:1 basis through
our retargeting email program.

14. ● Personalized offer delivery/one-to-one offer personalization
● Our American Dreams program that includes content specific
to our key segments has been really effective. It is an email
followed by Direct Mail and Social.
● Segmentation based on past purchase behavior
● Geo-targeting/geo-metrics for care credit – nearby retailers
accepting Care Credit
● Local weather
● Differentiated algorithms for product recommendations.
What single point of personalization has proven
most effective with your customers?

15. ● Frequency personalization
● As simple as adding their name to the subject line has
drastically increased our open rates. I think people are more
willing to read if they know it directly applies to them. It’s so
obvious, but been such an effective update for us.
● Subject Line optimization using machine learning.
● Subject line and signature personalization
● Using name in our content makes a difference in email click
thru engagement.
What single point of personalization has proven
most effective with your customers?

16. What single point of personalization has proven
most effective with your customers?
● We personalize search results and send via email. We’ve
done a better job at sending less if you aren’t engaged. This
means the customer
● doesn’t unsubscribe.
● Identifying interested audiences based on their interest in
similar artists/events/plays.
● Unique coupon codes. We wanted to stay away from generic
coupon codes that could get passed around on the internet.
Unique coupon codes lets us keep the offer specific to the
individual who receives our emails.

17. ● 5
● 4 – Yes, we have a customer data security team and a
roadmap for how we get to CCPA for all states – we also don’t
sell in California, so that helps.
● 4. Yes, there is a company-wide initiative to ensure we are
CCPA compliant across all aspects of the business.
● 3/4… we had to get ready for GDPR and this appears to
primarily be a minor extension of it.
● Not sure.
Our organization’s readiness for CCPA/coming regulations (On
a scale of 1 to 5 (1=We Are So Screwed: 5=Bring It On, Policy
Wonks). Have you done anything to prepare?

18. ● HAHA! Love my choices. I would say we are at 4.5 (mostly
because I don’t want to piss off the policy wonks or data
security gods.)
● Legal, surveillance and oversight are fully entrenched in
preparation for CCPA regulations.
● “4”. We’ve spent a fair amount of time assessing current
customer data use and what we need to do to comply with
both current and expected privacy requirements.
● 3 – we are not ready but have nimble tools
Our organization’s readiness for CCPA/coming regulations (On
a scale of 1 to 5 (1=We Are So Screwed: 5=Bring It On, Policy
Wonks). Have you done anything to prepare?

19. ● 4. We have a team of lawyers guiding the process and
ensuring we have an SOP in place to be compliant. We’ve
researched where are current consumer data exists and have
reached out to all external partners to ensure they are also
compliant. I gave it a 4 instead of a 5, because the process is
still in progress.
● 4. We are a medical group, so compliance and HIPPA is our #1
priority. Of course, there’s always improvements we can
make, but our compliance team is pretty on top of it.
Our organization’s readiness for CCPA/coming regulations (On
a scale of 1 to 5 (1=We Are So Screwed: 5=Bring It On, Policy
Wonks). Have you done anything to prepare?

20. ● 5. GDPR was a different story and it took us several months to
adhere to the specifics of the law. We made those changes on
a global basis, which helped set us up for CCPA.
● I think maybe a 4. We are hoping that the process and data
work we did for GDPR compliance will scale to other state
level privacy regulations as well
● 5! We have a diligent team working on this and getting us
prepped for the change.
Our organization’s readiness for CCPA/coming regulations (On
a scale of 1 to 5 (1=We Are So Screwed: 5=Bring It On, Policy
Wonks). Have you done anything to prepare?

21. Our organization’s readiness for CCPA/coming regulations (On
a scale of 1 to 5 (1=We Are So Screwed: 5=Bring It On, Policy
Wonks). Have you done anything to prepare?
● 3 - Well, I think that we are not as prepared as we should be. I
say that because currently, we email all people who are
customers and give us their email address instead of focusing
on opting in. Particularly opting in people with an interest for
certain messages. Despite encouragement, our executive
team is not very focused on providing preferences and getting
permissions seeing this broad rule as the standard.

22. Our organization’s readiness for CCPA/coming regulations (On
a scale of 1 to 5 (1=We Are So Screwed: 5=Bring It On, Policy
Wonks). Have you done anything to prepare?
● 4-5, we have been talking about it for a while and have
implementing legal/privacy policy changes, software changes
including a CCPA portal launching Jan 1 (that we’ll extend to
other CCPA type laws or the federalization of the law)
● 3.5. Our company is making efforts, but we aren’t fully ready.
This also isn’t my department/area of responsibility. But it is
an area I’ve voiced concern in and helped guide the
responsible parties.

23. ● 1. We are SCREWED! Unfortunately, we do not collect a user’s
state information. When the CCPA launches, we will need to
implement the regulations for all user’s in the US no matter
what their state.
Our organization’s readiness for CCPA/coming regulations (On
a scale of 1 to 5 (1=We Are So Screwed: 5=Bring It On, Policy
Wonks). Have you done anything to prepare?

24. What has been the chief challenge in extending
messaging into other one-to-one channels like SMS,
alerts, social messaging, bots, etc.?
● System limitations/legal compliance (specifically SMS). We
have the infrastructure, but not the permissions/ability to
store needed permissions.
● Talent that understands true omni-channel strategy
● Our technology is developed on a Global level and handed off
to each individual market. So getting new technology
implemented is a slow process that has to be juggled with
many other priorities.
● Organizational alignment, digital still lagging as a priority

25. What has been the chief challenge in extending
messaging into other one-to-one channels like SMS,
alerts, social messaging, bots, etc.?
● This is also a work in progress. Right now, the main challenge
is that just because you think it’s cool (you being the owner of
the initiative – SMS, social, bots), doesn’t mean our fanbase
thinks it’s cool
● Data integration
● IT resource availability
● Collaboration – too many silos
● Resources to do the work - email is prioritized first.

26. What has been the chief challenge in extending
messaging into other one-to-one channels like SMS,
alerts, social messaging, bots, etc.?
● Resources and staffing. With such a large organization like
mine, that has ~50 offices and almost a million patients that
are all on a different health journey. It’s been tricky to
manage the bandwidth it takes to create an extensive,
personalized 1 to 1 communication strategy beyond email and
SMS right now.
● Technology that is omni channel, specifically a Campaign
Management System. We also have internal struggles from a
team perspective that isolate channels to specific teams that
we are attempting to overcome.

27. What has been the chief challenge in extending
messaging into other one-to-one channels like SMS,
alerts, social messaging, bots, etc.?
● Compliance approval. We are a highly regulated industry.
● Orchestration across multiple channels, specifically across
different platforms.
● Getting the right buy-in. Getting all teams on board to do one
thing.
● Relevance. We can technical do it but don’t have a revenant
message for different customer circumstances

28. What has been the chief challenge in extending
messaging into other one-to-one channels like SMS,
alerts, social messaging, bots, etc.?
● Non-federated systems: one for email and one for SMS,
another for push. We do have a router where we choose
which channel is winning and place the message out that
channel. However, it’s still the chief challenge as the data
science is not real time
● Platforms. The best platforms require too much engineering
lift and many marketer teams are not provided an engineer or
engineering team to properly use them. So much potential is
getting wasted due to this. I say this as both a client and a
previous vendor.

29. What has been the chief challenge in extending
messaging into other one-to-one channels like SMS,
alerts, social messaging, bots, etc.?
● We do not share data well between our different channels.
This is a huge 2020 initiative for our team. We are hoping to
be able to create campaigns/messaging that will branch
across all of our channels.

30. ● True one-to-one personalization. Going from generic to
targeted = gains, targeted to highly targeted = more gains,
highly targeted to true one-to-one = the remaining juice is not
worth the squeeze. Said another way, don’t expend 80%
more effort to get 3% more returns.
● Personalization
● Gimmicky creative. Animation, countdown clocks, emojis, etc.
● Lots of personalization without any rhyme or reason.
● AMP
What industry trend/tactic is the most overhyped?

31. ● That AI/machine learning applied to any problem will result in
an optimized solution.
● Influencer marketing - I’m expecting the hype to die down in
the next few years.
● Journey Builder.
● Influencers
● Chatbots – biggest pain point for me right now. (see question
5 – LOL)
● Every type of AI
● Interactive emails.
What industry trend/tactic is the most overhyped?

32. ● Time zone send personalization. We had been prepared to
invest a lot of effort in this until we discovered that our West
Coast clients are preconditioned to starting their business day
when the NYSE opens, so frankly sending them emails at 9
a.m. PST does them a disservice as the East Coast has had
access to this same information for several hours.
● I would say AI (but only because I’m super junior in that
department and do not have any experience with it
whatsoever). But I’m learning 😊
● Machine learning and predictive analysis.
What industry trend/tactic is the most overhyped?