Tailoring Technology: Persuasion through Customization

When users enter their zip code, the site lists names of the polluting institutions in their area, gives data on chemicals being released, and outlines the possible health consequences. The technology can also generate a map that enables you to see the location of pollution sources relative to where you live, work, or attend school.

This tailored information can be compelling. The report I generated for my area of Silicon Valley identified hazards I didn’t know about, and it identified the companies that were the major offenders. To my surprise, the polluters included a few companies with stellar reputations, including one of my former employers .

I also learned from Chemical Scorecard that exercising in the neighborhood of my YMCA may not be a good idea. A company located next to my running path emits almost 10,000 pounds of dichlorolfluoroethane each year; this chemical is a suspected cardiovascular toxicant. Such tailored information can influence people to change attitudes and behavior. It certainly changed mine; after consulting the site, I began to run on a treadmill inside the gym, rather than outside.

Many sites provide tailored information for commercial purposes. More and more e-commerce Web sites are suggesting additional items for consumers to buy, based on information gathered in previous visits . This form of tailoring can be effective. Not only can a site recommend more products to buy when the customer revisits the site, if the customer opts in, it can email discount coupons , offer newsletters to keep customers informed of new products and promotions, or use other online techniques to persuade customers to do more business with the site.

Information provided by computing technology will be more persuasive if it is tailored to the individual’s needs, interests, personality, usage context, or other factors relevant to the individual.

Ethical Concerns

It’s not surprising that tailored information is more effective. But what may be surprising is that the mere perception that information has been tailored is likely to make a difference, according to some scholars. ^{[13 ]} In other words, information doesn’t have to be personally relevant; it just has to appear that way.

Why does this work? When people believe messages are tailored for them, they pay more attention. ^{[14 ]} They will then process the information more deeply, and—if the information stands up to scrutiny—they will be more likely to be persuaded. ^{[15 ]}

Unfortunately, the fact that people are more likely to be persuaded if they simply perceive that information has been tailored for them enables designers to apply tailoring techniques in unethical ways. Suppose an interactive financial planning product gathers information about the user , then recommends that he invest mostly in tax-free bonds . The research on tailoring suggests the user will consider this path seriously. In reality, the advice engine may give everyone the same information—or, even worse , it may advise potential investors according to what would provide the greatest profit to the company behind the service. But the appearance of taking the user’s special needs into account will make the advice more compelling.

Tailoring Information for Context

Chemical Scorecard tailors information to individuals, but it does not tailor information for context. That’s the next big step for this and other tailoring technologies. In the case of Chemical Scorecard, tailoring information for context would mean taking the information from the system’s databases and providing it to people during the normal routines of life.

Imagine a young couple shopping for a home. A tailoring technology in their car could inform them about the environmental status of the neighborhoods they are considering. Or a portable tailoring technology could inform me about toxic chemicals anywhere I jog.

Conceptually, it’s easy to make the leap from personalized information to contextualized information. But from a technology and practical standpoint, there’s a long way to go to make this a reality. To deliver contextualized information, the technology would have to not only locate you but also determine, among other things, whether you are alone or with others, what task you were performing, whether you are in a rush or at leisure, and what kind of mood you are in. All of these are important elements in determining an effective persuasion strategy. Then there are practical and social issues such as who will pay for the required technology and how privacy will be maintained . As such hurdles are overcome , tailoring technologies will have a greater impact on attitudes and behavior.

^{[11 ]} For a review of tailoring in the context of computer technology, see H. B. Jimison. Patient specific interfaces to health and decision-making information, in R. L. Street, W. R. Gold, and T. Manning (eds.), Health Promotion and Interaction Technology: Theoretical Applications and Future Directions (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum, 1997). See also:

a. V. J. Strecher et al., The effects of computer-tailored smoking cessation message in family practice settings, J. Fam Prac, 39: (1994).

b. C. S. Skinner, J. F. Strecher, and H. Hospers, Physician recommendations for mammogram; do tailored messages make a difference? AM J Public Health, 84: 43–49 (1994).

c. M. K. Campbell et al., The impact of message tailoring on dietary behavior change for disease prevention in primary care settings, Am J Public Health, 84: 783–787 (1993).

d. M. W. Kreuter and V. J. Strecher, Do tailored behavior change messages enhance the effectiveness of health risk appraisal? Results from a randomized trial, Health Educ. Res., 11(1): 97–105 (1996).

e. James O. Prochaska and John C. Norcross, Changing for Good (Avon Books, 1995).

^{[12 ]} See http://www.scorecard.org.

^{[13 ]} For example, see J. R. Beninger, Personalization of mass media and the growth of pseudocommunity, Communication Research, 14(3): 352–371 (1987).