Forrester Research Predicts Preference-Driven Customer Personalization in 2015

Forrester Research analysts Luca Paderni and Shar VanBoskirk recently offered some interesting 2015 predictions for marketing professionals. The brief includes a special section on preference management where Paderni and VanBoskirk explain:

“Brands that want to better understand their customers’ needs will finally accept that asking how they want to be communicated with is often better than guessing.”

It’s an interesting observation not for it’s central point – the need for preference management is now commonly accepted – but instead for the way it was phrased. If you read it closely, you’ll notice that the actual prediction is that brands will “finally accept” the necessity of sharing control of the conversation. It’s a subtle difference but one that echoes our experience of working with companies that face complex personalization and engagement challenges. Many companies recognize the need to power their personalization efforts with preference management but not all have accepted that realization with budgeted and actionable projects. In essence, Paderni and VanBoskirk believe 2015 will be a year of widespread acceptance.

The section concludes (not surprisingly) with a bold prediction: “In 2015, preference management will takes its place as a key item on the marketing road map.”

With all due respect to the fine folks at Forrester, we believe the marketplace has been ahead of the analyst community on preference management for some time. As preference pathfinders, we’ve been on a long journey of education, awareness and acceptance with enterprise-level companies for years. And we’ve seen many accept the challenge already.

As for 2015? Your guess is as good as mine (or Forrester’s) when it comes to adoption of preference management. But if 2014 is any indication, we’ll have a very busy year. 

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Eric Tejeda is the Director of Product Marketing for PossibleNOW and CompliancePoint. Eric supports the organization’s growth objectives by productizing and launching innovative new products and services that fill critical needs in the marketplace. 

With 25 years of experience, Eric firmly believes that permission-based marketing and preference management is a mega trend and the path to success for marketers today. 

Follow me on Twitter: @EricTejeda | Connect on LinkedIn: Eric Tejeda