You talking to me? Personalisation in practice

You know what I love? Recommendations.

When it comes to games, I’m a button-smashing-platform-adventurer. Once I’ve defeated a game that hits all the right notes, my next mission is to find another that delivers the same sweet spot. Easier said than done.

The search for what's next

The hunt always starts with a deep Reddit dive (see r/metroidvania, r/indiegames, r/onebros). I scour threads, spot the usual “what should I play next?” questions for the 100th time,  then check to see if these gems work on my platform.

That’s some expensive blind faith. I have no idea if any of the recs are relevant to my tastes, my abilities, or my habits as a gamer. But I trust the process - it’s the closest thing to personalised recommendations out there.  But imagine if those recommendations actually matched my habits and tastes. How many more games would I end up buying?

What Gen Z really want

That feeling of taking a risky bet on a purchase isn’t just for gamers.  It’s exactly the kind of doubt good personalisation is meant to remove.

Our Shifting States research revealed that Gen Z expects personalised content, so long as their data and privacy is protected. In fact, 85% of respondents said they willingly engage with personalised content, while a whole 0%  said that personalisation didn’t matter at all. Translation: personalisation matters a whole lot to Gen Z.

But let's think way beyond adding someone’s name to the top of an email.  Content personalisation is all about relevance -understanding what makes your audience jump for joy, breathe a sigh of relief, or throw their phone across the room.

Simply put, it’s about crafting content that genuinely gets your audience. Not only does content personalisation increase engagement by getting people to take action when they’re most likely to do so,  it helps brands avoid alienating people with content that feels random, off-key or tone-deaf.

And since Gen Z have no issue with walking away from brands that fail to meet their expectations, we might want to consider how content personalisation can work to foster more meaningful engagement and increase reciprocal loyalty. 88% of Gen Z would “probably switch to a different brand if it offered better value for money,” while 50% “regularly unsubscribe from brand newsletters and unfollow [brands] on social media.”.

In other words: if you don’t stay relevant, they’ll vote with their feet (fingers?) – fast.

Banish funnel vision

For copywriters, that means shifting away from the fantasy of a neat, linear funnel - awareness > consideration > purchase - and accepting that real journeys are messy, loopy and sometimes a bit “tab explosion in multiple browsers”. Instead of writing one perfect path, think in moments. What does someone need the first time they land on your site from TikTok at 11pm? What about three weeks later when they’re price-comparing on their lunch break? Personalisation is about stitching those moments together so each touchpoint feels like a continuation of a conversation, not a cold call.

A few practical starting points: map the key decision points in your product or service journey, then write for the emotions around each - curiosity, doubt, excitement, anxiety.

Draft modular chunks of copy (lines, CTAs, reassurance messages, microcopy) that can be reused and swapped based on behaviour. Then pause and read the journey end-to-end. If it feels like someone else has taken over the mic halfway through it’s time to have another crack.

Design personalised content that actually works

Before you start spinning up endless variants, get obsessive about the basics: user needs, intent, and the jobs each piece of content has to do. Map out the core journey first, then identify where personalisation can genuinely remove friction and not just add sparkle. Maybe it’s a different explainer for first-timers versus experts, or alternative CTAs based on whether someone has already tried your service. But here’s the non-negotiable: if the foundational content isn’t clear, accessible and helpful, no amount of clever targeting will save it. There’s no point personalising a terrible experience. You’ll just deliver the wrong thing… more precisely.

Think in layers. Start with a strong base: plain-language content that works for everyone. Effortless, right? Then add thin layers of personalisation where it adds value: swap examples, reorder information, surface different help content, tweak tone for reassurance or urgency. That way, if the personalisation logic fails (and at some point, it will), users still land on something solid rather than a half-baked experiment.

Put personalisation in your content strategy

Done well, personalisation isn’t a last-minute flourish: it’s baked into your content strategy from the start. That means being crystal clear on whose experience you’re trying to improve, what data you actually need, and where you’ll draw the line. One of our favourite provocations came from Miguel Martin, former Digital Marketing Director for Joe & The Juice, who spoke at our most recent Shifting States webinar: “Don’t reward me with a free matcha or a coffee if your data shows I don’t drink matcha or coffee.” Personalisation should feel like proof you were paying attention, not evidence you weren’t.

As strategists and copywriters, we should be asking: where will personalisation have the biggest human impact, not just the biggest dashboard impact? Use it to clarify choices, reduce cognitive load, and show you understand context - not to push everything, everywhere, all at once. And keep a ruthless eye on value exchange. If you’re asking people for data, the content they get in return has to feel genuinely worth it.

Personal, not pushy

Now, personalisation is great. Just, don't make it weird. Creepy over-reach has been a talking point for some time and digital audiences have grown weary. Why is the air fryer that I mentioned in a message popping up in my shopping recommendations? Remember, Gen Z value their data privacy and they’re aware of how vulnerable that data can be. It’s one thing to empathise with what they need and match that to something you can offer; it’s another thing to cross-pollinate that with needs that they didn’t directly share with you. Personalise for your audience based on where they’re at and what they’ve shared with you – no more, no less.

Evolving with your audience

By personalising content, you create genuine connections and let your audience steer the experience. Let them take the wheel for two minutes with a quick survey, and you might be surprised by what they say. Don’t resist what’s there, evolve with them, serve up the right content at the right time, and you may just get some of that sweet, sweet reciprocal loyalty.

Want to really get under your audience’s skin - in a good way? Let's talk. We’ll help you hit the perfect balance of insight and personalisation to keep them coming back for more.

Want help crafting your content?

Get chatting to Amy.