Customizing customization: A conceptual framework for interactive personalization

Several scholars have proposed personalization models based on product variety breadth and the intensity of customer-firm interaction with a focus on marketing strategies ranging from basic product versioning to customerization and reverse marketing. However, some studies have shown that the explosion of product variety may generate information overload. Moreover, customers are highly heterogeneous in willingness and ability to interact with firms in personalization processes. This often results in consumer confusion and wasteful investments. To address this problem, we propose a conceptual framework of e-customer profiling for interactive personalization by distinguishing content (that is, expected customer benefits) and process (that is, expected degree of interaction) issues. The framework focuses on four general dimensions suggested by previous research as significant drivers of online customer heterogeneity: VALUE, KNOWLEDGE, ORIENTATION, and RELATIONSHIP QUALITY. We also present a preliminary test of the framework and derive directions for customer relationship management and future research.