Does AI Personalization Actually Matter?

I’ve been thinking a lot about AI personalization lately - and I think the honest answer is: not really.

People talk about personalization like it’s one of the fundamental laws of marketing. But if you strip sales and advertising down to their bones, you’re left with a framework that’s been around forever: AIDA - Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. Everything we do in marketing plugs into one of those four levers.

Personalization is just one of many ways to push those levers. It can grab attention. It can increase interest. It can make someone feel more desire or urgency to act. But it’s still only a lever, not the lever.

This week I’ve actually been deep in personalization projects, and it reminded me of something I’ve written about before: buyer points. Imagine that every prospect “buys” once they reach 60 points of interest and trust. There are dozens of ways to rack up those points.

Some of them are emotional or tribal. A buyer might feel affinity toward a brand that shares their identity or values. I’m Jewish, so if a company loudly supports Jewish causes, they immediately earn 10–15 “buyer points” with me. The same goes for people who prefer women‑owned businesses, veteran‑owned businesses, or local creators. There are real advantages to aligning with those factors, but they’re just one route to 60 points.

Marketers lose their heads when talking about AI personalization. It’s like there’s some panic that if it isn’t hyper-targeted, it won’t work. But that’s just not true. If your offer is strong enough, personalization barely moves the needle.

When your toilet breaks and you Google “plumber near me,” you don’t care how personalized the website is. You don’t care if the SMS follow-up uses your first name. You just want your pipes fixed. The urgency of the problem outweighs every other factor.

That’s the real point: there are countless ways to accumulate buyer points. Personalization can help, but so can urgency, proof, reputation, speed, or shared values. Marketing is an art and a science. You pick which levers make sense for your situation.

It’s like football. Some teams dominate because they have an elite quarterback. Others win by running the ball and controlling time of possession. There’s no single path to victory.

So don’t let the AI hype convince you that personalization is mandatory. It’s not. It’s just another tool in the playbook. Use it if it fits your game plan, but don’t confuse tactics with fundamentals.

‍