Omni Core · Personalization · Module
The signals
What the personalisation is based on — stated preferences, observed behaviour, inferred attributes — and how reliable each is.
The idea
How it works
Stated preference is accurate and rare; observed behaviour is abundant and ambiguous; inferred attributes are abundant and frequently wrong. Most personalisation runs on the third.
A wrong inference is experienced as being misunderstood, which is worse than not being personalised at all. Error rates matter more here than in most data applications.
Working with it
In practice
- 01
Prefer stated preference where it exists
Asking is more accurate than inferring and is frequently possible.
- 02
Know the error rate of each inference
An attribute inferred with seventy per cent accuracy is wrong for three people in ten, permanently.
- 03
Let people correct it
A visible and correctable inference is tolerated; an invisible wrong one is not.
- 04
Check the signal is still valid
Behaviour from two years ago describes a former customer, and stale signals produce confidently wrong personalisation.
One level in
The components of the signals
A component is something that exists afterwards which did not exist before — a deliverable or a mechanism, not an intention.
An attribute inferred at seventy per cent accuracy is wrong for three people in ten, permanently.
The other modules in personalization
What is personalised
Which parts of the experience change by person, and what the customer gains from each — the inventory that makes the maintenance cost visible.
LearnThe limits
Where the organisation chooses not to personalise, and why — the boundary that keeps relevance from becoming intrusion.
LearnWhether it works
Evidence that the personalisation improves something for the customer as well as for the organisation, tested rather than assumed.
Learn