Personalization Through Passive Profiling

Passive profiling, verb:
1. Surveying your audience through actions rather than questions; then using this information to provide the answers your audience needs. Like magic, only better. Your audience does all the work of making you the hero.

There’s a new movie out this weekend. Do you go see it? The studio says it’s the best movie they’ve put out this year. Never mind that it’s only January. Do you go see it? A critic has given it five yellow stars and three green clovers. Someone is paying this guy a lot of money to give the same recommendation to the entire world. It’s got to be right, right? Do you go see it? Your best friend, who you’ve known for 15 years, says you will love it. Do you go see it?

It’s all about who you trust. What makes up a good movie is different for all of us. How can the studio or the critic give you a recommendation? They don’t know anything about you. But what if they did stop to ask you a question? “Do you like action movies?” Yes. OK, watch this movie. This is the first step toward personalizing. Yet, while it’s a step in the right direction, it’s still a long way from a recommendation from your best friend.

Why does your best friend have the inside track? There’s a relationship that has been built up over the years. You know you can trust her. Both of you have similar tastes and she knows what you have seen and what you liked. If the studio had to ask you to rate 100 movies before they gave you a recommendation most people would bail before they rated one. Instead your friend is unconsciously using passive profiling: making her judgment based on your actions rather than answers to questions.

So how can you as a marketer put this to use? How can you put your company into the best-friend level driver’s seat? You’ve been collecting information on what case studies, articles and white papers are being read on your site. Put this information to use. If a member of your audience reads case study “A,” search your database and find the most popular pieces of content that were read by people who also read case study “A.”

Declare that this recommendation is coming from other members of your audience. It not only shows that you’ve been paying attention to their needs and understand what they want, but it’ll also showcase you as the expert in the field. Others with the same problem have come to you for the solution. Over time your recommendations will become more and more tailored. Your site will become more and more valuable. When your audience can tell that you understand, the sales process will become much easier. The best part is you are using the audience to do the heavy lifting. What could be better? Other than that new movie that is playing.

Want to go see it?