Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0151 Pinterest Personalization Issues

Personalization in brand interactions with consumers is the use of data related to an individual to provide meaningful and relevant information, offers, deals, etc. to the consumer.

Pinterest just blew it in a big way.

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/pinterest-accidentally-sent-emails-to-single-women-96643879969.html?src=rss

Apparently it is pretty common for some women to use Pinterest to 'pin' together a collection of ideas that form a vision for their perfect wedding.  This behavior, apparently, does not necessarily indicate whether or not the woman in question is actually getting married or even dating.  That didn't stop Pinterest from sending notifications to these women congratulating them on their upcoming wedding.

Oops.

Here is a snippet from that piece:

Some female Pinterest users got emails from Pinterest with subject lines like “Hundreds of wedding invitations (P.S. You might find the one).” The erroneous emails read: “You’re getting married! And because we love wedding planning — especially all the lovely stationery — we invite you to browse our best boards curated by graphic designers, photographers and fellow brides-to-be, all Pinners with a keen eye and marriage on the mind.”

I've been exploring the border within personalization that defines useful & friendly vs. creepy and unhelpful.  This one accidentally walked right across that border.  Clearly companies with very good ideas and very smart people working there are making this mistake regularly right now and I expect more of these kinds of stories to surface in the coming months and years.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant